Extra Mile Podcast: Speaker of the House Jason White

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[Music and Intro]

(Drew Hall) MDOT presents The Extra Mile Podcast

(Paul Katool) Welcome in to the latest edition of The Extra Mile Podcast presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I'm Paul Katool, and as always, I'm joined by my co-host Will Craft, and today, we have a bit of a special episode. Today we have the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, Jason White, in the house, in the studio with us today. Speaker White, uh, it’s been around six months. Thank you for coming in and talking some current events with us today.

(Jason White) Thank you, Paul. Thank y’all for having me. Um, yeah, I was on with you all in January of this year. We were, we were fresh, and I was probably wide eyed and, um, didn't know what all we were getting into, but it was a, it was a fast and furious four-month session and, and the dust has kind of settled on that. And so, we're kind of starting to focus on where we go from here. So, it's, it's, uh, it's been a learning experience for sure for me.

(Paul) There you go. Yeah, we were talking before the show. I mean, it really sent, it seems like it was yesterday. So –

(Jason) Yeah.

(Paul) There we go.

(Will Craft) Took the words out of my mouth. Was it, uh, was it everything you expected, uh, coming into the role?

(Jason) I mean, I don't know what I expected. Of course, I had hung around and been in that office a lot with Speaker Gunn. But, you know, till you're sitting over in that other chair, it's, it's, it's much different. I probably didn't. I probably underestimated that the time aspect of, of managing your time wisely and so much going on. Just, you know, you think about, Y'all see the big policy debates or the big votes, but all that other stuff that goes on behind the scenes, you know.

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) To each individual member, the things that are happening in their districts that are important, not only to them, but to all Mississippians. And so, you know, you gotta, you gotta see about that stuff too. So anyway, it was, uh, it was a learning, learning curve for us for sure, but we enjoyed it.

(Will) Yeah, absolutely. What else can you do, right? Just get in there, drink by the fire house and see how it goes.

(Jason) Yeah, there is no playbook.

(Will) Right?

(Jason) There is no manual anywhere.

(Will) Yeah, just learn as you go. Well, by all accounts, I think it was a very successful session for you guys and, um, for the taxpaying citizens in Mississippi. There’s a lot of good things that have been talked about. Uh, if you want to, you can kind of maybe talk about some of the things that you got accomplished or that you wanted to see done in that session and maybe what's been going on since then.

(Jason) Well, we had lots of big topics in the session. I mean, everything from, you know, from health care to education, all of the things that you typically talk about, probably things we talked about in January that that we wanted to address or look into. Um, now we didn't, all of those things didn't necessarily get across the finish line and become legislation. But we were extremely proud of our new education funding formula that funds K-12 education. Um, it was a huge, huge lift. Um, we voted on it in the house four times before –

(Will) Wow.

(Jason) we finally got it through the other end of the building and it, you know, you hear people say, ‘Nothing's dead until it's dead dead dead.’

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) Well that, that thing was dead dead dead at least –

(Will) Revived!

(Jason) at least twice so anyway, that was that was kind of cool to, you know, we, we learned some lessons about perseverance, and you know even the role that public relations and politics as it comes into play on issues that matter most to Mississippians. Um, it was a good session for infrastructure and for, um, I won't say for MDOT. I'll say it was a good session for, for Mississippians who care about good roads and bridges because we again found some historic funding, albeit one time funding –

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) You know, that, um, from capital expense, but, um, still um, the positives are there for, for y'all to keep continuing down, uh, down the path of, of doing some huge capacity projects that gets one more off the list, right.

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) Or maybe two. So, um, and that's, you know, we want to continue not only to fund those, but, but in the coming session, you're going to see us try to focus more on, you know, continuous streams of revenue for that purpose. And we can talk about that more in a minute, but, um, I thought it was a good session. Now, we looked at the Public Employees’ Retirement System.

(Will) Mmm hmm.

(Jason) Um, we've looked at ways to provide, you know, health care coverage for low-income, working Mississippians. We passed versions of that in the House that we were unable to get across the finish line in the Senate. So, we'll, we'll continue to kick those around as we, as we move forward and try to find a way.

