Election '83; Bill Allain

Oh. Oh. Mississippi educational television. Believes in the value of a well informed electorate in accordance with Federal Communications Commission regulations. Mississippi e TV will provide an equal opportunity to all bona fide legally qualified candidates for this office. The views expressed in this broadcast are those of the candidate and not the station. This station endorses no candidate or viewpoint. Ladies and gentleman a Democratic candidate for governor. Hello I'm here today with Attorney General Bella Elaine candidate for governor. Bill tell us a little about yourself. Tom I was born and reared down in southwest Mississippi then went off to college finished at the university Mississippi last coup came back down to Natchez practiced law for a while went into the Korean War spent about a year over in combat came back practiced law in Natchez again then went with the attorney general's office back in 1962. I spent about 10 or 12 years there

went back into private practice then ran for attorney general 1979 and was elected and since January 1980 I've been serving as attorney general state in the city. Bill what qualifies you to be governor. Well Tom I think being the attorney general for the last four years an assistant attorney general for a number of years before that. We work with all the state agencies we work with all local government municipalities counties all the universities and colleges the junior colleges the high schools all of the schools throughout the state of Mississippi. And we work with the people of the state of Mississippi so I feel that this gives us a overview it gives it puts us in touch with how government operates how it can operate how it should operate. And it just gives you a real feeling of the people of this state. The how government should work what the government need what's the problem in the state of Mississippi how to confront them how to solve them. And I think this kind of puts us a leg up on most candidates as far as governance Jamieson is concerned. But all of you broke a number of flutes or intervene in a number of suits involving utility companies in

the Pacific as a result of that some people have labeled you as anti-business. How do you respond to that. Oh of course Tom that's incorrect I've never been anti business my entire life. We've got a lot of good business people who are supporting us in our race for governor. I supported us in 1979 for attorney general. The only thing we have fought against is the on reasonable utility rates in the state of Mississippi both telephone electricity and gas. We think on reasonable high rates utility rates are anti-business not opposition opposition is pro-business we want to get the rates down the utility rates the telephone rates down so that business will expand in Mississippi. It will come to Mississippi we know as a fact that many businesses have not located in Mississippi or not expanded in Mississippi for one reason only and that's a high utility rate we've had in this state. A recent survey a study made by the Department of Economic Development of the state shows that that is one of the things that the utilities I mean the industry looks to what the energy cost what it's going to cost to operate a plant with the utilities in the state

and Mississippi is the highest in the southeast rather than Florida. But all another matter in which you've been actively involved as attorney general is that of the matter of legislator or serving on boards and commissions. You brought a lawsuit to remove those legislators. Some people say that as a result of that you can't work with the legislature. Again Don we've got a lot of good legislate Toles who are supporting us and our candidates have a governor. We had to bring that lawsuit it was not a case of a fight between the attorney general in the legislature tours of this state the constitution of Mississippi specifically said we shall have three branches of government. They all legislate told us we are all when the executive the governor is an executive. You have your judges and judicial and it says one she'll not serve in. Only I was once a servant of the one branch only and not the other. Legislate or sitting on boards and commissions such as the budget commission such the Medicaid and the other commissions in the executive department was in violation of the Constitution I gave those

legislator was six months to a year to get off of it I try to work out something with them. They refused to do that so it was necessary. As the duties of the attorney general state in the state of this have been going on for some 30 to 40 years and everybody was talking about it and a lot of public officials said it should be done and we ought to do something about it. And nobody did anything about it until we brought the lawsuit and I think that's one of the reasons that the legislators did not voluntarily get all of these boards in commission because people talked about it so long and said Get off get off. And they didn't think anybody is going to be willing to take them to court. We took them the court reluctantly because we felt they should have gotten out without having to have a court action and we won that in the circuit court here in Hinds County Judge Barbara ruled in favor of the state in that position. They will be relieved of those boards and commissions on January 1984. And we feel it's good for government we feel it opening up government to the people of this state. We'll make more positions for people to come in the government which makes better government and makes a stronger governor for the state of Mississippi whoever might be the

governor next year. It gives that Governor a budget commission an executive budget commission we think it really will go a long way in making government and putting government back in the hands of the people where it should be and everybody heard of least realize that that's where the government should be in the three branches and one branch should not be entirely running the state of Mississippi. You mentioned openness in government. I believe you are one of the few or maybe the only public official who's ever opened or who's ever walked out of a closed door meeting. I guess it is true we have no statistics on it but I know at one time the certain committee that I was sitting on was going to spend one hundred and sixty million dollars of the taxpayers money. They wanted to go into closed session I voted against going in closed session and felt necessary to walk out of those closed sessions on several occasions because I felt that I could not sit in there with my belief that government should be open to the people that the book should be open that the meeting should be open and the public's

