Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / Mayor debate recap plus Rep. Rob Roberson interview on MSMS

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Mayor debate recap plus Rep. Rob Roberson interview on MSMS · Between the Headlines: Columbus

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is Between the Headlines.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: One of our hosts of Between the Headlines is the managing editor of our newsroom.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Typically we try to keep news and opinions separate, but reporters have a unique insight into the workings of local government and their analysis can be helpful for readers and listeners.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: The dispatch remains committed to journalistic integrity and our reporting will always reflect that.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: And now Between the Headlines.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: This week, on Between the Headlines, the defendant takes the stand regarding all this MSMS talk.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: That is the chair of our House Education Committee.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: None other than the gentleman from Octavia himself, mr Rob Robertson, will join in and of course we will break down the Democrat-hosted mayoral debate and tell you who was the big le-who-ze-her.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: But first let's hear from the fine folks who make this show possible.
• 1:12
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• 1:17
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• 2:04
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• 2:11
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• 2:18
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• 2:26
  Speaker 4: That is bentonsinccom.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: And now a message from political candidate Bill Strauss.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I want to thank the Commercial Dispatch for this podcast, bringing different views in an open discussion.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: I'm Bill Strauss, humbly asking for your vote as next mayor of Columbus.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: You deserve transparency and accountability for your tax dollars.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: I'm business friendly and charitable.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Vote Bill Strauss mayor of Columbus 2025.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Paid for by campaign to elect Bill Strauss.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: And now a message from political candidate Jason Spears.
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: I am Jason Spears, candidate for City Council, ward 6.
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: Over the past 20 years I faithfully and effectively served our community in many different ways.
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: If elected, I will bring structure and strategy to the city's finances, help develop a blueprint to capitalize on the growing economic activity in our city and work to strengthen relationships with Lowndes County officials, the Golden Triangle Development Link and, most importantly, you, the citizens of Columbus.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: I approve this message and, on April 1st, vote Jason Spears for Ward 6, paid for by the campaign to elect Jason Spears.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us today.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: You are listening to Between the Headlines hosted by the master moderator managing editor of the Commercial Dispatch, mr Zach Player, and I am David Chisholm, leroy brooks.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: well I mean david.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: He has a question for all of us.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Are you tired of?
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: all the foolishness.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: He said it a lot.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: I've been tired of the foolishness for quite some time, to put it lightly.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: But I can tell you that I am not the only one tired of foolishness.
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: And, and that is to say looking at last night and looking at the crowd interaction in a building.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Oh man, that crowd was great, they were great.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: Now, the loudest by far applause of the night was after a line by Bill Strauss, when he said let's just throw out all of the city council and I can tell you you they simply erupted.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: And after that it was like being in church, like the fun kind of church, oh yeah absolutely.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I think that both candidates did what they needed to do.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Bill Strauss, the independent, taking the invitation to be a part of the Democratic debate.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Leroy delivered exactly what he was supposed to.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: He performed magnificently, his energy was on point.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: He was on brand, on message.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: You know exactly what you're getting if you vote for Leroy, and nothing changed about that yesterday.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: So whether you vote for him, whether you're booking him as a motivational speaker or whether you're inviting him to your house, you get that Leroy and he didn't leave you wondering who he was when he left there, you know.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: At the same time, you know Bill did surprisingly well, at least for me, and I want to eat a little bit of crow here.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: If you remember the first podcast episode we did, I said you know Bill's a spoiler candidate.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the only person he's going to spoil is Darren Leach.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know After last night, you know.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: First of all, he showed courage by even showing up.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Second, I think he elevated his message and held his own on the debate stage.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Leroy was Leroy all night long, but Bill, I think you know, acquitted himself really well.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Well, what's interesting to me is is anyone new coming in there?
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: They would probably say that Leroy absolutely mopped the floor with Bill's nose, okay, but but if you have been around and you've listened to Leroy I mean, he's been in politics what 41 years and you know how polished he is you knew he was going to be ready.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: So if you've been around, then you weren't really surprised, other than, as you say, the Bill Strauss side of this really held their own.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, he came in, he was courageous, maybe a little nervous at first, but he was there.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was there and he wasn't just there to be, you know, a foil, he was there to compete and I think he got his message across.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Now I think that one thing that we can talk about is, you know, the differentiation in their messages, which I think is there were some very clear.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: There were some times they agreed and, as you talked about the audience, I think responded really well to you know, leroy, when he was being funny, when he was you know when, when, when he was pounding home his message, there were times they applauded for him, laughed for him.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: They did?
