JACKSON - Mississippi's ship of state is sailing through uncharted waters these days.
Just who is steering that ship is the subject of significant conjecture at this point. But it's clear that the combination of a politically strong governor, the new partisan division of the Legislature and the extended illnesses of the leaders of both the Senate and the House have created a crisis.
Republican Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, 41, has been seriously ill since mid-April after being diagnosed with mycoplasma pneumonia, is still undergoing treatment and is at present not fully able to perform the duties of her office.
The political pecking order saw Tuck's illness temporarily elevate Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Travis Little, R-Corinth, to the leadership role in that chamber. Little is a key Tuck lieutenant and the transition of practical leadership appeared easier in the Senate than in the House.
But Tuck's absence - now protracted - clearly upsets the balance of power between the Legislature and Gov. Haley Barbour. From a political standpoint, Barbour holds sway over the Senate and negotiates directly with GOP and GOP-friendly senators there to protect his legislative agenda.
Tort reform? Barbour had things his way. Medicaid reform? Again, smooth sailing for Barbour in the Senate. Department of Human Services reauthorization? Barbour gets what he wants in the Senate.
On the west side of the Capitol, House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, has been seriously ill since June 5 after surgery for diverticulitis - an inflammation of the digestive tract.
McCoy, 61, is now recuperating in Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson. The full extent of his illness has not been made public, but family members and close legislative aides say he's making daily progress.
Unlike Tuck's situation of general political alignment with Barbour, McCoy has fought in the legislative trenches to preserve House positions on tort reform, the state budget, taxes, public health care and a myriad of those issues in which the House Democratic majority disagreed with Barbour.
McCoy is a hands-on, policy intensive speaker who involves himself deeply in the minutiae of legislation. The son of a longtime North Mississippi legislator, McCoy's world view is steeped in respect for the legislative process, for tradition and for a healthy separation of the legislative branch of government from the executive and the judicial.
While Tuck's illness is serious, McCoy's health problems have been life-threatening and - many colleagues privately fear - perhaps life-changing.
McCoy's illness has temporarily elevated House Speaker Pro Tempore J.P. Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis, to the leadership post in the House.
While Compretta has served McCoy and the House in a loyal, honorable manner during the speaker's illness, the transition of practical daily political power in the House has been more problematic.
Barbour has been able to coordinate his political strategies with Little in the Senate. The special session last week on the DHS reauthorization is a perfect example.
The Senate reauthorized DHS as Barbour wanted and soon adjourned.
The House was left struggling to force a linkage of the DHS reauthorization with a revisiting of the Medicaid reform. But soon, there was no one with whom the House could negotiate on the east end of the Capitol.
Tuck is missed, but McCoy's absence casts a long shadow over a balanced, working Legislature in which both parties hold the other accountable for their policy initiatives - and that's a danger.
