Political Memories.

I thought I might share some of my political memories in Mississippi. I mentioned one time that my father was asked to run for Governor many times. He was Circuit Clerk of Hinds County at the time. But he always refused. He always said that level of politics was too ugly for him and boy was he right.

When I was a teenager in 1980 my family was rooting for a man for Governor named Bill Allain (a Democrat of course) and a few days before the election the news interviewed 2 black transvestites who claimed to have "been with" Mr. Allain.

Now that might not seem so unusual today, but this was freakin 1980 in the south!!! It was almost comical actually. Mr. Allain ex-girlfriend had to go on TV saying that he had completely normal sexual drives. CRAZY! Well, he won. **

I was gone after that and had nothing to do with politics for a while.

Then in 1992 Republican governor, Kirk Fordice was stopped coming back from Memphis for speeding. It ends up he was in Memphis visiting his mistress. He was divorced soon after.

My brother went to law school with the man who was Governor in 2000. A Democrat named Ronnie Musgrove. During his tenure his wife just up and left the governor's mansion never to be heard from again. Rumors were flying about affairs, but nothing was ever proven.

And then there is this one bizarre memory I have as a kid. My father was a wonderful man as anyone who has read my post on him knows. It wasn't unusual for the mayor or senators or any politician to end up on our doorstep for advice from my father.

When I was around 14 I awoke in the middle of night to see a man at my window. I screamed and I heard him say, "Could you go get your Dad?" Well I shot out of bed and ran to my Mom and Dad's room. Dad rushed out of bedroom and I hid behind the staircase and listened. It was a former senator, who had another elected position now, I can't remember what now. He was completely drunk. I heard my Dad talking in low tones to him at the back door and the man speaking loudly back slurring his words. All I could understand is that the man was in some sort of legal trouble and it seemed my Dad was the only possible person who could save him. ( my Dad had been a lawyer) Anyway, Dad called the man's wife to come get him and the man did end up in federal prison, but I can't remember what the charge was. I just remember my Dad referring to him later saying, "Poor guy, but he was guilty as hell."

And Finally, at my wedding reception I have on tape many prominent Mississippi politicians competely DRUNK making hilarious toasts to me. At the end of the tape after my husband and I had left to catch a plane in New Orleans, the mayor is heard on the tape saying, "Lets make a call and get them stopped in Delo," which was a small town outside of Mississippi. They wanted to "scare" us with a traffic stop. (Great use of political power, eh?) But my Mom can be heard clearly in the background, "NO! No! Just leave them alone! Let them get there."

Isn't political life fun???

** I did get the name wrong on Cliff Finch as one RUDE commenter pointed out. It was Bill Allain the Democratic Governor after Finch that that happened to. I may have gotten it confused since during the governship of Finch, he was shot (not dead) and the speculation was that his wife shot him. But it was never proven. Hard to keep the scandals straight just from memory.

*cross posted at UPC