Musgrove's power play

By Staff
Sept. 1, 2002
Make no mistake: This week's special session is nothing more than a blatant power play by a governor interested in strengthening and flexing his political muscle.
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove says he wants lawmakers on Thursday to fund private prisons, help doctors find affordable malpractice insurance and then consider reforms to the state's civil justice system.
But the real reason for the special session is Musgrove's desire for prison money, a move that could set a legislative precedent and, in a backhanded way, strengthen the governor's veto power.
Musgrove's special session is, indeed, a sly political move by a man whose deteriorating relationship with state lawmakers  and, in particular, House and Senate leaders is growing more uneasy by the day.
So let's look closer at what's really happening at the state Capitol.
Musgrove says a special session is necessary to fund private prisons because the Legislature refused to consider his partial veto of a budget bill earlier this year to fund the entire prison system.
House and Senate members, backed by state Attorney General Mike Moore who may challenge Musgrove, a fellow Democrat, for governor next year  say the governor had no authority for the veto.
Therefore, they say, private prisons are fully funded.
Nevertheless, Musgrove won't back down. The governor asked lawmakers to fund the prisons in a special session last month; they refused. So he's turned his attention to Thursday.
And that leads to this key point: Some lawmakers fear that by approving prison funding this time, they also would validate Musgrove's veto earlier this year and inadvertently strengthen his veto powers.
Musgrove, though, is one step ahead of lawmakers.
When he first announced the special session, he told lawmakers they could consider a plan to help doctors get medical malpractice insurance. But lawmakers could do so only after they approve the prison funding.
Then he said he would let them consider general changes to the state's civil justice system that has been criticized for its multi-million-dollar jury awards. But lawmakers could do so only after solving the malpractice issue.
It's an unusual plan, a three-part special session in which lawmakers can't deal with other issues until they settle prison funding first.
And Musgrove did it that way because he could. In Mississippi, only the governor can call legislators into special session and only the governor can decide which issues they will consider.
Caught in the middle is the fate of medical malpractice insurance and civil justice reform, arguably the two most pressing issues facing the state today.
Some doctors are threatening to move their practices out of state because they can't get malpractice insurance. Others are ending their practices or closing their medical clinics for the same reason.
Besides that, Mississippi continues to reap negative publicity nationwide for perceived problems with a civil justice system some say has created a bad business climate and is giving the state a bad reputation.
Musgrove, meanwhile, is piddling away with private prisons, trying to strengthen his political power and gain the upper hand over a Legislature that historically in Mississippi has always been the stronger branch.
It's a power-play many lawmakers have seen coming. And it's a power-play that has angered and frustrated many House and Senate members  just ask state Sen. Terry Burton, D-Newton.