MDOT presents The Extra Mile Podcast Legislative Session.

Paul - Welcome in to another addition of the Extra Mile Podcast: Legislative Session. I’m Paul Katool and I’m joined by my co-host Will Craft who handles Government and Constituent Affairs here at The Mississippi Department of Transportation.

You know, Will so far we’ve had all of our guests have either been current members of The Mississippi House of Representatives or The Mississippi State Senate. Today we’re going a little bit of a different direction. We have a former legislator but the current Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce in the state of Mississippi Mr. Andy Gipson. Commissioner Gipson took office in April of 2018 and he serves as Mississippi’s eighth Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce and prior his role like we said he served in The Mississippi House of Representatives for ten whole years. Mr. Commissioner, Thank you so much for joining us today.

Andy Gipson - Well, thank you, Paul. It’s an honor to be here. Thank you, Will for cohosting this. It’s great to be here. I feel like this will be the second podcast I’ve done and I’m so honored to be part of the MDOT podcast today so thank y ’all for having me.

Will – Absolutely, Commissioner. Tell us just a little bit about yourself. What got you into politics back in the day when you were getting to run to the legislature? What also spurred you to seek out the office you’re in now?

Andy Gipson - Yeah. Well, thank you. Of course you know this, Will. I live on a farm in Simpson County. My wife Leslie and I raise our children. At the time we had two boys and now we have two boys and two girls and raising all four of them on the farm.

You may also know or may not know I’m also a practicing attorney as well. I remember back in 2006, 2007 time frame I really felt convicted that I needed to be more involved in my local community. So I started going to chamber meetings and stuff like that and getting to know folks better and finding out where I can get involved. You know an opportunity presented itself and I wound up running for the legislature. I actually met Brad White during that process as a fellow Simpson countian.

Will - I’ve heard that name before.

Andy Gipson - You might have heard of Brad and he’s a great guy. I know he’s doing a great job here at MDOT. You know I have no doubt and I could go on and on about the story but the Lord led me to run for the legislature and I did and won and served there for almost 12 years. I’ve served on the Transportation Committee, Agriculture Committee and also Chairman of the Judiciary B Committee for a number of years.

And I was privileged to nominate Speaker Gunn the first time in 2000 that was two thousand twelve through twenty eleven elections. It was my great honor to do that and to make that nomination speech. So a lot of great friends in the House, a lot of great friends in the Senate. I know both of your chairman Senator Branning, Representative Busby. I’ve served with them both as colleagues over the years and I kind of feel like I never left the legislature to be honest with you.

But four years ago I had felt like my time in the Legislature was coming to an end and I had really felt led to move on. I was planning to go back in just private life and none of us knew what was going to happen with Senator Cochran retiring and then Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith going to Washington and then Governor Bryant appointing me to be the Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner. I didn’t see any of that coming but again I have no doubt I’m where the Lord wants me to be right now. No doubt about it.

Will - Absolutely. That’s exactly right.

Paul - Excellent. Commissioner Gipson, I think everyone in this room knows why it’s so important for the Department of Agriculture and Commerce and MDOT to have a really good working relationship but in your words why is that so important?

Andy Gipson - Well you know what you do affects the state’s largest industry which is agriculture and the commerce that goes along with that. It doesn’t do us any good to raise the best food products, commodities, food fiber and shelter in America and not have any way to get it around. So what you do directly impacts what our farmers do and we are a global leader in agriculture Mississippi is.

You already know that agriculture is Mississippi’s largest industry. It’s Mississippi’s largest employer. Not knocking any other employers but agriculture is number one. We don’t take a back seat to any other industry because we are the driving force of Mississippi’s economy. Whether it’s poultry which is our number one commodity or row crops, beef, cattle, sweet potatoes. I’m going to Vardaman real soon and looking forward to the sweet potatoes there.

Will - Capitol of the world.

Andy Gipson - That’s right. It’s all gotta be placed in the commerce and that’s what agriculture and commerce is all about. And so your work on our highways, your work on our bridges, your work on our rail system and ports, you may not think about it but ports along the river, along the Tim Tom Waterway and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. All of that feeds into commerce and that’s why it’s so critical we have that great working relationship. And I want to thank y ’all MDOT for what you do. Thank you also for cleaning that right of way behind that hotel over there on High Street.

Will - It’s looking much better.

Andy Gipson - It’s looking a whole lot better. That’s a good example of agencies working together so thank you.

Paul - Absolutely. Will’s gonna get into the legislature stuff in a second. But I did want to ask you just in your opinion do we have any hurdles when it comes to transportation infrastructure for roads and bridges right now in your opinion that we kind of need to get through to advance things?

