Ronnie Musgrove

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (January 2008)

This article contains information about one or more candidates in an upcoming or ongoing election.
Content may change as the election approaches.

62^nd Governor of Mississippi
Ronnie Musgrove
David Ronald Musgrove
In office January 11, 2000 – January 13, 2004
Lieutenant(s)	Amy Tuck
Preceded by	Kirk Fordice
Succeeded by	Haley Barbour

Born	July 29, 1956 (1956-07-29) (age 51) Tocowa, Mississippi
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Dr. Melody B. Musgrove
Religion	Baptist

David Ronald "Ronnie" Musgrove (born July 29, 1956) is an American politician who was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor from 1996 to 2000 and the Governor from 2000 to 2004 of the U.S. state of Mississippi.

1 Life
2 Politics
- 2.1 Specifics
3 References

[edit] Life

Musgrove was born in Tocowa, Mississippi.

He is a graduate of Northwest Community College, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Mississippi School of Law.

[edit] Politics

Musgrove defeated Republican opponent Mike Parker for the governor's office in the 1999 election. However, since neither candidate received a majority of the popular vote, the Mississippi House of Representatives had to select the winner^[1]. They chose Musgrove.

His term as governor followed a distinguished career of public service. He was a two-term state senator and Lieutentant Governor.

In 1998 he was recognized nationally as a leader among his peers, serving as chair of the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors^[2].

As Governor, Musgrove served as vice chair of the National Governor's Association, as chair of the Southern Regional Education Board, as the chair-elect for the Southern States Energy Board, on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the Executive Committee for the Democratic Governors' Association, where he served as vice chair of policy.

In the face of a national recession, Musgrove's efforts created more than 52,000 new jobs and brought more than $13.5 billion in new investments to the state.

On January 4, 2008, Musgrove confirmed that he would be a candidate for the United States Senate special election in Mississippi in 2008^[3].

[edit] Specifics

In 2000, Musgrove crafted a new jobs program for the state called the Advantage Mississippi Initiative (AMI).^[4]

During his administration, Mississippi was selected as the home for a $1.4-billion Nissan Motor Company plant which produces the Titan, Armada, Altima, Quest, and Infiniti Q45^[5].

In 2000, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled the Mississippi flag, a source of division among white and black Mississippians, wasn't official under state law. The state flag features prominently the Confederate Battle Flag. The court ruled the flag was officially adopted in 1894, but the law designating the state flag was not among those carried forward in a 1906 update of the state code. The judges left the decision to adopt, or not adopt, the flag to the Legislature and executive branch. In response to the ruling, Musgrove held a press conference to announce that he had issued an executive order the following day creating a 17-member commission to study the flag. In the executive order, Musgrove also called for continuing the use of the flag until the Legislature had received and reviewed the committee's report. During the press conference, flanked by a U.S. flag and the controversial state flag, Musgrove offered no indication of his opinion on the current flag or any possible future design.^[6] The commission eventually came up with a new flag design that replaced the battle flag from the canton with a circular array of twenty stars (Mississippi is the 20th state) on a blue background. As campaigning for the flags began leading up to a referendum, Musgrove did endorse the new flag^[7]. A referendum was held in April 2001 to determine whether the new flag would be adopted. The old flag won by a vote of 65% to 35%^[8].

In 2000, Musgrove signed a bill into law banning lesbian and gay couples from adopting children, making Mississippi only the third state having done so. The law also says that Mississippi will not recognize adoptions from other states by lesbian and gay couples.^[9]^[10]

In 2001, Musgrove signed legislation requiring the motto "In God We Trust" to be displayed in every public school classroom, as well as the school auditoriums and cafeterias, throughout the state.^[11]^[12]

In July 2001, he signed a bill raising teacher pay in Mississippi to the current Southeastern average. The pay raise was implemented over 6 years with the first year consisting of no pay raise. By the time the pay raise had been fully implemented the Southeastern average had changed. Thus, according to the NEA Mississippi currently ranks 49th in teacher pay. In 2002 NGA confirmed that Mississippi became the first state in the nation to have an Internet-accessible computer in every classroom. However, many schools across the delta region do not have internet capabilities for all classrooms.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2001, while still in office, Musgrove and his wife Melanie were divorced after 24 years of marriage.^[13] The results and settlement of the divorce were sealed by the judge at the request of the Musgroves.^[14] Musgrove married Melody Bounds on August 4, 2007^[15].

In August 2003, Musgrove sent an invitation via state letterhead to display notorious judge Roy Moore's unconstitutional - as ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court - Ten Commandments monument in the Mississippi Capitol for a week in September. In the letter, Musgrove praised the judge, calling the Ten Commandments "the basis for our legal tradition" and announced that he would call on other governors to display the monument in their state capitols as well. Musgrove further wrote, "It would be my honor to host this monument as a symbol of every Mississippian's dedication to the fundamental principles of the Ten Commandments." Even further, Musgrove invoked "our Christian heritage," condemned "groups like the ACLU," and said there is "no freedom from religion." He called the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court building a "tragedy".^[16]

After losing his bid for re-election in 2003 to Republican challenger Haley Barbour, Musgrove returned to private practice with the law firm of Copeland, Cook, Taylor & Bush, P.A. in Ridgeland, Mississippi. He also teaches classes at his alma mater, the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, as well as at Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Mississippi.

[edit] References

Preceded by Eddie Briggs	Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi 1996–2000	Succeeded by Amy Tuck
Preceded by Kirk Fordice	Governor of Mississippi 2000-2004	Succeeded by Haley Barbour