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) Um, as we look at some of these new things that we're gonna talk about here in a little bit.

(Will) Yeah, absolutely.

(Paul) And speaking of those capacity projects, we caught up with you a little bit, uh, in Tippah County, the Highway 15 groundbreaking. So, talk about those, you know, construction projects. And that's a great example of, you know, one that Mississippians want to see, right?

(Jason) Long time coming, I think on that, even before my time in the Legislature, so that was cool to get to be a part of that groundbreaking and be up there and see the community and, um, y'all go to some of these, too, but I go to a lot of them where maybe there's 15 or 20 people –

(Will) Right.

(Jason) in the audience, you know, and it's just like, ho hum, here come the politicians and the policy makers, you know, whatever. That thing was a huge deal. And –

(Will) Absolutely.

(Jason) half the community turned out for that. So, it was y'all, y'all put on a great, a great morning and, um, the locals participated in a way that you could just feel a little bit of energy and enthusiasm around a project that has the potential to literally change the way folks do business up there –

(Will) Absolutely.

(Jason) and the face of that community. And so, um, not everything we do is always cool and fun. So, when we do, when we do get projects like that and are able to see them through, it's fun to be a part of that –

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) and get to see the, um, enthusiasm on, on the folks of Tippah County and that whole region, actually, in the business community kind of coming together and celebrating a win for everybody.

(Paul) Yeah, no doubt.

(Will) And that, as Paul just mentioned, you know, that really highlights that, the basically, the crux of the message that we, as MDOT, and you guys over there have been talking about, the capacity projects, the future needs, and that sustainable revenue, uh, in order to, to forecast out and be financially and staff-wise prepared to tackle those. Um, which is, again, the perfect segue. This might be the best outline we’ve ever put together.

(Paul) Right?

(Will) Perfect segue.

(Paul) Pat yourself on the back.

(Jason) And look, hey, before we leave groundbreaking, you know, we got a big one coming up here in –

(Will) Oh, yeah!

(Jason) a few weeks in Oxford with Highway 7. That was –

(Will) Huge.

(Jason) You know, we got that finally funded this session. So, that was part of those capacity projects, too. So, um, everyone’s fired up about that.

(Will) Yeah.

(Jason) Certainly, the Mayor of Oxford’s fired up about it.

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) And all those folks up there. And if anybody, if you use that corridor now, and it’s two-lane capacity, you’ll certainly appreciate the four-lane –

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) that’s coming, um, coming there.

(Will) And look, there, you know, these are two, you know, northeastern Mississippi, I guess, projects that we’re talking about, but they are statewide. Um, you know, we have projects just like this that we’re talking about –

(Jason) That’s right.

(Will) uh, that are all over the state. And again, you know, parlaying onto our next topic here will, will hopefully be kind of the, uh, the forecast again for the future. You'll see more of these coming up. But, uh, with that, you know, lots of stuff has been going on. I know your schedule’s slammed, uh, probably not the least of which, uh, is this big event that you have coming up in this month. We're two weeks away, I believe.

(Jason) Yeah, yeah, two weeks. On the 24th of September, we are hosting in Flowood, um, I think we're calling it ‘Public Policy Summit on Tax Reform.’ We intend to look at every aspect of the way we fund government in Mississippi and the way we spend those dollars. Um, we've got national folks coming in, tax experts from around the nation, as well as some of our neighboring states who've done some, um, pretty, pretty smart things in the way they've cut taxes, but they still manage to, you know, fund essential services and, um, do it in a way that is smart.
In other words, we continue to run, run large surpluses in state government. Um, this past year's budget was about $7 billion, but we took in almost eight, you know, so, so there's, we've continued to run these surpluses. And so, somebody says, ‘Why do y'all keep talking about cutting taxes, Jason? We've got needs like highways and things like that.’

I'm like, well, we keep running these surpluses that now, the infrastructure piece is a, in my mind, yes, it is an essential function and core function of government. And it is the one thing that even my Republican, conservative voters, they don't get upset when we spend money on roads and bridges. They actually like that.
That's one of the things you can talk about public safety and some other things that they actually, I've never had a constituent run me down and so y'all wasted that money when you uh, repaved my road.