Andy Gipson - Absolutely. You know I serve on this harvest permit council that the bill passed last year. We’ve known for years that we have infrastructure challenges on our roads and bridges and I want to thank you for what you do. We have not only state roads and bridges but also local roads and bridges and then the combination state aid that they’re local but actually funded through state projects. So all of those are impacted.

I saw the map the other day of the bridges that are challenged. Let’s just say they’re challenged bridges. We need to get those bridges fixed because every one of them that’s closed are posted below a level that will allow our trucks to haul the sweet potatoes or the cotton, or corn or soy beans or the loaded chicken across it. Every one of those bridges is an impediment to commerce. We’ve got to remove those hindrances and get them fixed so we can get agriculture on down the road.

Will - Absolutely. Selfishly I’m curious. Do you see the involvement of EV’s, autonomous vehicles coming into play as far as moving commodities and that things of that nature any time in the future?

Andy Gipson - Well they’re coming into play. The large trucking companies we work very closely with the working sector the department of agriculture and commerce does especially during harvest season. And you know, I’ve seen, I’ve not been in one myself but I’ve seen some videos of them operating and they are taking on in parts of the country. I’m not sure they’re here in Mississippi at some point I have no doubt at some point they will be. Autonomous.

I’ll tell you a quick story. I was in Taiwan on a trade mission. That’s another thing we do international trade working with our ports. That’s why I opened the Gulf Coast office on the Back Bay in Biloxi last year to promote more commerce through our ports. But I was in Taiwan promoting grain, soy beans, corn and they put me in an autonomous simulator thing and had me drive. And they then put me in an actual autonomous vehicle and let me just say this it drove better than I did alright? Scientifically proven it was a better driver than me. Which my wife would say wouldn’t be a big surprise.

Will - It still makes me nervous. I’ve seen some of the screen activity that goes on where it’s sending out almost a radar if you will and kind of populates other cars and vehicles. It still makes me a little nervous to have your hands totally off the wheel and let go and let God.

Andy Gipson - We’re always gonna have our truckers. We gotta have our truckers. We appreciate them. We’re gonna have them. They do a great job and they make sure it gets where it needs to go. And you know computers can’t consider every potential contingency that may be down the highway but people can help and respond to that.

Will - Sure.

Andy Gipson - So that’s one thing we do and I appreciate what y ‘all do in helping. Like I said clear the path for agriculture to get on down the road and get to the processor or get to the market or whatever the case may be. That makes value added to Mississippi agriculture.

Will - Absolutely. Again mentioning your past legislative experience with a wealth of knowledge on how the process works just kind of want to talk about we come through about four weeks here. We just came through the first major deadline if you will and kind of what that looks like as a legislator. What’s going on right now coming through this deadline and kind of what the next week or two will look like?

Andy Gipson - Yeah. I remember that deadline that first big committee dead line general bill dead line was the day most of the bills died. Most of them died never to be revived which is probably a blessing in most cases. However, some good bills die in the process.

This is going to be the time that the committee work is going to be done. Each chamber has its own bills it will be working. They’ll be meeting on the floor voting and debating on these bills through the next level before they send them down to the opposite chamber.

You know in my past experience everything during this time was pretty much focused on one chamber or the other and there weren’t so many controversy’s going on between two different chambers. That time always came eventually. It always will come in conference time because that’s the way our Constitution, our founding fathers designed the system to have those competing chambers to make it hard to pass a bill. Even a good bill in my experience takes two to three years to pass.

So I want to thank the legislature. Having served there I know it is true public service. Nobody’s getting rich serving in the Mississippi legislature. They’re sacrificing and they’re giving up other opportunities and we can thank each one of them. I want to thank them myself for what they do. Sometimes it feels like you’re beating your head against the wall but when you see them thank them.

Will - Absolutely. I’ve often heard it referred to as a lot of times we see things as black and white but the legislature is often given the task of grey and deciding one way or the other which is often not an easy task.

Andy Gipson - It is the art of compromise. Now there are some things that I never would compromise. There are some things that never can be compromised but most things are not those things. Most things can be met in the middle somewhere.

Paul - For sure and Will’s gonna end this thing off with a few fun questions but before we get there we do kind of want to talk about litter and the importance of kind of keeping Mississippi beautiful. I know that’s something both of our agencies work on. Can you talk on that?

Andy Gipson - Absolutely. You know there’s nothing that frustrates me more than to see all the trash blowing all around the highways. People just carelessly throwing it out or intentionally throwing it out. So “Keep Mississippi Beautiful” is an agency that we partnered with and your agency’s partnered with. We work together. Over the years we’ve helped plant a lot of magnolia trees along to beautify Mississippi’s highways. I’m thankful for that. We’re continuing that program the new Magnolia Gardens program.