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: He had a lot of singers.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: They did the same for Bill and showed Bill a lot of respect, but I do think that there were some very key differences in their responses thematically.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: And, david, I know we're getting to know each other, but one thing that you're going to get to know about me, the more we we talk, is I talk in sports metaphors almost more than I talk in regular English, and so I'm going to start there now.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Bill presented the mayorship and how he envisioned the mayorship as more of like that game manager quarterback versus the you know the gunslinger quarterback of Leroy.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: You know Bill talked, repeatedly talked about the role and the power of the mayor's job.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: You know, at one point he literally said that he thought the questions that we were asked I was among one of the, I was among the three moderators in the debate, but at one point he literally said that the questions were veering more toward what the city should do and he thought that the question should be taking, should be talking more about what the mayor should do.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: And Leroy's response to that, I mean he attacked that as a distinction, without a difference.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: He couched the mayor's role as being a city ambassador, out front face and leader.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: He noted he already had seats at all the good tables.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: He mentioned Joe, max, higgins and the Link a lot.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he knew everyone in the state of Mississippi Right, and everybody in the state of Mississippi knows him, and he presented very clearly how he could leverage that to the city's advantage.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: So, using that game manager versus gunslinger Bill, we're going to manage clock, we're going to manage down and distance.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: The department heads the line's going to block, the running backs are going to run, the receivers are going to catch the ball, and that's what we expect.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: There's a very, very narrow, specific role for the mayor, and Leroy's was more.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: We're going to pass for 300 yards, we're going to run for 200 yards and we're going to knock the hell out of everybody on defense, and I feel like that resonates with more voters.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: But what do you think there?
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: What do you think about their visions?
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Well, to be honest, I think that Bill Strauss fell a little flat in that regard and I think that's unfortunate for Bill Strauss in the sense that really he's looking at this and saying what can I feasibly do?
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: What can I do to not rock the boat?
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: He mentioned several times where he praised the police chief, he praised the CVB people, among others, and for the people that were there, I'm not sure that he really scored any points.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: I was thinking through this last night and it occurred to me that if he were running for the council person for the downtown ward, it would be 950 votes to 12.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Well, that is Ward 1, so I don't know if you're right about that, but he definitely would be more in his element there.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Bill's very pragmatic, he doesn't want to over-promise and under-deliver and he knows what he knows.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: And what Bill knows is downtown, and one challenge that last night's debate really made clear was if Bill's going to while he did acquit himself very well on that debate stage with a more than worthy opponent if he's going to effectively grow his voter base, he's got to get out of downtown, he's got to expand his messaging beyond downtown.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: I had a very interesting epiphany about Leroy last night.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: I listened very carefully to what he said and check this out.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: We've got about five different topics.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: I'll bullet point through them real quick.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: Police, he said we can't always be throwing money at the problem.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: Safety, he said after sports these kids, these kids, they just need to get a job.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: Lobbyist money, he said that City Hall spends money like there is no end and the crowd got into that.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: One.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: Blight, he said where's the six million dollars?
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: And then annexation he really got on the offensive there.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: He called out Well, that's one of his talking points?
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: Yes, but he did.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: He called him out on the carpet for quote, wasting thousands of dollars on obvious political gain.
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: And so I'm looking at this and I'm thinking that after the show, I'm going to open a box, I'm going to put a red hat in it, I'm going to put an application for the Republican Party of Lowndes County and I'm going to send it to Mr Leroy Brooks, because it sounds to me like this guy was running as a Republican.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Well, leroy, if you're listening, I want to make note that David Chisholm said that and Zach Player did not.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: Opinions are those of the speakers.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: But, to be fair, let me temper this.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: I did not say he was running as a conservative because, to be fair, he mentioned a lot of programs.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: He mentioned programs for a repeat offenders, a study to that regard.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: He mentioned a youth summit.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: He mentioned a program for cultural activities, programs, programs, programs, and those do cost money.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: They do.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: And that is an expansion of government.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: So one thing that would have been easy for Leroy to do and a point that he made last night one thing that would be easy for him to do is to come in, assume all of the department heads are trash, all of the departments are being run terribly, and just rebuild everything from scratch, or try to.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Of course, he has to go through the council to do that and that would be an uphill climb in a lot of cases, but that's not even what he's suggesting.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: I think one of the smarter things that—and he put out a lot of smart ideas last night and understand me well— but I think one of the more important ones that got lost in the shuffle and Bill actually criticized it, and I think he's wrong about it Leroy sitting down for 60 days going through each department with the department heads and looking at what needs to be done and who needs to do it, instead of deciding that before he gets there.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I think that's a good idea and I think that's something that, if it were done, could make a lot of difference in the city, potentially Now one place where Leroy stumbled and most of the questions he was ready for he had his answers ready and even if he was ad libbing.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: He was doing it effectively.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: The very last question before closing statements was about the $5 million capital fund.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: It either caught him by surprise or he wasn't as well versed in his answer there, because he was kind of awash, he was swimming.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: In that answer he mentioned Burns.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Bottom on that, did he not?