(Will) That's right.

(Paul) Sure.

(Jason) You know, everybody, everybody's, and certainly everybody wants their road paved. But, but my point is, um, we're going to take a long, hard look at that.
It's a, it's a one-day summit. Um, it's free to the public, and then you can go to our website, jasonwhitems.com and register, um, for free. We want to know you're coming, so we have ample space for everybody there. I think we've already got two or three hundred folks registered.

(Will) Oh, wow. OK.

(Jason) We're expecting a big crowd, um.

(Will) That’s awesome.

(Paul) Yeah, it is.

(Jason) We’re looking forward to it.

(Will) Yeah. Kind of from the MDOT standpoint, and I know this may be premature to ask, but do you have any kind of linchpins of what you're hoping to hear that day or what maybe it will yield?

(Jason) Not really, but you know, some people said, ‘Oh, well, y’all already know where you’re going. You’re just teeing, teeing this thing up to set you up.’ We really don’t. Um, when we finished session, I formed, uh, two or three select committees to, to dive into this summer and fall into some issues that we talked about during the session, but we really didn't drill down to the point where we knew the direction we wanted to go.

Um, we formed a select committee to deal with some prescription drug things and PBMs, and the way, um, Mississippians either through their insurance or privately purchased their drugs and independent pharmacists. So, we spent a bunch of time in the session on that. So, we formed a select committee this offseason to, folks that were really engaged in that, my House members, we put them on that committee and said, y'all go figure this out. And they've been bringing in everybody that has any piece of that pie to testify and talk to the committee about a direction for us. Um, another one was on Certificate of Need, and I won't, I won't delve off into all these health care issues, issues with y’all. But that was another one that, that a lot of Mississippians want to see some reform there.

But the big one was this Select Committee on Tax Reform. And it is chaired by our Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar as well as Scott Bounds from, he is one of our appropriations chairmen. And they were, you know, that’s the spending side and the revenue side. So, we wanted them and that, I think it's 18 members on that committee. And there's some of our, you know, most influential members who have been engaged in that discussion, either around infrastructure or cutting taxes or the way we fund government and looking for ways to trim it where we can and spend our money wisely and spend our dollars smart.

Um, and in looking at that, you know, in 2022, we cut taxes and at full phase-in in 2026, we will be a 4 percent flat tax state. In other words, your income that you make here in Mississippi, um, you'll be taxed at 4 percent on everything over 10,000 bucks. I think so. So, we'll be a 4 percent flat tax state. Arkansas last year, this year just passed a tax cut. It's the largest tax cut in their history. Guess what the number was they got to.

(Will) Tell me it’s not 3.9.

(Jason) It’s 3.9.

(Paul) Oh, wow.

(Jason) Now there's no mystery to how they got to 3.9.

(Will) Of course.

(Jason) They're looking at sister state Mississippi saying, ‘How can we get, you know, under those guys and girls over there?’ So, um, there is a competitive nature to luring businesses and people looking around. We're in a mobile society now and I'm, I'm preaching to the choir here at MDOT about that. But, um, people go where, you know, it's best for them. You know, we talk about it all the time. The best. We want to be the best place to work, worship, raise a family and start a business in the country.

And, and with the two huge special sessions we had in January, my first month as Speaker, I can't take credit for those, but we did. We did move them through swiftly, huge economic investment in our state over $12 billion. And even that you hear people throw around the term ‘game changer’ and maybe sometimes too much. Those really are game changers –

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) for our state because people sit up and said, ‘Wait a minute. Amazon's going to Mississippi. Um, a cutting-edge EV battery manufacturer’s going to north Mississippi. What's going on here?’ And between those two projects over $12 billion of private capital investment. So, people were putting their money in Mississippi, and it caused the international business community kind of really sit up and take notice. And that news coming on the heels of our education gains the last few years getting off the bottom. Most education metrics we now measure in in the mid to low thirties where we've been 47th 8th or 49th or 50th in most categories. We finally got off the bottom there. Um, I saw something this weekend, Mississippi ranked 30th or 31st in places, in states to start a business. And so, we, we've moved there. Um, by all metrics, you can kind of feel the positive energy around our state.