And also the cleanup that we have we were real excited to partner with y’all recently with the cleanup around the fairgrounds the entrance way into the capital city. We want to make that a beautiful view into not only the state fairgrounds but our Capital city. And I think now there’s more awareness of people and not just letting trash blow around everywhere that it goes. If you make a mess clean it up. That’s what my mama would tell me.

Will - Speaking of mama that commercial still rings. I still heard people mention it to me. “I’m not your Mama.” That old commercial.

Andy Gipson - That’s right. That’s a good commercial.

Paul - That’s a classic.

Will - That’s right. We’re gonna have to get another iteration with the commissioner out there. “I’m not your Dad.”

Andy Gipson - Clean up your mess.

Will - That’s exactly right. I know we got the Dixie National coming up getting started. Tell us a little bit about what’s going on there.

Andy Gipson - Well speaking of commerce this is the largest rodeo, livestock show and rodeo east of the Mississippi River. It happens right here Downtown Jackson in the Mississippi Coliseum and there will be folks flowing in here. Last year we had 32 states represented bringing livestock to the fairgrounds. That’s when the one hundred year ice storm hit y ‘all remember that?

Will - We do.

Paul - We do.

Andy Gipson - But we kept on. We persevered. We were tenacious and we finished it. This year we’re praying for better weather but we’re gonna have just that many people, a thousands of heads of livestock, cowboys and cowgirls literally from the world coming for the rodeo. And that will kick off February eleventh through the nineteenth. That’s just next Friday, February eleventh.

And you know when that happens people are always they gotta eat somewhere there’s a good place to eat. Agriculture’s about food. It’s about fiber and it’s about shelter. So food on the food side there are good places to eat around here. We got a Farmer’s Market restaurant right on High Street if you haven’t experienced its good home cooking.

Will - Wonderful food.

Andy Gipson - Good folks there. Hope you like it. One rule. We have fried chicken every day. Everyday. Supporting Mississippi’s number one industry fried chicken which is one of my personal favorites.

Will - I’m personally supporting it as much as possible.

Andy Gipson -Thank you for that. A fellow told me that I should come up with a T-shirt that says “Fried Chicken Every Day.” I said, “That’s probably a great idea.” Maybe we’ll have them for sell at the Dixie National.

Will - I think it would sell.

Andy Gipson - We want you to come and support, when you come to the rodeo you’re supporting Mississippi’s largest industry. You’re supporting agriculture. This is the highlight for so many of our livestock producers. They’re showing the best livestock they produce. Livestock families from every county in Mississippi are here already here right now showing their animals and we support them and of course the rodeo. And when we do that we’re supporting our economy as economic development in Mississippi.

Will - I did have one question that came in from one of our listeners that asked that I make sure to ask you. What’s the secret on the biscuits? Why are they so good?

Andy Gipson - Augustra Lewis is the secret on the biscuits. She is our employee at the Department of Agriculture and Commerce. Miss Augustra has the recipe. It’s not written down. It’s not typed in a computer. It’s in her head. And she can take just the right pinch of shortening, I almost said lard but its shortening and buttermilk just the right amount. Just the right cup full and flour and mix it like mamaw use to do hand squooshing. That’s the secret. You’ve gotta get all the ingredients hand squooshed.

We have those biscuits at the Mississippi State Fair and once in a while I can convince Augustra to bake a special batch for us at the Department of Agriculture and I tell you what I’ll surprise y’ all at MDOT with a pan of biscuits one of these days.

(Will) That would be most welcomed.

Paul - We won’t say no. We will not say no.

Andy Gipson - Everybody wants that Blackburn syrup the T J Blackburn’s. The original biscuit syrup. Our good sponsors. Of course they pay for all of the biscuit booth at the state fair. That’s T J Blackburn’s, Prairie Farms Buttermilk and Kroger flour. We have tons of flour that comes in. And it all gets hand swooshed and that’s what makes it so good.

Will - I can’t imagine y’ all end up with much ingredients left over.

Andy Gipson - No. No. No. We give over a hundred thousand biscuits away. I think we gave a hundred and twenty thousand away this past state fair. It was the top fifteen at the fair in North America this year because people came out.

Another example of commerce is people came out and supported agriculture. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all centered around those livestock shows. Our farmers never quit. Our folks at the Department of Agriculture never quit. We never shut down. We kept going not matter what. That’s what you gotta do.

