Mayor's race II - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Apr 27, 2005

Mayor's race II

Date: Apr 27, 2005

Do you have any notion of how many faculty actually live in the city??

Date: Apr 27, 2005

I am undecided about the mayor's race, but had been considering Betsy Rowell. However, we received a call this evening from someone asking us to vote for her. The caller ID said the Nicholson CPA firm.

Since Nicholson was one of the IHL board members who basically railroaded our current president into the dome, I am re-thinking my vote.

Date: Apr 27, 2005

I am a volunteer for the Betsy Rowell campaign. I am also a person who is a close friend of many of the more " liberal" faculty ( and many former faculty) so I thoroughly understand the issues here. Yes we were making calls tonight from Carl Nicholson's office. There are more than ten phone lines there which is a great help. Please do not think that because Carl Nicholson is a Betsy Rowell supporter that she is in any way tied in with the Shelby Thames crew. (last I heard, Shelby was supporting Davis). Betsy's support comes from EVERY segment of Hattiesburg's social, ecomonic, and political structure. People who have totally different views on most everything and would not be caught dead in the same room with one another are agreeing on one thing - that we have GOT to have a change in leadership and that Betsy is the one candidate who can guide us out of this mess Hattiesburg is sinking into. ( I am continually amazed at the people who can't see it coming - talk about PR - Lisa Madder could even have learned a thing or two from the folks at city hall!) Having said that, let me make this very clear - Betsy is her own person. Campaign support does not put her in anybodys pocket. And please be assured that she understands the issues at USM too. Having been a council person under a mayor whose forte is NOT shared governance and who has made very poor choices regarding qualifications in his upper level hiring and in hiring practices in general - she understands.

Now, if some one else has an office with multiple phones they would like to let us use....

Date: Apr 28, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: just doing my job
" I am a volunteer for the Betsy Rowell campaign. I am also a person who is a close friend of many of the more " liberal" faculty ( and many former faculty) so I thoroughly understand the issues here. Yes we were making calls tonight from Carl Nicholson's office. There are more than ten phone lines there which is a great help. Please do not think that because Carl Nicholson is a Betsy Rowell supporter that she is in any way tied in with the Shelby Thames crew. (last I heard, Shelby was supporting Davis). Betsy's support comes from EVERY segment of Hattiesburg's social, ecomonic, and political structure. People who have totally different views on most everything and would not be caught dead in the same room with one another are agreeing on one thing - that we have GOT to have a change in leadership and that Betsy is the one candidate who can guide us out of this mess Hattiesburg is sinking into. ( I am continually amazed at the people who can't see it coming - talk about PR - Lisa Madder could even have learned a thing or two from the folks at city hall!) Having said that, let me make this very clear - Betsy is her own person. Campaign support does not put her in anybodys pocket. And please be assured that she understands the issues at USM too. Having been a council person under a mayor whose forte is NOT shared governance and who has made very poor choices regarding qualifications in his upper level hiring and in hiring practices in general - she understands. Now, if some one else has an office with multiple phones they would like to let us use.... "

I smell a rat here. The attendance of the Thames family at Rowell events is well known. Shelby did let Lee Jarrell open his campaign on the steps of the Administration Building but he and his family have been openly supporting Rowell. In my book this all taints both Rowell and Davis, and now knowing that Carl Nicholson is actively supporting Rowell too . . . well, no thanks we at USM have been down this road before.

Date: Apr 28, 2005

If Betsy wants my vote, she'll have to do two things:

1. acknowledge with a thank you monetary donations to her campaign
2. give some indication that she supports the faculty rather than SFT

I don't want to read the tea leaves to determine where Bestsy stands on Shelbo.

If she can't do those things, she's just another ambitious politician.

Date: Apr 28, 2005

Rowell is my City Council Rep. I would vote for SFT for the city council before her. At least that would be sharing the pain with the whole community.

Date: Apr 28, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Cossack
"I would vote for SFT for the city council before her. At least that would be sharing the pain with the whole community."

I once had a colleague elsewhere who was causing a department a great deal of trouble. Someone remarked that we should try to find him a job elsewhere. After concluding that it was not likely that another school would hire him, a wag suggested that we should try to get him elected to public office by conducting a write in campaign and then he would be the community's problem and not ours

Date: Apr 28, 2005

It might interest you to know that Neil McMillen has a Betsy Rowell sign in his front yard.

Date: Apr 28, 2005

There is an article in the HA today about the negative ads.

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050428/NEWS01/504280302/1002

Date: Apr 28, 2005

I am a retired (6/30/04) professor and I feel Ms. Rowell is far and away the best candidate. I ask for your vote for her.

This is a city election. City elections really have little to do with party system. I try to vote for the best person for mayor.

In national elections I have voted for the Democrat in all elections since Goldwater ran - and I was too young to know better during that one.

Kenneth McMurtrey

Date: Apr 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Angeline
"I smell a rat here. The attendance of the Thames family at Rowell events is well known. Shelby did let Lee Jarrell open his campaign on the steps of the Administration Building but he and his family have been openly supporting Rowell. In my book this all taints both Rowell and Davis, and now knowing that Carl Nicholson is actively supporting Rowell too . . . well, no thanks we at USM have been down this road before."

Angeline - I understand your mistrust considering who some of Betsy Rowell's supporters are and their ties to Shelby Thames. I had some of the same feelings when I first became involved in her campaign and found out just who some of my fellow supporters were. BUT I soon found out that Betsy was not a person who could be controlled by any self serving group and she made very clear that there was no place in her campaign for anyone who was not there to work toward a united Hattiesburg - one city, one future. As for support from Shelby Thames, there is no support that Betsy or anyone in her campaign knows anything about. In fact, they're still thinking he's supporting Davis. Mrs. Thames was Betsy's initial kick off rally but there have been no Thames in attendance at any event since then that any one is aware of. And I hardly think a Thames would go unnoticed!!! Now, I really don't expect you to put much stock in what I've said or to change your mind about the rat smell and why should you -you don't know me and I don't know you. I would like you to consider this thought: If Betsy has the support of both Carl Nicholson and Neil McMillen (as mentioned in an above thread) as strange as that may seem, then maybe Betsy is the person we need to be the catalyst in mending this awful rift between USM and Hattiesburg as well as the rift DuPree and Fairly have crafted between just about everybody else!