(Will) Yeah.

(Jason) So, we want to look at that. We still tax groceries higher than any other state in the country.

(Will) OK.

(Jason) It's 7%. We want to be competitive and attractive there. And everybody pays that tax. Everybody buys groceries.

(Will) Right.

(Jason) We're at 7%. How can we cut that tax? My goal is to cut it in half as soon as we can. Now, the tricky part for that is your cities fund most of municipal government on the grocery tax. Because if you think about it a little bit, especially our medium and small size towns, they don't have a lot of other retail activity going on. They have some, but, but the, but the by and large, the largest part of it comes from the grocery tax –

(Will) Yeah.

(Jason) because everybody's buying groceries at that local grocery store. And so, they get a diversion from sales tax. Any sale that happens inside a municipality, um, the cities get a diversion for that. So, if we're going to cut grocery taxes, unless we keep them whole by –

(Will) Other means, yeah.

(Jason) By other means or by increasing the diversion to them. Um, it would have a tremendous and drastic effect on. In other words, we're cutting them now.

(Will) Right.

(Jason) And people expect certain services like fire and police protection and their roads and sewer and garbage and all the things they do. Um, so, so the math gets tricky there. So, we've got to be sure we keep our cities whole. They have come on as a partner. They're participating in the in the tax reform policy summit as well. Um, MML, the Mississippi Municipal League, and they will be participating in one of the panels. Um, we're also going to have a panel that's going to look specifically at infrastructure, how we fund it, what are the needs. Um, and your Executive Director, Brad White, has agreed to participate in that. So, we're, and one of your commissioners who's chairman of the Commission now, uh, Commissioner Simmons is going to be there as well, and they're going to be part of a panel discussion. We'll have a moderator, uh, Ryan Miller, who's –

(Will) Yeah.

(Jason) one of our leading economic development, um, folks in the state.

(Will) Former podcast guest for us.

(Jason) That’s right, that’s right. Ryan's gonna, I think he's gonna moderate the segment where, where the commissioner and executive director will be there. Um, and, and I want Mississippians to hear because a lot of people I don't know. I think they think the gas tax, they just they buy their gas, that money goes to MDOT, they, they build the road.

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) And they maintain them. It's so much more complicated than that.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Jason) As y'all know, especially in the changing landscape of, of fuel efficiency –

(Will) Yes.

(Jason) and EV and all of those things. Um, so, you know, we want to take a close look at that while we are looking at the overall picture of taxes. We want to look closely at that. Um, I think most people want to move to a dedicated stream of revenue purely for that. And let's get out of the business of funding state government, seeing how much extra money we have left over, and then going and doing projects at MDOT.

(Will) Yeah.

(Jason) Um, that's really no way to, to, to, uh, you need, y'all need, this agency needs an ability to long-term plan. And to do that, you need to know where that money is coming from and be able to adequately predict it. And, and with that, so that's gonna be part of the conversation. Um, that day, um, it's at the Sheraton, the new conference center out in Flowood. And I think it starts at eight, eight o'clock that morning runs till about four or four-thirty, I can’t remember.

(Will) I was about to say it's a full day.

(Jason) It’s a full day. Um, but one of those hour segments will include y'all's folks. So, we're excited about that part for sure.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Paul) There you go.

(Will) Can you give us the website for the RSVP?

(Jason) It’s jasonwhitems.com. That’s, that’s my speaker website. But when you go there, you'll scroll right down, you'll see public, you'll see Tax Reform Policy Summit. It's got a link right there to push to register. It takes about minute at the most. Um, and you're done, and it's free. So, we want every –
We're encouraging everybody to attend, and lunch will be provided as part of the deal.

(Will) Hey, there we go!

(Jason) I think we may even have speakers through part of lunch, so, anyway.

(Will) Incredible. A full day of it, man.

(Jason) Um, yeah, we’re gonna have, like I said, some national tax policy experts. We're bringing the, uh, legislator from Arkansas who led their latest tax cut.

(Will) OK.