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he did.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Bill had a very good answer to that question.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: He mentioned Burns bottom on that, did he not?
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he did.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Bill knew the answer, had a very good answer to that question.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: He knew that issue and that was where he really, I think, from a question answering standpoint, maybe scored his most points, because he made mention.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I've been to see Jim Brigham, I've seen those financials, I know what's in that fund and I know what it's supposed to be for and this is what my vision for leveraging that money is.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: Well, he exhibited fiscal responsibility.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: He said let's put in a rainy day fund, that way, when these problems come up which they will we're not in a twist and we're not sitting there having to borrow more money.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I was that was the only answer that I was disappointed with Leroy that he didn't have a better formed response for something that I think is going to be pretty critical to the future of the city's finances, especially considering where they've been was paradoxical about Leroy is that, you know he, he had all these bombastic statements and and with the same mustache, he was talking about how he was not going to be a heavy handed mayor.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: Ok, his hand is made of lead.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: I just simply can't believe that.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: You know, look at his history.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: At the Board of Supervisors.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: He said last night that he's going to bring a sense of decorum into city hall.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: I think that's fantastic, but really decorum.
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: Now I want to give him the benefit of a doubt here, but, um, I mean he's a passionate guy.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to be quiet all the time, but he's going to want to have his hand on the steering wheel and his foot on the gas throughout his administration if he wins.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: But I do not see Leroy leading emotionally from a personal level.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I don't see him making decisions based on whether he likes or dislikes people.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I don't see him making policy decisions based on you know, what have you done for me lately.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: I see him being a lot more pragmatic than that and I think especially his last you know, 10 years on the board of supervisors bears that out.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: So moving on your winners and losers from the debate, All right, the big loser was none other than Stephen Jones.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: Because he was not there, oh, yes, and I really wish quite honestly that he would have been there to kick back and give a rebuttal of the annexation barb that got thrown his way.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: And now, to be fair, uh, we also had, uh, the other candidate not to make it the the apostle darren leach, right, you know?
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's on the website, by the way.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: So if you thought that there were 12 apostles, you were mistaken.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I digress well, stephen jones definitely the biggest loser, and not only did he fail appear.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Did you see the video of his prior engagement that he's been talking about?
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: For two weeks.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: It ended up being a conversation with approximately eight kids in some basement somewhere that was live streamed on Facebook.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Now don't get me wrong.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I think it's important to talk to the youth.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: I think it's very important for city leaders to make time to sit down with you.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: I'm not impugning Stephen Jones for having a conversation with the youth Because, look, it's no different than Trump doesn't want to do the CNN debate or whichever one, it was Well sure.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: So I'm going to go raise some money for some vets.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: Well, good, but you should have been at the debate, should have been there, no question.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: And I mean okay, so you look at that video on Facebook, his live stream with this conversation with the youth.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Anyone with good judgment who saw that knows that event was rustled up in an afternoon.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: That wasn't something that was planned two weeks ago.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: But even if it was, it was either rustled up in an afternoon or you had an event planned weeks in advance where very few youth actually showed up and the microphone didn't even work.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: So I don't even know what they were talking about because you couldn't hear them.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Either way, it looks terrible for Stephen and I think that this is the big takeaway there.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: The big winner from Stephen's video was Bill Strauss, because that just made Bill Strauss look like an honorary, valiant figure who's just full of courage.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: And you've got to have courage to run a city.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: And elevating his message to where I think that he does better in the general election now than he would have if he didn't show up last night.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: I've got a couple more points about Stephen.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I think that the biggest thing is that Stephen got punked out last night.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: That puts him in a really dangerous position because he seems to be staking out the role of a victim.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Now, obviously, I think that the Democratic Party should have with two candidates you confirm with the candidates and you get a date before you start planning something and putting faces on a flyer and he has a point about that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: But I mean, he knew in enough advance to where he could have at least planned as good of a debate response as he planned a youth event on Facebook.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: But.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: But instead he argues with Kabir.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Instead he pulls out, sends emails, says I'm not coming, y'all didn't respect me, take my face off the flyer.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: He seems to be staking out the role of a victim when he's running against somebody who openly compares political campaigns to warfare.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Leroy Brooks.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Leroy Brooks is happy to let Stephen play the victim and put him in that spot, and he's going to as much rope as Stephen will take there.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: He's going to let him.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: And it also gets to the question of what kind of mayor Stephen will be if he wins.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: You know, if he feels slighted, will he not show up to city council meetings?
