Published: August 20, 2008 12:23 am            

Travel flap blemishes McCoy’s reputation as honest broker

Is House Speaker Billy McCoy so beholden to State Rep. Tyrone Ellis for his support of McCoy's razor-thin leadership margin that he would allow that political obligation to blemish a career-long reputation as a public servant of unquestioned integrity?

Unfortunately, the answer to that question appears to be "yes."

The House of Representatives, under McCoy's leadership, approved a state Department of Finance and Administration travel voucher to pay for Ellis, D- Starkville, to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo. The voucher was for an advance of $1,760 to cover the lawmaker's lodgings, but the voucher estimated the total cost of the trip at $5,000.

The story broke Monday as conservative talk radio and bloggers had a field day with the voucher. Late Monday, after McCoy had endured withering criticism, Ellis sent out a press release that attempted to whitewash the original decision and to announce that he would be paying his own way to the DNC.

But for McCoy, the damage to his reputation was already done. And while Ellis is unlikely to suffer any long-term political damage from the flap, Speaker McCoy may not be so lucky.

According to Republican legislators Reps. Mark Baker, R-Brandon and Rita Martinson, R-Madison, the House Management Committee never voted to approve the expenditure. Worse than that, there's no precedent for spending taxpayer dollars to pay the expenses of a state legislator to attend a partisan national political convention - Democrat or Republican.

The decision to authorize a House travel voucher for Ellis for unprecedented political travel expenses at taxpayer expense without a House Management Committee vote makes the current House leadership regime look less than honest.

But the quick reversal of that decision after Republicans in the minority began to point fingers makes McCoy's leadership regime look weak - and from a long-term political standpoint, that's worse.

As I have written many times over the years, the Billy McCoy that I have known has been a man of the highest integrity who won a reputation for honesty the hard way.

In the old days, the Rienzi Democrat wrote the book on avoiding the influence of lobbyists, steadfastly refused to be wined and dined and lived a monkish life while serving in the Legislature.

I still believe in McCoy's personal integrity and I've seen zero evidence otherwise.

But the Ellis travel flap reveals a fundamental weakness in his administration as speaker - the dual fact that the leadership margin he commands is so thin (62 votes) and so fractious that it is difficult for McCoy to govern.

McCoy must wrangle with the Black Caucus, the so-called "country" Democrats and the Republicans - and as it has been demonstrated countless times over the last several months, the result is more often than not stalemate.

While McCoy's leadership team can usually produce a simple majority, it cannot reliably produce a three-fifths or two-thirds majority vote when required. That was painfully evident during the recent special session.

The Ellis travel voucher is a more than a "gotcha" scored on McCoy by the Republicans in the House. It is in microcosm an example of the political quagmire that has become the House.

It is unfair to heap the fallout from the Ellis travel mess all on McCoy's back. His leadership team shares the blame and someone on that team should have advised both McCoy and Ellis from ever exposing the speaker to this kind of criticism from the public or the press.

That McCoy's lifetime reputation for honesty would be sullied by a political stunt this asinine is unfortunate - for Ellis has hurt McCoy for more than his political enemies have been able to do.



Contact Sid Salter at

(601) 961-7084 or e-mail

ssalter@clarionledger.com.

        

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