(Jason) Um, he's going to talk about the politics of theirs because, you know, our states have needs, and Arkansas is similarly situated –

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) like we are, you know, they, they fight some of the things, same things we fight. So, um, it's, it's an interesting dynamic to see how they moved that through the political process, weighing all the needs of state government. And so, it'll, it'll, we're excited to hear from him about how that went. Um, we’re gonna hear from the governor. Um, we're gonna, we have a panel of leading chairman in the House and Senate that are gonna, um, kind of just bounce ideas off each other in a public setting from the standpoint of, you know, what they're hearing from constituents.

We also, we've been doing a lot of polling on this topic, everything from tax cuts to funding government to infrastructure. And we're gonna have the, um, polling firm there and one of the segments they're gonna present the findings. Um, they're, if they're not finished, they're almost finished. They've been in the field about a month now polling Mississippians, and it is, it's an expensive poll, but we want to hear we want to hear directly from Mississippians and a huge campaign year nationally about what's on their mind when it comes to funding state government and Mississippi.

(Paul) Nice.

(Jason) So, that will be fun to It'll be fun to, um, see the reveal of that and the questions and how folks rank items that are important to them.

(Will) Yeah. Yeah, I would, too, I guess want to, maybe a question, another comment that you talked about Arkansas DOT. I'd want to maybe verify this before I put it on, you know, as fact out there, but if I'm not mistaken, specifically their DOT and the responsibilities that they have with lane mileage and number of bridges, things like that. I think I've heard before that they mirror us closer than any other state, so we're very similar. So, I mean, that's –

(Jason) It is very similar.

(Will) even more perfect.

(Jason) It’s what my guys on the Transportation Committee tell me.

(Will) Love it. So having that, you know, that Arkansas folk over here to tell us that, spot on there. And the other, I guess, a question is, I feel like these are more frequent. We have these hearings and things where we have legislators engaged with stakeholders and the public. I think that's something y'all are doing more these days. I don't remember these being so often.

(Jason) It is. It is. Um, maybe that's just a product of the, of the world we live in now. Or, or maybe some of that went on and we didn't have social media to know–

(Will) True, sure.

(Jason) everything that's going on. Um, but, but like from the session, those select committees, I was telling you we formed, it seemed to be that those issues kept bubbling up in such a way that it was going to take more input. It was going to take more brain power; it was going to take more thought. Um, and so you know, I task my folks in the house with really drilling down on those. And this one being the most specific one. Um, let's spend some time and energy and not be under the gun of a legislative session. Because, you know, when you get in session and those deadlines start hitting –

(Will) Oh, yeah.

(Jason) and so much is going on, you know, get in a hurry, you make a mistake. And so, we wanted time to methodically go through this. And so, while they've been having their committee hearings this summer and fall, we want, we wanted this conversation even to get bigger from the standpoint of statewide. Um, let other folks come and hear what policymakers are talking about.

(Will) Yeah.

(Jason) State agencies, what are they talking about as far as What does funding look like? How much funding is enough? You know, what do we really need? What can we get by with? What is bare bones? You know, those kind of things. And I don't think anybody wants a bare bones infrastructure system.

(Will) Certainly.

(Jason) It's when you talk to, you know, that's why we've got economic development folks leading that conversation. Because in addition to the quality-of-life issues for Mississippians on our roads, it is the number one thing that businesses that, that are looking to locate in Mississippi. They look at site readiness, which we have done a really good job with the governor's lead, um, in being ready and investing millions of dollars in site, uh, sites that are ready to build throughout our state. Um, the other component besides site readiness is the infrastructure. Can they get their stuff to market or where they want it to go? And so, um, I think it's a worthy investment. It's certainly worthy of our time, um, to try to figure out what the next 20, 30, 40 years in Mississippi looks like. And we want to get it right. So that's why we're spending a lot of extra time on it out of session.

(Will) Look, from an MDOT perspective, we certainly appreciate it. But just as a, you know, a young Mississippian who everything you’re talking about will be extremely impactful for the next 30 years. I appreciate that. You know, the focus and attention to detail that you guys are exercising on this. I love it. Huge fan.

(Paul) No doubt.

(Jason) We’re gonna work hard.

(Paul) There you go. Show up to this forum. It sounds like it's going to be a fantastic event. Um, and before we get to some fun questions, uh, you mentioned a lot of priorities, but anything else kind of specifically that, uh, you want to harp on when it comes to next January?

