Thabian, I mentioned Fuelman to my reporters after I saw that release and told them to see if it's the same Earnest Perry.

We got a call from someone else about this endorsement last week -- Juan Cloy, who used to be head of the police union and who we've long been friendly with. He called Thursday, I believe, to urge us to endorse Lee and told me that the group wasn't interviewing Johnson for an endorsement. I'm told today, though, that they did.

I should also add, to be fair to Regina Quinn in all of this back-and-forth between Lee and Johnson supporters, it was Lee's campaign manager, Tyrone Hendrix, who tipped us off about Quinn's late campaign filings and unusual campaign setup as we reported in the story above. Most campaigns are tipping media off to public information about the others, and have for months. Don't let anyone tell you any different; it would be dishonest.

Honestly, I was surprised to hear it's still open, too.

Rico, I thought we ran an AP story on it. I know our news team knows about it; I asked them to cover it. I'll check with the news editor to see where it stands.

To their defense, though, we're slammed in the final lead-up to the Jackson city elections. We're the only outlet that does substantive coverage, and it's a task for our small staff.

But you can imagine how we feel about the Rankin/Pine Lake mess. Very un-American for the government to force any religion on anyone.

Haha, doing some research today, I ran into my blog post four years ago about how The Clarion-Ledger decided not to endorse in the Jackson mayor's race--and, in fact, un-endorsed Melton four years after it did everything in its power to get him elected and Mayor Harvey Johnson defeated.

I would guess that they plan to endorse Jonathan Lee this year--but it'll be interesting to see after [our reporting last week][1] about Mr. Lee's apparent dishonesty about owning a business in Jackson (he never has, he told us last week) and the various lawsuits he and his family company lost over the last year and a half, including when he was still president of it.

Of course, they still endorsed Melton the first time, timing full well that [he had lied under oath][2] in a Meridian lawsuit that they were named in as well. So, who knows? They don't seem to worry too much about honesty in public servants.

[1]: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/20…
[2]: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/20…

I just read that story. It's a very strange story for a newspaper. It sounds like they are trying to go after a whistle-blower of accurate public information that could be important to voters in a mayoral race. That is a very strange position for a newspaper to take. Very strange. Media outlets usually try to discourage the dissemination of information. I'm astounded frankly.

Otherwise, it's pretty much a rehash of our story -- although Lee told us that he resigned as president in December 2011, and that he did not serve as president any at all in 2012, although the secretary of state's office indicates otherwise.

They do not mention that Lee has been running as a business owner, but said this week that he has never owned Mississippi Products.

It's almost remarkable that The Clarion-Ledger was so many days behind on the story that they say up top is the hottest political story in town. No thanks to them; my assumption is that they wouldn't have reported it had we and then WJTV not have. It reminds me of when they sat on the Melton duplex-destruction story for several days after we did it. It was a hot story, so they clearly realized that they couldn't ignore it on behalf of the candidate that they endorsed. I rather expect that is the case here.

Otherwise, Sam Begley posted this on Facebook about The Clarion-Ledger's implications about him and his motives:

> In my opinion, Jonathan's
> misrepresentations about his business
> background, combined with the
> unfortunate state of affairs of MPI,
> disqualify him from being mayor. It is
> laughable that the Clarion Ledger
> would even devote one line of copy
> about me sharing truthful, public
> information, in the form of an email
> to a person I was obviously acquainted
> with, that is materially relevant to
> the suitability of a person seeking to
> become Mayor of our city. They ought
> to thank me for doing their job. I
> wonder if the prominent financial
> backers of Jonathan, many of whom
> rolled with Frank Melton in 2005, took
> time to check him out beforehand or,
> instead, thought they could pull the
> wool over our eyes one more time, with
> $200,000 in media buys. Oh, and as a
> disclaimer, Harvey and Kathy Johnson
> have been friends of mine for 20
> years, and I am voting for Harvey for
> in the Democratic Primary for Jackson
> mayor.

Please note that we just added the full audio of Mr. Lee's remarks to the above story (near the top).

Also, a couple of people have asked if we have decided to endorse Mr. Lee because we call the interview an "endorsement interview." No, we will not make our decision about endorsement until Monday. We did endorsement interviews with five mayoral candidates and will discuss and decide Monday. Our endorsement will be in the paper and online Wednesday, May 1.

No, Bill, Council schools started in the 1960s, as did segregation academies. Most later closed, with those families choosing the larger seg academies. Some might have been as early as late 1950s, but I'd have to check that. I have a big file on this somewhere. Very interesting reading.

When the schools were forced to integrate over school break 1969-70, thousands of white families immediately took their kids and fled Jackson's public schools, as well as starting moving to the suburbs in droves. That white flight is perhaps the largest challenge Jackson faced since the Civil War/Reconstruction.

Obviously, economic flight of all races followed that later. It always does when people essentially ghetto-ize a city purposefully.

Ross Adams over at [WJTV isn't letting this story go][1]. It's essentially the story we reported yesterday. Oh, and somebody ask Ross if Barbara Dunn's office charged them $84 for 84 sheets of paper.

[1]: http://www.wjtv.com/story/22082430/jona…

OK, you're right, Knowledge06. I looked at it wrong. [The 2012 property taxes for the business don't look paid.][1] Now, I thought WJTV was talking about 2010? Last year, Lee says he wasn't running the business, that it's all his mother's responsibility. I have no idea.

From what I understand, lots of folks pay their property taxes late, especially in this economy. And Melton never paid his on time, I suspect. Remember all that hoopla? So it is what it is.

[1]: http://www.co.hinds.ms.us/pgs/apps/real…