Presidential candidate Fred Thompson will be a special guest at a tribute dinner for state Republican Party Chairman Jim Herring on Nov. 19 at the Jackson Hilton on County Line Road.
Thompson will join Herring and other state GOP leaders at the event beginning with a 5:30 p.m. reception. The dinner is being hosted by the Mississippi Republican Elected Officials Association.
When he considers the position of the Republican Party in Mississippi, Herring thinks the hard work in the past is paying huge dividends in the present.
"The most satisfying part of it is seeing your organization grow and prosper, and seeing good candidates getting elected to office," said Herring, a Canton attorney who has led the state Republican Party since 2001.
Herring, who also serves as the official leader of all 50 state GOP chairmen, said that the credit really belongs to all the local and state Republicans who worked hard in the early years from the grassroots up.
He cited local GOP stalwarts like Linda Bynum of Ridgeland and Canton resident Ebbie Spivey, who previously served as the party's state chairman.
Herring is particularly intent on keeping his back yard, Madison County, in the Republican column, especially since it has become a flagship for the party in Mississippi.
"You have to do a lot of different things - hit the road, raise money, encourage Republican leaders across the state," he said. "We've seen that happen in Madison County. It's a relatively new phenomenon that all of our county wide officials are Republican. A few years ago this was not the case."
John Taylor, chairman of the Madison County Republican Party, first met Herring during an entirely different era, when Herring sought the Democratic nomination for governor in Mississippi in 1979.
During the early years of the GOP's growth in the area, he noted, it was often difficult just to find and convince local Republicans to staff the polls on election days.
"They've had to build it surely and slowly over the years," Taylor said. "It didn't happen overnight."
The key to the party's success in recent years, Herring noted, was finding good candidates who were not necessarily lobbied to run by GOP leaders.
"You see good candidates just appearing without recruitment," he said, citing State Treasurer Tate Reeves as one example. "It just seems these people keep appearing. It's not an orchestrated thing."
Looking at the national level, Herring said that he and other Republicans are excited to see Fred Thompson at the dinner.
Thompson, who remained unclear about his White House ambitions for several months before officially entering the race, is only the latest Republican presidential candidate to visit the state.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have also made stops in Mississippi.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) was the keynote speaker at the county's annual Republican Party banquet in February.
Herring thinks people in the state are ready to listen to Thompson's message.
"We have a strong field, and I think they want to hear from Thompson," Herring said. "This event is going to give a lot of Mississippians a chance to hear what he has to say. I think he'll have a lot of support in Mississippi."
Herring said he isn't sure how much longer he'll remain the state chairman, but says he still enjoys the work despite the demands on his time.
"The best part about the job is when you believe in the cause," he said.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Article comment by:
Michael Atkinson, US ARMY RET
Fred Thompson is a lobbyist. Fred Thompson is CFR.
Fred Thompson votes that would result in higher immigration:
Voted in 1996 to continue chain migration
-Voted to strip legal reforms from 1996 bill
-Voted in favor of chain migration again in 1996
-Voted for a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000
-As committee member, produced H-1B [guest worker] doubling bill in 1998
-Nearly doubled H-1B foreign high-tech workers in 1998
-Voted in committee against including worker safeguards in H-1B bill in 1998
-Voted to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998
-Voted again to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998
-Voted to grant amnesty to nearly one million illegal aliens from Nicaragua and Cuba in 1997
-In 1996, removed higher fines for businesses which hire illegal aliens
-Tried to kill voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996
Fred Thompson votes that would result in lower immigration:
-Voted as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee to end chain migration and crack down on illegal immigration in 1996
-Voted for comprehensive alien tracking and identification system in 2002
-Voted against an amnesty for illegal aliens in 2000
-Voted in 1996 for major law that cracked down on illegal aliens
Twelve votes that would result in higher immigration, four votes that would result in lower immigration. Again, not exactly the voting record of a principled conservative!
Fred Thompson’s selective belief in federalism and reducing the size of government
Once again, there’s no need for me to reinvent the wheel. Let me simply extract from David McClain’s excellent posting on the Republican Renaissance blog. For the full posting, go to:
The former Senator says that federalism is his lodestar: Republicans have struggled in recent years, because they have strayed from basic principles. Federalism is one of those principles. It is something we all give lip service to and then proceed to ignore when it serves our purposes … Those who are in charge of applying the conservative litmus test should wonder why some of their brethren continue to try to federalize more things—especially at a time of embarrassing federal mismanagement and a growing federal bureaucracy. He has covered this ground elsewhere too, and in a fashion that actually sounds a lot like Ron Paul talking: Our government, under our Constitution, was established upon the principles of Federalism—that the federal government would have limited enumerated powers and the rest would be left to the states. It not only prevented tyranny, it just made good sense. States become laboratories for democracy and experiment with different kinds of laws … Federalism also allows for the diversity that exists among the country's people. Citizens of our various states have different views as to how traditional state responsibilities should be handled.
Posted: Friday, November 09, 2007
Article comment by:
Alan Srout
Former Senator Fred Thompson is the only candidate that gets it. He makes decisions based on principles. Principles don’t change. You have to stand for something and not change who you are based on the polls. That is what Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani have done and all of the Democrats do it. Give me a leader that will stand by his principles anyday versus someone that stands for everything.
I know many Republicans and conservatives that will stay home if Rudy Giuliani is the candidate. He does not represent our values as conservatives, and never will. Millionaire Mitt Romney is a Republican-in-name-only (RINO ) that simply has everything else and nothing to do. “I guess I’ll just try to buy the presidency”. The White House isn’t for sale! Conservatives will simply stay home and the Democrats will pick up additional seats in the House and probably get the 60 seats in the Senate they need to completely destroy our Country. Nice picture huh?
However, I think Fred can bring America back together, if that’s even possible. America needs a rebirth of patriotism and honor. Republicans also need a rebirth. President Reagan was our last rebirth and he can never be duplicated. Fred Thompson will bring his own down-to-earth common sense to this country. If a conservative runs as a conservative, he will win!
Think of it this way: Eight years of another Clinton White House? Now if that is not a sufficient enough reason to pull together as a nation, and fight this socialist liberal takeover of our government, what is?
Folks, we are in for the fight of our lives, just as our young men and women are fighting for our freedoms in Iraq and Afghanistan, we must fight for our nation right here and now! I truly believe Fred Thompson is the one man who can pull this nation back together! Rudy Giuliani will just tear us apart.
