Moore leaves long legacy
By By Terry R. Cassreino / assistant managing editor
Feb. 23, 2003
Mississippi government and politics will never be the same when Mike Moore steps down as attorney general next year.
Moore's decision not to seek a fifth term in office will mark the end of an era that began on a note of optimism in 1988 when a group of ambitious young leaders vowed to take the state into the next century.
Gov. Ray Mabus. Secretary of State Dick Molpus. Treasurer Marshall Bennett. Attorney General Mike Moore. All were elected in 1987. And all had ambitious plans to improve life for Mississippians.
Today, some 16 years later, of that group only Bennett and Moore remain in elective office. Mabus lost his re-election bid in 1991 after a disappointing four-year run as governor; Molpus was secretary of state for three terms, his first starting in 1984.
And while Bennett undoubtedly ran a competent office, Moore is the one people likely will remember most for offering Mississippi leadership and national visibility during a critical point in its history.
Moore's accomplishments are lengthy and include his fight against Big Tobacco, his work on the Ayers college desegregation lawsuit, his extensive support of children's issues and his intensive fight against drugs.
Effecting change
But, perhaps, one of his greatest and least discussed achievements was his work on the initiative process, something that touches one of most basic fundamental rights of Mississippians their right to personally effect change in Mississippi.
In the early 1990s, former state Reps. Ray Vecchio and Oliver Diaz Jr. began efforts to revive a process that let voters petition the state to place constitutional amendments and proposed laws on the statewide ballot without going through the Legislature. The move gained momentum when Moore entered the picture.
After months of wrangling, and to condense a long convoluted story, voters ultimately ended up with the power to propose their own constitutional amendments.
It wasn't exactly what Vecchio, now retired, and Diaz, now a state Supreme Court justice, originally wanted. But it nevertheless gave voters a power they previously didn't have.
Even though the initiative process has been rarely used most notably for high profile, unsuccessful term limit proposals it still remains on the books and a part of Mississippi law.
Brash, bold
And one reason is because of Moore's efforts. Sure, he hogged the spotlight pushing the issue. Sure, he was roundly and justly criticized for hiring a professional film crew to document his efforts to enact the initiative process.
But that's always been part of Moore's personality and practice. He's brash. He's bold. He doesn't hold back. And he has an ego the size of which few in Mississippi government can compare.
Don't believe it?
Then you probably didn't hear Moore's comments last week when he said he no doubt would have won the governor's race if he had decided to challenge incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove in this year's election.
In politics, it takes someone who believes in himself, someone with extreme confidence, someone who has the chutzpah in order to get things done. And Moore has that whether or not you personally agree with his stand on issues.
Whoever replaces Moore in January will inherit what has become one of the most important, high-profile positions in state government, one some would argue is more powerful than the governor.
That is Moore's legacy.