(Jason) No, we'll, we'll continue. Um, and and that's some of the polling we're doing this off season, too, to really see where Mississippians are like on things like restoring a ballot initiative. Um, where are they on health care? Where are we um, on the way we measure our public schools, the accountability model. And again, we want to be a help. We want to be an ally with our public schools. And I think we've in our new funding formula, we put 230 million new dollars into public education. We put our money where our mouth is on that. So, um, but I remind those folks to whom much is given much is expected.

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) So, we're gonna really drill down on the accountability model and the way we measure schools. And this is another thing, and it makes us a little bit nervous because any time in state government when you start moving the cheese around and you move somebody's cheese, they don't like it, but, but, but we're going to look close at parents are really starting to demand choices, but, but not just in maybe going to this school over this school, but looking at that actual curriculum. Like a lot of parents now want alternative tracks for their kids in the career tech space. They know their child is not going to a four-year university in Mississippi. So, other states are doing it. We can do it. Let's look at what is being offered and some school districts do an excellent job and some, just being honest, they don't have the means and the resources to do it. We want to give that child the option to get to one that does, especially if they're willing to transport their kid and get them there. Um, we want to look for ways for parents to have more choice in their education options.

Um, and, and, you know, again, everything's out on the table. There are no preconceived notions about that. Um, but we're going that, my education folks want to work really hard on that. They've been looking long and hard at that. So, you'll see that bubble up. We'll continue to look at health care. Um, see where we get. I expect the tax reform, uh, ideas and what comes from our select committee as well as this public policy summit, I expect those things to start boiling down to some ideas that you see –

(Will) Right.

(Jason) in the form of legislation in the spring that will probably dominate much of the session.

(Will) Yeah.

(Paul) Excellent.

(Will) So, already having a full plate, you might look up in, you know, three weeks and think, ‘Oh, I'm not sure how in the world we're gonna get to all this.’

(Jason) That’s right, that’s right.

(Will) That’s good stuff.

(Paul) It’s a lot.

(Will) Absolutely. Um, I think that’s it. Any other legislative priorities that we did not cover that you want to mention?

(Jason) Man, I think that’s enough.

(Will) That’s right. Lots of stuff out there for sure.

(Paul) That’s a lot.

(Jason) It is. And hey, there's always, we probably talked about this in January. There's always one or two or three things that pop up that nobody –

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) thought about. Nobody planned that ends up being the, the hot topic or the or the unseen. you know, the curveball that nobody expects.

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) So, there will be something that comes this session that none of us are expecting. And we'll, we'll have to be able to bob and weave. And like I tell everybody, we're feels like, you know, Mississippi's punching above her weight now. We’ll, we'll, we'll bob and weave. And I think that's one thing that has made us so attractive from a business standpoint. And when we're feeling a little bit of momentum is we are so small, it is so few of us. Um, we're able to kind of, you know, bob and weave a little bit in a way that larger states that have so much going on, um, aren't able to do.

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) So being a right to work state and, and being a relatively cheap place to start a business. Um, folks that want a job in Mississippi can get a job. Our unemployment rate is incredibly historically low. We got a lot of positives.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Jason) We just need to build on those and kind of get this right in the next few years.

(Will) I love it. I think everything's going in the right direction these days.

(Paul) Absolutely.

(Will) Maybe not everything. You know, I'm sure there's plenty of folks out there that would say otherwise. But, you know, lots of stuff that we're talking about going the right direction.

(Paul) Come to the Sip!

(Jason) It is. We have, we have tried really hard in this first session to focus on big things and not get off in the ditch on maybe some, you know, some political red meat that, that while it gets clicks on, on my –

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) Twitter account or on Facebook, it doesn't really move the needle for Miss– average Mississippians, their, their everyday lives, the things that are important to them when they get up in the morning and go to work. The things that are important to them are the things we wanted to focus on things like public education, things like health care. And I know those are the big ones and things like taxes. You know, the government's in your pocketbook. Let's, let's only be in your pocketbook for the things we have to be. But the things we do, let's be sure we're spending that money wisely and smart. And um, for the most part, we managed to stay out of these, these hot political debates on, on some social issues that that really, while again, they generate lots of media, they really don't move the needle for Mississippians, and we tended to focus almost, and I was proud of that. We tended to focus the majority of our time on big issues that really matter. Um, and if we had any success this session, it was because we managed to kind of, kind of stay there, um, for the most part.