business should be done in public. Of course the next session of the legislature what the legislature did they took me off that particular commission and said if you're going to do that we don't want you on that commission but I still felt it was necessary to get out of the meeting and at least stand up for what I believed in rather than continue in that meeting and maybe out of state on that particular board. But I thought it was necessary at least an example which I felt we did to other public officials to say look if you don't believe in that that goes against your principle don't sit in and get out and I think it has set an example which helped I believe it helped get several bills passed through the legislature you know we got a new we got amended the public open meetings we've got a public record low in Mississippi for the first time. With only state didn't have one. And we finally got one I think. Probably at least I hope that we have a little part in doing that because we recommend it to the legislature on several occasions we work with them we spoke out publicly for it and we do have it now and I think that I think government run a lot better when it's in the public. He put the sunlight in there and

let people see what's going on. And you get you get much better government. In south Mississippi I suppose one of the major issues confronting the people in there is the issue of nuclear waste being dumped in that area. It is what is your position on that. When I came into office in January 1980 I found that the federal government thought we won't need nuclear waste dump in Mississippi. There was no one fighting against nuclear waste being dumped in south Mississippi. And so we immediately mobilize those agencies and people who were involved in it. They came into my office we got together. We start talking about not what we thought fighting it which told me we're going to go to court to keep it out of Mississippi appeared at the hearings of public hearings in regard to it and objecting to it. I have asked the president the United States you know on two occasions to give us a veto power over nuclear waste which Louisiana has now I don't take away Louise and I just want Mississippi to have the same veto power. And nobody on the state level joined in with us at that time now later on the legislature came in they passed some laws we had some old people came in. I

even spoke down on the Gulf Coast to about 5000 people one Sunday a lot of people were invited but it was very few of us down there I was only statewide candidate a public official who went down at that time and spoke in behalf of the people to as attorney general the state of Michigan as a candidate. And we have been fighting against nuclear waste I think we're winning but we've got to be sure that the people are mobilized with us putting nuclear waste in Mississippi is going to kill the tourism on the coast. The people will be frightened they don't think that the water is polluted which it could be because we have no safe way of no one and transporting it all throughout the state of Mississippi. It's coming not only from the United States is coming from foreign countries and Mississippi is truly going to be a dumping ground for nuclear waste we've been against it before. We're still against it and as governor the state of Mississippi will continue to fight and isn't moving to go to court even as governor the state of Mississippi with the assistance of the next attorney general to make sure the nuclear waste is not put into into Mississippi.

Bill and the attorney general's office I understand you have a criminal division and you're active there in that division in prosecuting appeal cases from the lower courts of Mississippi. You had a successful track record in that area as a first assistant attorney general I was in charge overall in charge of the Criminal Division which we have in the office. And of course as attorney general I'm in charge and we've got about a 90 percent of Furman's which means that even that body was convicted 90 percent of the time we've been able to affirm that in the Mississippi or United States Supreme Court all the federal courts. And we feel real good about it because it's a good record. It's one which we know that the law enforcement officers appreciate it because they make the arrest and then the judges they convicted the individual convicted the judges some and some and then we get up Hale we work as a team. We work with the law enforcement officers we work with the jurors we work with the judges and we try to enforce the laws of the state of Mississippi and make sure that when someone is convicted that conviction is not overturned because of some technicality some reason that that should not be so we fight real hard in

that area and we've got a real good track record we've got good good people not not belittling a mindset Don't get me wrong I don't appear before the court and all those occasion to write the briefs. My staff does they had on my supervision. But with their proud of the Criminal Division of the TONY JONES office. Bill how would you summarize the major issues in this campaign. Well I think you know sometimes our people think we're just a one issue candidate because we have come out real strong against utilities in this state but we've told people in the first day that I announced while I was attorney general I fall for these same things that we know that we need more jobs in the state in the state we've got to get people back to work. We've got to have a good education system in Mississippi one second to none because jobs and education work hand in hand. We've got to bring down the utility cost in the States because the impacts so tremendously upon education and bringing industry in the state of Mississippi we've got to expand the industry we've got here right now work with them create those kind of jobs we know that drugs are a great or good problem a big problem state in

this city. We've got to work toward that we've got to keep nuclear waste out of the state of Mississippi. We've got to work with the senior citizens of this state like we've done for the last four years through our consumer protection group. We've got to watch out for fraud upon the citizens of this state. We've got a lot of problems in the economic problems in this state. We can't afford any more tax in the state of Mississippi. What do you do about it. We could out ways to combat corruption reorganize. We've got to make sure that we get more services for our dollar tax dollars and not more tax dollars for services we can do it. It can be done. Waistcoat and outweighs corruption reorganization make sure we tighten our belt and then we do what we asked the public to do with the taxpayers to do that. Make sure that every nickel that they pay in taxes is spent for that particular purpose and none of it's wasted of course but one of the big issues that has been before the legislature in the past several sessions has been that of balancing the budget. What are your goals are with regard to balancing the budget.