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: If somebody wants a city service or an audience with him, is he going to weigh whether this person said something bad about him on social media or maybe voted for another candidate before he shows up for him?
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, I hope not Gotta have thick skin and somebody who's been in city politics for 10 years and has done a much better job pre-campaign Stephen, than during campaign Stephen.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I mean he should know that?
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah for sure, and interestingly, I think the Add a Way to Go Award actually goes to Mr Kabir Kareem and the team that put this together, because, quite honestly, nobody was expecting them to open up that forum to independent candidates, and so I think good came out of this independent candidates, and so I think good came out of this.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: And I think that the voices that needed to be heard were heard, and the voices that were afraid to be heard were in the basement.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Now does Darren become the forgotten man.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: No, he's got a chance to redeem himself.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: I'm not giving him a free pass on missing this, but he had slightly more of an excuse to miss this than his Democrat challenger.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: So Stephen Jones certainly should have been there.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: Darren Leach probably should have been there.
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: Yep, I agree.
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: Next we have Mr Rob Roberson standing by on the phone.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: But before we get to that, do you have knee pain, muscle weakness, swelling or cold feet?
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: Call King Associates Cardiology for an appointment today at 662-368-1169.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: King Associates Cardiology we care and it shows.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: District 43 State Representative and House Education committee chair, rob robertson, joined the podcast today via zoom from jackson.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Due to a technical difficulty, we are picking up the conversation in the middle of his response to my first question, which was asking him why he thinks it's in the state's best interest for msms to be relocated to mississippi state.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: We apologize to mr robertson and to the listeners for the error.
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: I would certainly say that we would be happy to have MSMS.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: Msms is such a valuable component to Mississippi in general.
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: I have been over to look at the facilities over at MUW several times to say that they are not up to the standard that any of us would want.
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: I think it's a pretty bad shortcoming of the state.
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: It's a shortcoming of all involved, frankly.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: But as we're moving forward, we've got to look at this from the standpoint of what is in the best interest of these kids.
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: And right now, what is in the best interest of the kids that go to MSMS is going to be one of two things, and there's been no complete decision made on this yet.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: We're still trying to work out some things.
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: I think there's an RFP process that's going out some things.
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: I think there's an RFP process that's going, but Mississippi State University has been very willing to accept these kids onto the campus.
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: Muw has obviously don't want to lose MSMS, but there's a bottom line of who can support these children in the best way possible and my feelings are that MSU would be a better location because of the support that they could receive.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: I've heard multiple conversations of whether it be.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: Oh, the MUW is a safer campus.
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: I think that's a straw man's argument.
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: Mississippi State University is just as safe.
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: I'm certainly not going to begrudge or suggest that Lowndes County is not safe too.
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: Muw is a safe campus, but the bottom line is is these kids are going to be safe in either of these locations?
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: The reality of what is in the best interest of these kids and getting them the support they need is is, to me, the first thing that should be discussed and talked about.
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: The kids that are there are already partnering with uh Mississippi state university and being driven over uh every day dealing with uh complex issues, that they're involved with research.
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: They're involved with Um.
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: That is a partnership that's already occurring, and I'm certain that MUW's got similar dynamics at play as well.
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: But moving forward and having a conversation in terms of what is in the best interest of the and for the future of these kids, it just seems to me that there is going to be a heck of a lot more support and backup for MSMS through MSU Now, that being said, there may be things that we can do that make MUW more solid, but right now it certainly doesn't appear that, since they've had them over there, that there's been as much of an interest to support them, until there was a discussion about maybe moving them, and I would just say I want to jump in there.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I want to jump in there for a second One what has been your impression specifically of the leadership of MUW in advocating for MSMS over the years and specifically lately?
