Herb Frierson, the Republican former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, started today his new job as director of the Mississippi Department of Revenue.
Another veteran House member, Democrat Steve Holland, announced this week that he was 85 percent sure he would be hanging it up.
Frierson’s departure and Holland’s possible one come less than eight months after their re-elections last November.
Their political contributors are due a partial refund.
How many donors would have ponied up if Frierson had said that if he got a better job offer, he would be leaving? Or if Holland, who has had health problems the last couple of years, had said he wasn’t sure he had the energy or desire to serve an eighth term, would those checks have come so readily? Probably not on both counts.
Political donors gave Frierson more than $32,000, and Holland maybe half as much (it’s a little unclear as his campaign finance reports don’t jibe) on the expectation that, barring death or a debilitating illness, they would serve out the full four years.
Possibly Frierson didn’t know prior to his 2015 re-election run that he had a good shot at being picked by Gov. Phil Bryant to replace Ed Morgan, with whom the Republican governor apparently was dissatisfied, for the $140,000-a-year job. And maybe Holland didn’t fully weigh whether he could continue to handle the strain of fulfilling his legislative responsibilities in Jackson and taking care of his funeral home business in Tupelo.
Doesn’t matter.
When elected officials don’t fulfill the commitment under which they ran, they should return a prorated share of the money to the people who bankrolled their campaign.
By our calculation, Frierson owes his 2015 donors an 87 percent refund, or about $28,000. If Holland goes through with stepping down, he would get off a little easier — Democrats usually don’t raise as much money as Republicans — but it would still be a fair chunk of change.
Those donors could pocket that refund, or give it to candidates they might want to back in upcoming special elections to fill the vacancies.
At least they wouldn’t feel their previous donations had been solicited under false pretenses.