While I believe in a balanced budget I believe that we've got to we cannot run in the rain. That's what's called in a lot of states in this in this nation to go bankrupt and the only way you can do that is making sure that every tax dollars I say it is spent for that particular service and that particular purpose. And the governor the state of Mississippi I think not because of our lawsuit will now have an executive budget we can get all the Executive people together and say look this is how much money we need we don't need any more. This is where we're going to get it from. We present that budget to the legislature then they can look at it again. And in terms of whether or not we need that kind of money now it's just one one phase of it. They settle they own the budget commission. They look at that they take it back over to the legislature to do that to coming back to the agencies that they do the spending of the money. I think that the lawsuit we filed in by winning and I hope the Supreme Court of Mississippi will affirm that we're working on that right now. They will make a lot better government it'll make cheaper government for the state of Mississippi. It's a less expensive government for the state of Mississippi and will get every dollar that the

taxpayers pay will get with They'll they'll get back services for that. Very well if you have an opportunity to get out on the campaign trail a lot this summer. Tom not as much as I really like to really like to get out in 1979 and I think that one is Attorney General I was not that well-known at that particular time. And I got to press the flesh so to speak with the people shaking hands speaking all of the state of Mississippi at rallies when you could find a crowd back to find two people that get up make a speech back in 1979. I like to do that now. But the duties and responsibilities and obligations of the Turner Journal which you know we've had certain things recently here with the death penalty in Mississippi with the problem we've had of nuclear waste fighting utilities. Making sure that I was there to go before the Public Service Commission being the first attorney general ever did that in the history of the state of Mississippi that these things have kept us too. Chained to a desk so to speak for a long time but we do get out with the people I have been in the last couple of weeks I've been up in north Mississippi we've been down in south Mississippi we work central Mississippi

we've been I think in all 82 counties in some fashion shaking hands with people asking them for their vote. We needed more than a body else because we're not we can't get out there full time. But I said to the people of Mississippi in 1979 that I'd be there turn a journal for four years I will be the attorney general January of 1984 and I'm going to put the duties responsibilities of attorney general first and my personal ambition to be governor stay missive second. I hope people understand that. They tell me they will and so we do get out on weekends and at night when we can and shake hands with people and ask them for their vote because they like to see out there they want to know who you are and I hope they look at our record as attorney general and see what we've done there and say hey this is the kind of person we want to lead the state in this city for the next four years. I asked you a question a while earlier about the legislature. Do you have support in the legislature now. We have good support from legislators who came over my office before you decided to run for governor and said they would support me I talk to them on the campaign

trail I think there will be some new legislator or not because the old will be defeated because we some are not running. I think that the legislature and I will have a good working relationship and not all roll over and play dead. Not that kind of cooperation but I think they can say well. This person has shown us and we respect him for the fact is that he abides by the Constitution will abide by the Constitution and we can work together cooperate together executive I will try to mess with the legislative people. Ive told him that before I'm not going to have any any problem when I come in as governor try and also get people to legislate you I wont thats a legislative matter and when they get there they get all going to go over there they can come over there we can sit and say look these are programs we need for the people of the state and they are going to be elected by the same people that elect me governor the state of Mississippi in 1983 and I think the whole goal and purpose of all of us will be putting this state getting this state moving and keeping it moving so we can have a quality of life in the

spiritual life for the people of this state will be increased and will be better four years from now. We talked about jobs a moment ago. I come from an area of the state that is somewhat economically depressed the northeastern corner of the state. We're really excited in an area about 10 tomm waterway and what that may do for the development of that area of the state as well as the rest of the state of Mississippi. What is your view with regard to seeking new industry for the state of Mississippi. Tom that's one of the areas we really need to work with not only at the Tombigbee and in the industry up there in getting expanded industry in make sure we develop that waterway like we have not developed the Mississippi River in that part of the state and I know we have not developed it with the distribution centers the industry we should. Louisiana has a fall as the Mississippi River is concerned. We also need some good highways up in that part of the country because highways tie in with the Tombigbee is always transportation if you've got a wall a port there and they've got to be able to transport that stuff from the port throughout the state of Mississippi So