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: For MSMS over the years and specifically lately?
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: And for you, what do you need to see from MUW to, I guess, sway your opinion in the direction of maybe this is a better permanent home for MSMS?
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: The RFP process will probably tell us an awful lot.
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: Mde is gathering that information.
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: I'd love to see what this is going to look like.
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: I'd like to know what kind of cost estimates that we're looking at to keep them there or to move them into Starkville on the MSU campus.
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: Comparing those two things, as far as I guess, determining whether or not that is a good idea, we're just going to have to look at the facts, figures and figure that out.
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: Now I would have the same question to those that would want to suggest we don't leave it or we do want to leave it.
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: At MUW.
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: There is a huge pushback suggesting that it needs to be left there because that's just where it's been.
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: Huge pushback is suggesting that it needs to be left there because that's just where it's been.
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: I've been talking about consolidation across the state and the whole issue has been what is in the best interest of the kids, not what's in best interest of the adults or the superintendents or, for that matter, whether it be universities.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: I've heard you mention that proposal a couple of times.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: I've heard you mention that proposal a couple of times and the people of Lowndes County in particular, especially those who have a vested interest with MUW and MSMS, feel very.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: She said that she had asked your department for a rubric for which this proposal would be evaluated, and her response was given by email that the rubric for evaluation would be created after these proposals were submitted, after which we had an audible gasp in the room and I'm wondering where's the rubric, because to me, an outsider, it seems like the fix is already in.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: Tell me how I'm wrong.
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: Well, you're wrong from the simple fact that this has been talked about for two years in a row.
• 27:40
  Speaker 6: My question would be why did this not be a stronger push to support MSMS before today?
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: I mean, the reality that we face today is that nothing was happening.
• 27:54
  Speaker 6: Nothing would have happened had we not continued to have this conversation about possibly moving it.
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: This is not a conversation that happened in the last month.
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: This has been a conversation that, at minimum, has been happening for the last two years.
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: So the rubric on this is who is going to be in the best interest of these children?
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Well, talking about those proposals and I know that the State Board of Education is the one who approved that, mde is the one that's executing that but I think it would be fair to say that you know about it.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: You know about that process in your position as the House Education Secretary.
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: The process for what I'm sorry.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: For these proposals and the fact that they're being asked and so on.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Why just those two schools?
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: If you're looking for the best home for MSMS, why not open it up to all eight IHL universities?
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: Well, we've got three other schools that are being discussed in Valley, alcorn and Delta State right now as well.
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: Other schools have been discussed.
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: I think that MSU was very interested in this whenever the conversation came up.
• 28:59
  Speaker 6: I don't think that there's anybody in the equation here that would suggest MSU would not be a good spot.
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: I mean, msu is one of the three largest universities in the state.
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: I can't imagine that there would be any less pushback had it been Oxford or had it been Southern.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't Oxford or Southern.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: It was asked specifically of the W for home field advantage purposes and MSU.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: That was it.
• 29:31
  Speaker 6: And those are the two that were interested in it at the time.
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: I don't know that Oxford ever had an interest in it.
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: They may.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: And how proactive has that interest been, maybe over the last year, year and a half?
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: What conversations has MSU had with you about this?
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: And, yeah, how proactive has MSU's interest been in getting MSMS in Starville?
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: They've been very interested.
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: Some of this kind of flows from the fact that we were discussing a high school being put out there on MSU campus anyway, so there's already a bond issue that's set up for a 10th, 11th and 12th grade.
• 30:10
  Speaker 6: So this seemed to kind of be a, I guess, an opportune time to have a discussion about whether or not we were going to look at MSMS as well.
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: And here again, I don't know that MSMS is going to move anywhere at this point.
• 30:26
  Speaker 6: It's just a matter of continuing the conversation and see what happens.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: Mr Robertson, speaking as someone who is a fiscal conservative, I'm looking at this.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: There are approximately 10 acres plus or minus right behind where they're currently located.
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: I know they would have to move a railroad track, which is a headache, but there are things that can be done and, you know, in speaking with our local delegation, including your colleague, mr Andy Boyd, there seems to be this consensus that why should we be focused on building a brand new shiny toy when, at the same time, we could polish and repair the existing toy, even if we do a really, really good job of it?
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: I'm talking build a state-of-the-art dorm and fix more than just the air conditioner.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: Okay, take those 10 acres and really build it up right there in geographical vicinity to where it is.