(Will) Glutton for stress, man. Just give him more, he said.

(Paul) Oh, yeah. Well –

(Will) With that, we will, uh –

(Paul) Time for the fun questions?

(Will) That’s right. We’ll move on in.

(Jason) Oh, the fun questions.

(Paul) The fun questions.

(Will) Yeah, the somewhat softballs. Some people have had a little trouble with some of these, though. Uh, you know, as a podcast and as a people, Mississippians here, this is my tagline, we like to eat. We love to listen to music, too, but we, we absolutely like to eat. Um, you probably gave us maybe, uh, you know, a Jackson staple or maybe even a, a, a fish house or two out and about, but –

(Jason) That’s right.

(Will) Maybe anywhere new that you’ve been to lately?

(Jason) Um, it's not new, but it was new to, to my, my staff in the Speaker's office. We took a Delta road trip a few weeks ago and, and spent part of a day in Cleveland –

(Will) OK.

(Jason) Or really a day there and then a day in Clarksdale. And on the second day, we were there when Abe's Barbecue opened the door. Have y'all ever been to Abe's?

(Will) No, I have not.

(Jason) In Clarksdale? It's at the crossroads there of Highway 61, right as you're coming into Clarksdale. Abe’s.

(Will) Okay.

(Jason) It's been there forever. It's not new to me, but it was new to my staff. And it is, it is the best.

(Will) All right.

(Jason) If you're in Clarksdale, you have to go to Abe's.

(Will) Add it to the list. There we go.

(Jason) It is awesome. It is really good.

(Will) Abe's, man. In Clarksdale, too.

(Jason) Abe's Barbecue.

(Will) That’s a day trip, you know. That's a lunch up there and a nap on the way back. You get full of barbecue.

(Jason) Absolutely.

(Paul) No doubt.

(Will) Excellent.

(Paul) We love a new location. We've, we've done this so long that we're beginning to get a lot, getting a lot of repeats. So, nice to have a new one, for sure. So, we'll mention music as well. I know we probably asked you this question last time, but have you been any concerts since we've, we've talked to you?

(Jason) Yes. Um, this spring, y'all remember Morgan Wallen had performed at Ole Miss the year before he, and he was supposed to have a two-day concert –

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) and the second night he didn't show up.

(Will) Yep.

(Jason) It's technical difficulties of some sort or another. I think they were personal, but, but at any rate, he wasn't there. So, he came back this spring for a, for a one night.

(Will) Okay.

(Jason) And it was there in Vaught-Hemingway on the campus at Ole Miss in this football stadium. And we were able to get to that, and it was really cool.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Jason) Um, I mean, he, he, he blew it out, and it was, it was really good. Just to see that stadium full of mostly, I'm sure there were some from out of state, but mostly Mississippians, um, come together and enjoy that. It was pretty cool. It was a cool event, and I think we talked about when I was here last time, the governor had Hardy play at his –

(Will) Oh, that’s right. Yeah.

(Jason) uh, at his inauguration, his inaugural ball. And he just sat on a stool acoustically and played his songs. All of them that he's written, even ones that he didn't perform that other people performed, but that was really cool, too. And he's coming to Starkville this week on Thursday night. It's going to be at Dudy Noble Field –

(Will) I did not know that.

(Jason) and play into a packed house there. So, we're going to go there. And he's a Mississippi guy.

(Will) Absolutely.

(Jason) Philadelphia, Mississippi.

(Will) Yes.

(Jason) So, we're looking forward to seeing him. But here is the coolest music experience I've done this year.

(Will) OK.

(Jason) Um, the Sunflower River Blues Festival was going on in Clarksdale a few weeks ago. And we started our night at Ground Zero Blues Club –

(Will) Yep.

