For the record, I watched a lesbian woman cry today due to treatment in Mississippi today of her wife and family. She read Todd's column later in the day and thanked us for it.

Stand up, Mississippi. We are better and loving than the AFA, and so many, think we are. We've got this. And the AFA and their ilk know it. That's why they're acting so desperate.

We would never wish for minority contractors to get fewer contracts, Mr. Garrett. And thanks for commenting. Your voice is welcome here anytime. And our requests for interviews remain and always will be open to you. It would be great to get your insight, especially, about challenges facing minority contractors. Would love a good sit-down interview with you.

And to Knowledge and Multiculture Girl: Note the JFP's full name: jackson Free Press. That doesn't mean that we won't, and will increasingly as possible, cover what is happening in the suburbs—just that our focus is the state's capital city. It's a handful in its own right! ;-)

I can certainly check databases to see what addresses pop up for them. I'll do that later today, since you're insisting. I'm certainly not implying that neither lives in the district, though.

Knowledge, we want to expand our scrutiny to all the surrounding areas, but haven't had the resources to do great consistent reporting on the suburbs. And we don't want to water down our coverage of the capital city in order to do superficial coverage of the entire metro (or state).

That said, we plan to do more watchdogging of contracts statewide (with or without support), and with an expanding editorial staff, hope to do more around the metro as well.

So, point well taken. ;-)

Someone tweeted [about a Southern Poverty Law Center report][1] that the ADF, Mr. Scott's group above, actively supports the criminalization of homosexuality in Belize. As Mr. Scott tweeted me this morning after this blog post yesterday, and we have had an [interesting back-and-forth][2], I asked him about the report and if it's true. I will report back with what he says; so far, he hasn't answered a number of my substantive questions but I really hope he does soon.

[1]: http://www.splcenter.org/get%20informed…
[2]: https://twitter.com/DonnerKay

Last update tonight and before the polls open: We saw Yarber's ad tonight on WLBT -- boo, hiss on identifying a 13-year-old accused of a crime -- and it was pretty tame. It basically played the "outside agitator" card, with him asking people to join him against "transplanted individuals" trying to "divide us."

To be fair, both men have contributions and supporters form outside Jackson and Mississippi. If I had an ounce of energy left, I'd add up the contributions and compare how much money each has collected from outside Jackson and the state. But no go, tonight.

update: The JFP photographed the Citizens for Decency documents in WLBT's public file this afternoon (images are now included above). They list Greg Brand as an officer of the PAC, as Dilday reported to us. Reached again by telephone, Brand denied being involved with the group or the ad for the third time since Saturday. "Whoever did is trying to get me up," Brand said.

Brand said he has not been near the station or talked to anyone about the PAC or the ad, and that he plans to call WLBT tomorrow to address it. "Absolutely, I have not bought anything (for the group). I think this is bullshit. b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t," he said.

BTW, Mr. Bonds texted me after our interview, saying;

> Donna, Dennis Bonds here. I wanted to
> go on record, in writing, to say
> again, that I am neither an employee
> or volunteer of the Tony Yarber
> campaign for Mayor of the city of
> Jackson, nor was I prompted by anyone
> connected to the campaign to make the
> statement I made. I voiced my own
> opinion as a concerned citizen.

Thanks, kdavis. We do feel like we're the only media outlet who tries to hold their feet to the fire. And we will continue doing that, as we do every election. In every city election, there is at least one stinker PAC that won't report on time or acts all secret. And you're right: It doesn't reflect well on the candidate they support -- even if the candidate can't control them and ends up getting screwed by these old-school, back-room tactics. It's one of the reasons we need tougher campaign-finance laws.

And, again, these corporate television stations are a big part of the problem.

No, that's correct. We were concerned about divisiveness in a Lumumba administration -- and it was the opposite. We are also very impressed with his son and his leadership potential.