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: Because, let's be honest, if you look at the number of national merit finalists, if you look at the numbers and if you look at the lack of brain drain, you look at how the kids are actually staying in Mississippi, why should there be an effort to fix something that ain't really broke?
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: And I would say I would suggest to you that it is broke.
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: I've gone through the facilities over there it something has to be done.
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: Whether it's not, it's the solution that you're suggesting, or whether it's the solution of moving it to to the MSU campus.
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: Now, the other side of the coin here is is that that if you combine the, the, the rebuild that we're talking about for the high school here in Starkville, and this and put these together, it could be a lot less expensive doing it that way.
• 32:17
  Speaker 6: Now, I don't know that for sure and I'm not certainly trying to report that that's the case at this point.
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: I think that we'll find out a little bit of that from the RFP process.
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: Here's the flip side of the argument.
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: I completely understand why Lowndes County, Columbus MUW doesn't want to lose MSMS.
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: I get that.
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: I completely understand that and I certainly am not trying to harm them, understand that and I certainly am not trying to harm them.
• 32:43
  Speaker 6: But the flip side of this argument is is why in the world would anybody think that if those merit scholarships and all of the things that were happening over there wouldn't continue to happen in a larger school setting under Mississippi State University's control as well?
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: I mean, I think that this is a no-brainer.
• 33:02
  Speaker 6: I think we're going to have some good things happen, regardless of where it lands.
• 33:05
  Speaker 6: Now, that being said, something needs to change Now, whether that is, it's changed in the location of where it's sitting or whether that's changing completely where we come in and make it nice and new and do a setup here in Octobahaw County.
• 33:23
  Speaker 6: That's the, I guess, where the rubber meets the road.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I understand your argument for economies of scale.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: One thing that I want to discuss here a little bit is if MSMS is built with Starkville High School on the MSU campus, how does that school and we've discussed this before for a story that went in print, but I want to talk to you about how maybe that's evolved since then, because that conversation was almost a year ago, right how does MSMS interact with Starkville High School and how does the identity of MSMS evolve or change as a result of that relationship, from what it is?
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: Well, first of all, I think we need to make certain that MSMS retains its identity.
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: I don't think there's a question of making certain that they're able to be able to be who they are, but I do think the economy of scales and the ability for this school to be set with a partnering school will give the kids the opportunity to have a little bit different relationship with their high school and potentially be involved in sports and things like that.
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: That could give a more rounded educational system.
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: At least, that would be my perception of how it would move forward Now, how the school board and the local school board would interact.
• 35:02
  Speaker 6: I think these are things that we're going to have to flush out, more so than just a 15-second conversation whenever we're moving forward.
• 35:09
  Speaker 6: This has got to be something that works.
• 35:11
  Speaker 6: Now, here again, we're well, I guess, don't want to put the cart before the horse.
• 35:19
  Speaker 6: We're well not to the point of having that discussion as to where it's going to go.
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: Those discussions have to be had after that decision's been made, and I certainly I mean I don't want to go out here and suggest that that's a decision made because it hasn't been.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Well, what your impressions, any conversations that have you spoken with MS administration, ginger Tedder, for example, about this?
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: issue at all.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: And I add to that question, mr Robertson, do you think that the staff will be able to be retained?
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: Because you're asking a lot of folks to dig up and move to a place where, quite frankly, real estate is quite a bit more expensive, a place where, quite frankly, real estate is quite a bit more expensive.
• 36:05
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean, people drive to Columbus, starkville and West Point, the Golden Triangle, to go to work every day.
• 36:09
  Speaker 6: I wouldn't suggest to you that anyone would have to move unless they wanted to.
• 36:13
  Speaker 6: There are people that are working at MSNS right now that live in Octobahaw County.
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: There are people that live in Clay County.
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: There are people that live there in Lowndes County as well.
• 36:24
  Speaker 6: I don't want to suggest that they're not, so their teachers are living already in different locations.
• 36:30
  Speaker 6: As far as speaking to Ginger Tedder, we've talked multiple times.
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: We haven't talked about specifically moving something somewhere.
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: We've talked about you know what the needs are there.
• 36:44
  Speaker 6: You know what do we need to be looking at in terms of making sure that MSMS is supported in the best way we can.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: What are your impressions of those conversations Like?
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: What do you feel like you've learned for those conversations and where do you think MSMS administration is as far as their posture toward moving or not, or what they need from the state?