(Jason) hearing in a couple of different bands. And then we went to Red's Lounge, which Orlando Paden is one of our, he's in the House of Representatives from Clarksdale.

(Will) Right.

(Jason) His dad's got a legendary famous bar kind of off the beaten path. It's called Red's. That's, his dad was known as Red Paden. So, we went to Red's for the late night and they hosted a band called Big A who was like the feature band the next day at the Blues Festival.

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Jason) But he did a little small private performance in there for about 50 of Red's best customers so to speak. Maybe 75, I don't know. It was a small crowd because it's a small –

(Will) Sure.

(Jason) little cool little place. It was so cool and in your face. Anyway, the artist's name is Big A.

(Will) Big A.

(Jason) He's from right there. Um, it was awesome. So, we enjoyed that. It was a, it was a cool experience.

(Will) Excellent answers all across the board there.

(Jason) Yeah.

(Will) I am, I too am a Morgan Wallen fan, but even if, you know, for folks out there, if you’re not, dude is arguably, you know, one of the largest acts in the world right now. So, still pretty cool, you know, to get to see it. Um, absolutely. And I’m a huge Hardy fan, too. No doubt.

(Jason) Yeah.

(Will) Um, we'll have to go check out Big A now we're coming to see a Representative Paden, and we're coming to Red’s, man. We need to, we need a show as well.

(Paul) We’re getting on the road, for sure. And just before we get out of here, speaking of, you know, football stadiums, things like that, you got a freshman son–

(Jason) I do.

(Paul) playing at Southern Miss. Is he, uh, is he warming up, getting things ready?

(Jason) He is, he is. He has very much embraced, um, that whole experience. We went to Kentucky last week. They played up at Kentucky. Uh, the game didn't go like we wanted to, but that was a cool experience, um, for his first, you know, hitting the field as a Division I athlete. That’s pretty fun for him and for mom and dad as well.

(Will) That’s right.

(Jason) So we enjoy being there for that. Um, and we're looking forward to Saturdays in Hattiesburg this fall.

(Will) Amen.

(Jason) Got a big one coming up this Saturday night.

(Will) There’s the tagline for this podcast right there. Looking forward to Saturdays in Hattiesburg. I love that.

(Jason) That's right, there you go.

(Will) No, we are, look, Southern Miss and through right here and uh, we're very much excited about the young man and his prospect of taking us all the way to a national championship.

(Paul) There you go.

(Will) I’m just kidding.

(Jason) Look, really cool this past Saturday night at The Rock. Um, they brought in the game ball. Three skydivers jumped out –

(Will) Oh, wow.

(Paul) Cool.

(Jason) of a plane. One of them had a huge American flag like, you know, trailing him. It was really cool. They came spiraling in there and landed on the field. It was, it was really cool. It got the crowd fired up.

(Will) I got this three-year-old and one-year-old that are, that are taking care of my Saturdays these days. So, we're going to get back down there. The Rock is a magical place.

(Jason) It is.

(Will) Wonderful stuff. It is. Excellent answers.

(Paul) No doubt. Well, uh, good luck to him and, uh, awesome event coming up, Tax Reform Forum. So, be sure to go to that, open to the public. Speaker White,

(Jason) September 24th.

(Paul) September 24th.

(Jason) We’d love to have everybody there.

(Paul) No doubt. Show up. Thank you so much for making time. Great conversation today. Appreciate it.

(Will) Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Will. Good to be with y’all.

(Paul) So, absolutely. We'll wrap things up there. Thank you to our listeners, our viewers for tuning into the Extra Mile Podcast. You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com/TheExtraMile. Follow us on social media @MississippiDOT is the handle there. We want to thank our producer/editor, Drew Hall, for holding things behind the scenes, and remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.

(Will) Thank you for subscribing to The Extra Mile podcast. Help us out by leaving a review and a five-star rating wherever you download the show. After leaving a review, slide on into our DMs over on social media @MississippiDOT and let us know. As a thank you, we have compiled a Google Map list of all of our guests’ favorite spots to eat on Mississippi Highways. It is our gift to you. Seriously, you guys are the best. We could not do the show without you, and we greatly appreciate the support. Remember, drive smart out there on Mississippi Highways.

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