MS Secretary of State discusses accomplishments, future plans

New Albany, MS– Mississippi Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann says he has achieved many of the goals he had set for that office and may consider a new challenge.

Hosemann spoke Thursday, October 27th, to about 50 people at the “Business-to-Business” luncheon, sponsored by the Union County Development Association (UCDA).

Hosemann cited the changes his office has made to assist business development in Mississippi:

• He said his office has streamlined the requirements for organizing new businesses in the state, including simplifying annual reporting requirements. He pointed to a dramatic increase in the number of LLC (Limited Liability Company) businesses in Mississippi. His office established a new website, “Y’all Business” to serve as a kind of “one stop” source of information for those interested in starting, organizing and managing a new business in Mississippi. It can be accessed on the Internet at yallbusiness@sos.ms.gov.
• Improvement in the management of 16th Section land in Mississippi was another major goal. 16th Section lands are specific tracts of land in Mississippi counties that are designated for the benefit of public schools. These lands may be leased for farming, hunting and other appropriate uses, with the income from the leases going into public school coffers. In past decades the mismanagement of 16th Section lands has been a source of scandal with tracts leased by means of favoritism, often well below what could be considered fair market income for the public schools. Such public lands are now leased competitively with the actual leases posted on the secretary of state’s website.
• Development and operation of the state’s Voter Identification program is clearly one of the accomplishments of which Hosemann is most proud. He described how that, after his office had developed the proposed Voter ID law for Mississippi, he traveled to Washington, D.C. and presented it to officials at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Mississippi is one of the southern states whose election laws are closely overseen by the DOJ under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal laws and regulations. Hosemann said other southern states had passed Voter ID laws and had them challenged in court by DOJ, at considerable expense to the defendant states, before they finally were in a form satisfactory to the federal lawyers.
  Hosemann showed his proposed Voter ID law to the justice department in advance, made sure it passed muster with them before he submitted it to the legislature for passage. Thus the Voter ID regulations became a part of routine election practices in Mississippi without an expensive lawsuit.

Hosemann emphasizes a point to audience at “Business to Business” luncheon.

Delbert Hosemann is an attorney, and was for many years a partner of the Phelps, Dunbar law firm. He was named one of the top attorneys in the United States for 18 consecutive years. His undergraduate degree is from Notre Dame University, his law degree was earned at Ole Miss, and he did further graduate work in taxation at New York University. He is a native of Vicksburg and has been married to his wife Lynn for 40 years. They have three children and three grandchildren.

He is long and lean, probably about six-foot-four and under 200 pounds, and is a serious amateur athlete. He has represented Mississippi in the Senior Olympics, has completed both the New York and Boston marathons. He expected to run in another marathon during the weekend after he spoke here.

A Republican, Hosemann is in his third term as Mississippi Secretary of State, having first been elected in 2007. He has been re-elected twice, once with no opposition and the other time overwhelming his Democratic opponent with nearly 60% of the general election vote.

There had been speculation that Hosemann might run for lieutenant governor last year. He did not, and, instead, won his third term as secretary of state. He has not discouraged talk that he intends to run for governor or lieutenant governor in 2019.

Thursday, when we asked him directly about his plans to run for a higher office, he confirmed that he was considering it.

“I had a number of things I wanted to accomplish as secretary of state, and we’ve gotten those started or done, ” he said. “It’s time to look at what’s next and see if there are other things we can accomplish.”