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: I think if listen, if I were administration over there, I would keep.
• 37:12
  Speaker 6: I would keep out of the politics of this.
• 37:16
  Speaker 6: Frankly, I think a lot of the administration is frustrated that work for MSMS.
• 37:23
  Speaker 6: I think they've been really begging for some support over the years and I think at this point they just want, whatever happens, to be something positive for MSMS, and that includes staying in Lowndes County and that includes, if they are moved, moving somewhere else.
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: I think that their interests remain what is going to be in the best interest of the students as a whole and making certain that the school is supported the way it should be.
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: So I don't really want to pull them into the political argument here.
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: These are good people just trying to do a job and I realize that they're kind of being put in between a rock and a hard place here and I certainly don't want to suggest that they're promoting either direction.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, one more question that I have for you is the W in the large.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: What, first of all, are your impressions as a legislator and what you understand to be other legislators' general impression of the W at large, w leadership, and what has kind of led y'all to that impression, what shaped that impression?
• 38:41
  Speaker 6: MUW is, and I don't think anybody would suggest this is a secret.
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: Muw is having a bit of an identity crisis.
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: I think that that showed itself over the last couple of years with the name changes and things like that.
• 38:54
  Speaker 6: I think you have some solid, good administration over there.
• 38:58
  Speaker 6: You have a good, good people trying to run it, my, but it's awfully hard not to look at the, the IHL system as it stands today and look at how many colleges that we have, how many community colleges that we have, how many private colleges that we have, how many junior colleges that we have, and not to come to the conclusion that we, frankly, have too many of these out there for a population of under 3 million people.
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: How do we make certain that these locations are supported as well?
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: Muw has had a tough time getting allocations for money as well, so I don't want to put any pressure in the sense that they haven't tried, but when you're losing student population to the rate that a lot of these schools are doing, sometimes you have to come up with ulterior things for them to do to build their population, build their student base and keep them supported.
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: I do not have any want or anything to do with wanting to shut down MUW.
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: However, we've got to come up with ways that they can grow, and I think they're trying.
• 40:20
  Speaker 6: I think that they are kind of in a unique position here, whenever they were considered a Mississippi University for Women and they're trying to change that.
• 40:32
  Speaker 6: Look in terms of bringing in more male population into the school.
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: They do an excellent job with the nursing program.
• 40:40
  Speaker 6: They've got a heck of a culinary arts system.
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: I love MUW and I love the people there and I want to be able to support them, but sometimes we have to look at what is in the best interest of supporting them moving forward, and I don't have that answer yet either.
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: I really would love to do anything and everything I can to protect them, but there is a bottom line that we have to reach, and sometimes that may include working a deal out with another university to help them support themselves.
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: This help them support themselves, and it may not be that, but I think the administration and the president over there.
• 41:25
  Speaker 6: They've done a good job of trying to figure out some things, but they're in a precarious situation in terms of, you know, making certain that their budget is strong.
• 41:34
  Speaker 6: They have buildings that aren't being used or utilized the way that they would like to.
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: So we need to figure out ways and we may have to get creative in how we approach this, but I certainly don't want to hurt anybody in the Golden Triangle.
• 41:50
  Speaker 6: I realize that sometimes I end up being the face of this change, but that's not intentional.
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: It's just the reality that I am the chairman of education.
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: I have to look at this stuff and it would be the same thing if this were in a different part of the state that I wasn't from.
• 42:07
  Speaker 6: I truly have heard from quite a few people in Lowndes County that I'm very close to and think of dearly, but I've got to look at this from the aspect of what's going to be good for those kids in 10 years.
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: Mr Robertson, we thank you for not only coming on the program today, but also for your service to the state and for your emphasis on education and putting children and young adults first as we look to improve the situation, lessen the brain drain and all the many faces that we do challenge.
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: So thanks again.
• 42:43
  Speaker 6: Thank you both.
• 42:43
  Speaker 6: I appreciate y'all All right.
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: All right man.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Have a good one you too.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: Well, david, what do we think about Rob?
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, boy.
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: Let me just let out a big, massive groan because our fears have been confirmed.
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: You've heard it from the mouth of the horse himself.
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: I think with definitive certainty we can now say that there is an undercurrent in Jackson to get MSMS moved out of here and, quite honestly, after speaking with Mr Roberson, I know why.
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: Dr Miller had that big smile on her face and let me tell you that was the smile on her face at the press conference yesterday.