that's one of the areas we've been in we worked in we know the problem today area we think of an expansion program up there with think of targeting in that program. That's just one part of the state in the city we needed although the stadium is a very real and you know we got to go on a crash program because we're behind in certain areas economic not in the people of this state we've got good people. We've got good moral people we've got a kind of a climate down here that if we can sell it to the rest of the nation and I think the governor's got to do that and we can bring industry here and expand industry we can make this state bloom again but it's going to take hard work is going to take a lot of dedication is going to take people working together cooperating and not write off any part of the state will have to do with every part of Mississippi and bring this state forward. What is your position with regard to the education reform act that was recently passed by the legislature. I supported that and I think it's got to bring in it's a long way forward in education it will help us to be better educated people which ties in again to jobs and industry in this state. But we've got to make sure it's funded now I think we've got in place now

taxes that can do that. But I'd like to set up a trust phone to make sure that the taxes that are going into the education program will be there when the program kicks in you know it kicks in in 84 and 85 and 86 and make sure I think the people the state of Mississippi you know what I pay taxes don't get it wrong but I think the people the state of Mississippi do not mind paying taxes for education and for good law enforcement and for good so so long as they know that money is going for that purpose now long as we know it's in a trust fund in the legislature. Reach out and get it for some other program they might like better. Then the people of say the Mississippi it'll hurt a little bit have to pay those taxes but they don't mind paying it when they know that it's going to be for the better education the state move the state forward. We we're in dire need of education some 44 percent of our people adults do not have a high school education. We got a horribly illiterate right in this day in history not moved to move to a state like that doesn't expand in a state like that. We got a new label of education coming in which I supported in 1979 when I was running for

attorney general. Five members of the board will be put on by the governor the state of Mississippi they've got to be people dedicated to carrying out the program dedicated to make sure Mississippi moves forward in education. Five members on the College Board. We got to make sure those people are dedicated to the universities and colleges in this state all universities and colleges not single out any particular one. Not one I come from a one somebody else come from one you might come from. But make sure that we are looking at all of the universe is in this state. We got a good junior college program state of Mississippi 16 junior colleges 60 percent of our students in college are in the junior college and do a fantastic job of moving the state forward educating in the Vo-Tech. We've got to worry about the Adult Education in-state in this if you will behind a little bit and we've got a lot of people that that are not educated. And when you have an educated adults then those people are with you for from for another 30 or 40 years they can't even get jobs so we got a lot of problems in that but we can solve them. Mississippi can. He's got some good people here and we can solve the problem we've got to get together. We

got to know them we got a single I'm out we've got to address them and then we got to solve them. Somewhat related to the education issue is a question of seeking out heartache in history. What is your position on that because every state is looking to hire because that's really where he is that's that's where the real good jobs all the jobs pay a lot of money the jobs really make the economy move. But while we are seeking higher tech which we must do and we've got to first educate our people to take these high tech jobs but we can't forget about those people who already got educated the kind of educations they got the kind of low tech they're looking for. So we've got a game work hand in hand. We can't put one aside and say look we'll wait 15 years and we could always vote this good high tech and we got to work only while we work in all that we got to expand what we've got here so we can put the people we've got already educated to work and work also so again it works hand in hand that's really not always say that I go to that state of Mississippi. It's hard to say this is the number one problem this they all

react on each other. Jobs education high utilities drugs crime corruption waste in government they all work together and that's the only way we can get this state moving and keep it moving. Very well how does a U-turn on the issue relate to education. So the education issue for example. Well no work in daily with universities and colleges and in the schools all over this state. I know of some school districts that have had to let all teachers had to get away with some of them get rid of some of the enrichment program because they did not have that built into their budget. I know some universities have had problems with that. The professors pay in the kind of money they ought to because at the state of Mississippi itself not not local. The stated sales pays over 40 million dollars a year and utilities both go up to 65 million dollars next year. Next budget period where we don't get to 25 million dollars every time you take money to go to utilities which we need and don't get me wrong we've got to have telephone we've got to have electricity but they've got to be reasonable because any time you take that