We can thank a farmer if we eat anything today because they don’t quit. That’s a good lesson for all of us whether we’re in state agencies or government and the legislature just keep on going and just keep persevering like we did through that ice storm last year. We came out on the other side and we learned some lessons. Two good things came of that ice storm. One is we learned we could postpone Monday and Tuesday and have two weekends at the rodeo.

Will - That’s right. Change it up a little bit now.

Andy Gipson - So we’ve decided that we’re gonna do that forever. So it’s February eleventh through February nineteenth. You’re gonna get two Fridays and two Saturdays. And the other thing is I signed when we lost water, Jackson lost water during that ice storm we couldn’t even flush the commodes with ten thousand people in the coliseum.

That’s a crisis and the cows had no water to drink and we were trucking water in a big ole trailer with a tractor through the ice. And I signed an order and we put down our own well. We got our own water well. Water and generator no matter what. So we’re excited about those two examples of lemonade coming from lemons. When life throws you lemons make lemonade.

Will - That’s right. Hills and valleys.

Andy Gipson - Hills and valleys. Keep on keeping on persevering. And you know we have challenges in Mississippi Chamber of Commerce. Let’s face it. We have workforce challenges. We have road and bridge challenges. We have I’m sure financial challenges around the corner even though there’s lot of money in the economy now. We have to make up our mind. We keep going no matter what.

Will - That’s right.

Andy Gipson - And I love the name of your podcast The Extra Mile. Keep on going. When you’ve gone as far as you think you can go hey take another step and keep on going. By doing so we’ll reach our destination. So I want to commend y’all for what you do at MDOT. I want to again thank the legislature. They’re such great friends. And I’ve gotten to see most all of them this session I haven’t not all of them yet. The house and the senate, the chairman of the committees, the propriation Chairman Reed. Chairman Hopson. Great folks. Folks who serve in Mississippi.

I think transportation and infrastructure is one thing. We all are on the same page pulling in the same direction in Mississippi and I’m proud of that. Proud to see that happening in our state.

Will - We certainly appreciate all the support that you provide for us. Absolutely.

Andy Gipson - Glad to do it. One more thing I’d like to get done. One big thing. Before Hurricane Katrina we had flash freezers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We were shipping chicken all over the world out of the port of Gulfport. When Katrina came it blew them all away. I’d love to see chicken go out our Mississippi ports one more time. We’re shipping wood out to power the Mitsubishi plant through Enviva’s Port of Pascagoula operations. I want to send some fried chicken over around the world. What do y ‘all think about that?

Will - I’m all for it. Put a T-shirt in the shipment as well. Every day. That’s what they need to remember.

Paul - I love it.

Andy Gipson - I think we can get it done. Thank y’ all.

Will - Well, Commissioner, We’ll take this back local. While you don’t necessarily have a district anymore, you’re statewide you spend a lot of time on the roads traveling, stopping in and speaking at different places and venues is there a local food spot that you may want to give a shout out to? I mean any place when you’re going through you absolutely gotta stop here.

Andy Gipson - Well there’s one right on my way home Berry’s. I gotta stop at Berry’s. That’s seafood right there and another one is Jerry’s the igloo the catfish house there. But there are those equivalents all over the state. And I love to go to the Back Porch in Hattiesburg. Is it The Back Porch I think what it is good home cooking. I love to go to McElroy’s on the Gulf Coast and all over Mississippi great places. North Mississippi and the Delta and every region has its own specialty. That’s the beautiful thing about Mississippi.

Most people don’t know this. Mississippi is the most diverse state in the nation. We have more people who are different. This is scientifically proven. More folks of different racial makeup, different background and so we’re all here together. We each have our own specialty and I think that’s what makes Mississippi such a beautiful place. We are strong because of our diversity. And we’ve had our challenges but we’ve learned from those and we’re growing through those. And Mississippi has not seen its best days. There are better days to come and the best is yet to come.

Will - Most definitely. Most definitely.

Paul - No doubt about that. Commissioner Gipson, Thank you so much for joining us. That was a great insightful interview. We really really appreciate it.

Andy Gipson - Thank you. I appreciate that. I’m just grateful to be here. I just appreciate y’ all having a dumb ole country boy on the MDOT radio here. And I’m forward to working with y’ all through the rest of this legislative process in the days ahead. Thank y’ all for having me.

Paul - Yes, sir. And we’ll just go ahead and wrap things up. We really want to thank our listeners out there for listening in to The Extra Mile podcast. You can download and subscribe wherever podcasts can be found. You can also watch it on YouTube now. Just search Mississippi Department of Transportation on YouTube. Remember to follow us on social media @MississippiDOT on Facebook and Twitter. Those are the handles. Thanks again, Commissioner and remember everyone to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.