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: There was a big degree of artificiality to that smile and and that's not a crack on her, that's just to say she's putting on a good face.
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: She's presenting positivity in the face of something that may not go down, well, seems inevitable at this point it's it's going to be a problem, and for those of us who want to fight for msms to stay here and for the w, I would just remind you that this is definitely a marathon, not a sprint.
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: We've got to play offense and we've got to think very hard about this, because you and I both know it, zach, the thing just needs to stay here, and there's in my no altruistic reason that it should not.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Other thing that he said that I thought was interesting was he did take responsibility for the state's role in not funding those facilities properly.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: He said, and everyone involved, but the people with the checkbook was the legislature and they weren't writing the checks.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: I'm interested to see if the proposals skew so much cheaper for MUW to put something together that is more than adequate.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Are those going to just get thrown in the trash, or is this quote rubric that's going to be created after the fact only going to cater to MSU's proposal?
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: Well, is the Mississippi State proposal going to be made public?
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: I know Nora said that ours will be, but are we going to get to see MSU's proposal?
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Well, the dispatch is going to do everything in its power to make it public.
• 45:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah well, that definitely needs to be public.
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: I think, hands down, it's going to be cheaper to make it public.
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah well, that definitely needs to be public.
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: I think, hands down, it's going to be cheaper to keep it here.
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: No question about it.
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: And at the end of the day, I think our local delegation really needs to be on the offensive here.
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: I would like to see a bill with three authors at the top of it being Kabir Kareem, dana McLean and Andy Boyd, that says let's fund the school.
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: Okay, just a standalone bill file.
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: It try to push it through and if it dies in committee, that lets you know everything you need to know about what's going on in the undercurrent down in Jackson.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: That's a really good point.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: One thing, too, that I want to revisit that Rob talked about, and I've been thinking about this since he said it.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: We were talking about if MSMS was built in conjunction with Startwell High School on the MSU campus.
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: Now I've disclaimed before.
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: I'm a.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: Starkville resident.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: My wife teaches at Starkville High School, my kids go to SOCSD and my wife would love to teach MSMS kids you know, adjunct in her English class.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: But I don't see how you're going to maintain, how you're going to maintain MSMS's identity as it is, throwing it into that noise, throwing it into that pool with those two much larger organizations, because we're not just talking about MSU as a host.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: How does MSMS's identity not become basically a vassal to SOCSD if this is a build that's done together?
• 47:04
  Speaker 4: Well, again, getting back to what we've talked about before, I do not want to see one big fat bill come across the table that's going to just fund all of this, and then Starkville not have to put up a bond, like we've had to do on numerous occasions.
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: Okay, I just think it needs to be done openly, fairly and look, I've been combative about this and maybe there's something to be said about just saying, look, let's get all of the stakeholders at the table, let's discuss everything openly, let's not let anything be off the table, but just make sure it's done out there where we can really see what's going on, where you guys can report on what's going on, and then I think people will feel better about it because I think the case that Nora Miller can make for keeping it here for the sake of not just maintaining identity but saving money, will triumph.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: She was very clear about the rubric.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of good stuff that came out of that press conference, but days before that press conference there was that letter that she sent to the MUW community where part of that letter said if MSMS is ultimately taken away, the W will be fine, We'll repurpose the facility.
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir, Was that a white flag?
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: I was very disappointed in the letter.
• 48:39
  Speaker 4: I did not see any fight in the letter.
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: I think our hope again lies in the fact that a bill will have to pass to get that place moved and second to that, our alum at MUW is a force to be reckoned with.
• 48:55
  Speaker 4: Okay, we saw that in the name change yes, and I think as soon as a bill is introduced, there will be zombies to rise up from Friendship Cemetery and it will be a fight that's bigger than Rob Robertson wants to have.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm looking forward to seeing that, David.
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: OK, I want to thank our listeners for joining in today.
• 49:17
  Speaker 4: Please help us talk it up subscribe, rate and share, and I hope you'll also join in the conversation.
• 49:23
  Speaker 4: Tips at cdispatchcom.
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: Again, that is, tips at cdispatchcom.
• 49:28
  Speaker 4: We want to know what you thought of Rob Facebook or X at the Chisholm double zero You've been listening to between the headlines, signing off from catfish alley studio and historic downtown Columbus.
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: Your host has been Zach player and I am David Chisholm.
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: Until next time, keep it friendly and keep it real.
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: Opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the commercial dispatch.