money out of the taxpayers then you are going to have to lift some other program slide. Just recently I know some counties I know some hospitals that got back thousands of dollars from impale on the refunds that we were able to get for the people whom we fought that fight for. So this impacts on education and went in and impact on education impacts on jobs. So they all tied together. I'm not into utility we've got to have them we've got to move forward with that but they've got to be reasonable. They've got to be just and they can be done that and I think that if we all work together and they tighten their belts the same way that the rate payers have to tighten their belts then we can bring those down and really get this state moving forward. Burial are read in a paper recently that the telephone company is considering doubling their rates that will not only kill the person who got that telephone you know telephones and assess it in life today. The only communication the outside world at night to call law enforcement officers or

to call a doctor or anything else a lot of people live outside of the the the Metropolitan communities I mean live out in the rural areas. Older people even young people everybody. We cannot afford to double the rates in this state and it impacts again only businesses ninety nine percent of the business in Mississippi are classified as small businesses and these people tell me as I go around to the communities they say look I cant stand there we're just making enough money to carry on our grocery store or carry on our color. Store down here a carry on what it was like in uprising might be and whatever factor they might be in they use a lot of telephones. We'll own a margin right now that we have to pay another hundred dollars a month or another 500 another thousand or another 2000 is going to kill us and so again this will impact tremendously upon the individual impact of ministry upon business day the impact of all government cut government use a lot of telephone. And this is again why we are fighting against doubling the telephone rates in the

state of Mississippi and will be they are as attorney general lobbied for the Public Service Commission fighting it. As governor the state of Mississippi I'll be there for the Public Service Commission a representative of his will be both public service commission or I will be over talking to the attorney general and say hey let me and you join together and fight this battle which I have fought for the last four years Bill. You may want to take a moment here and just kind of summarize your feelings about this campaign. Well cause I think it's more of a referendum that is an election I don't say it's a case of whether I'm out one of my opponents better qualified to serve the people of the state of Mississippi. I've done some things as attorney general that no other attorney general is willing to do. I've done some things that public officials have not done not stood up for the people of the state. I walked out of the executive in closed meetings. I brought a lawsuit against the powerful legislature tours of faulty utilities in the state. They're out to get me I know that they're spending money they are spreading rumors they got workers out in the fields to defeat Bill Alleyne. I look at it really as a referendum on what I have done as

attorney general the state of Mississippi all the people of this state will stand up with me as I have stood up with them are they going to continue to let me fight for them and when for they me that's the thing that a lot of people don't like being fired I'm an old man but when you start winning that's what really gets them upset. And that's what we've been able to do we've been able not just to fight not just to say hey legislators get off a border commission we got them over there. Hey utilities lower your rates we made them lower the rate. Hey federal government don't dump nuclear waste in Mississippi. We kept it out of Mississippi. Now we can send the utilities and we can send the legislature told we can send the federal government a message. Either they believe in what I've done and they want them to continue to reduce and lower those rates for utilities they won't need to waste kept out of this state. They won't legislate to ward off those boards and commissions while saying Tell us something else. They can say Mr. Attorney General we don't mind those legislators been on board a commission we don't mind these high utility rates. We don't mind these things. And it's really I think that people need to think what kind of a message are you sending to the next attorney general I

will be attorney general after January 84. Are you going to tell that person if you stand up for the people of this state then four years from now you go back to a law practice because we're not going to stand up for you. What are they going to send to the other public officials in this state. They can send a message look if you'll stand up for us we will stand up for you and put some spine in the backs of the public officials in the state of Mississippi not to don't have them right now. But I can tell you this. That if I am not elected governor the state of Mississippi a lot I'm going to think differently come January 1984 the next attorney general might think different in 1994 and say well why should I do that if I do that. Some of my friends told me don't take on the legislature don't take only utilities don't take on the federal government don't take on all these criminals out here in the crime and corruption that's running rampant Sometimes the state of Mississippi. Because if you do it's going to hurt you and they going to fight against you. But I think it's more of us that believe in standing up for the people of this state I think more people out there that believe in the things I have fought for in the last four years than those who believe otherwise. And I think we can send a message to

everybody in this state in space of the public officials stand up for us and we'll be there. They were there four years later standing up for you. And all I'm doing I'm trying to take this message to the people throughout the state of Mississippi that this I have stood by you and stood up for you. And I have fought for you. Let me do this. Send me a message too that you won't me for the next four years to continue fighting and not only fighting but to continue winning for the people the state of Mississippi. Thank you very. Mississippi educational television believes in the value of a well informed electorate in accordance with Federal Communications Commission regulations. Mississippi each TV will provide an equal opportunity to all bona fide legally qualified candidates for this office. The views expressed in this broadcast are those of the candidate and not the station the station endorses no candidate or viewpoint.