JACKSON — What an incredible stroke of good political fortune for incumbent Southern District Transportation Commissioner Wayne Brown that the Nov. 1 opening of the new $338 million Biloxi Bay Bridge on U.S. 90 that connects Biloxi and Ocean Springs comes just five days before the Nov. 6 general election.
Even more fortuitous for Commissioner Brown is the fact that the Mississippi Department of Transportation has decided to pick up the tab (with taxpayer money, of course) for what appears to be a really nice, really large party to celebrate the event.
How big a party, you ask?
Well, The Sun Herald newspaper reported Monday that MDOT has printed 5,000 copies of an 88-page paperback book (again with taxpayer money, of course) written by Commissioner Brown praising the good work of Commissioner Brown and MDOT personnel in completing the federally funded project.
The Gulf Coast newspaper quoted an MDOT spokesman as saying the commemorative book was printed by MDOT's in-house printing staff on state equipment using about $5,018 on materials for the book.
So, taxpayers, just how much of your money IS being spent to provide a nice bridge-opening party and Brown's book celebrating the completion of a bridge you already paid to build?
Can't tell you. Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall said during a Monday meeting with The Clarion-Ledger editorial board that he asked the MDOT staff at the last meeting of the commission, but was not provided an answer.
Some cynical types have suggested that the incredible strokes of good political fortune that have accrued to Commissioner Wayne Brown — a splashy bridge opening party, a self-congratulatory commemorative book and both at taxpayer expense — is so much incredibly good political fortune as to appear unbelievable.
Hall is one of those cynics: “I don't think there's any question that the scheduling and the scope of this event is political.”
Brown's Republican opponent Larry Benefield is another cynic. Benefield told the Coast newspaper: “It is perfect timing. It's five days. It sounds pretty political to me.”
Both Wayne Brown and MDOT Executive Director Butch Brown denied to Coast reporters any political motive in the scheduling of the celebration or in the printing of the book at taxpayer expense.
Even with the taxpayers picking up the check for the celebration and book printing that appears to directly benefit Wayne Brown, no state law has been broken so long as Brown doesn't explicitly ask for votes.
Yet make no mistake, this party has every appearance of a purely political event. But then the current regime at MDOT has a lot riding on the outcome of this election.
Butch Brown rules MDOT with an iron fist because of the support of Commissioner Wayne Brown and Northern District Transportation Commissioner Bill Minor.
Butch Brown's political battles with Hall have become legendary in terms of both acrimony and pettiness. Hall, a frequent critic of Butch Brown, has said that if he can gain an ally on the commission that he will again vote to replace him in the agency's top bureaucratic job. He said it again on Monday.
Benefield, who is running a strong campaign against Wayne Brown, is seen as a candidate who might break up the alliance that has kept Butch Brown in power.
Minor is unopposed in the Northern District while Hall faces the challenge of Democrat Rudy Warnock in his re-election bid.
What is most clear at this juncture if that the stakes in the Transportation Commission races in both the Central and Southern districts are higher than usual this time around — both for the individual candidates and for Butch Brown - and hence, it's party time at the Biloxi Bay Bridge.
