Published: August 03, 2007 11:34 am      

Bryant touts conservative ideas in run for Miss. lt. governor

Philadelphia — Phil Bryant has the cowboy walk of a former law enforcement officer and the backslapping charisma of a practiced politician, and both were on display as he roamed the Neshoba County fairgrounds.

As others fanned themselves and chugged bottles of cold water, Bryant — one of two Republican candidates for lieutenant governor — barely broke a sweat in the peak-of-summer mugginess.

On stage, Bryant, 52, got whoops from the largely conservative crowd as he talked about receiving the personal endorsement of the Rev. Donald Wildmon of Tupelo, founder and chairman of the American Family Association. Bryant recounted his own decision to run for Mississippi’s second-highest office.

“I argued with the Lord for about a year, said, ‘Are you sure this is what you want me to do?’” Bryant said. “He said, ‘Don’t make me have a whale swallow you.’”

Bryant, who has been state auditor for a decade, faces state Sen. Charlie Ross in next Tuesday’s Republican primary for lieutenant governor. The winner will compete against state Rep. Jamie Franks of Mooreville in the Nov. 6 general election.

The incumbent, Republican Amy Tuck, is limited to two terms and couldn’t run again.

The lieutenant governor is one of the most powerful officials in state government, presiding over the Senate, appointing committee chairmen and assigning bills to committee.

Bryant and Ross both live in the Republican stronghold of Rankin County, and in debates early this summer, they frequently referred to each other as nice guys. In the past few weeks, they’ve sharpened the rhetoric.

Ross, for example, says Bryant has “flip-flopped” on the issue of where coast casinos should locate, saying one thing to religious conservatives and another to south Mississippi business groups.

Weeks after Hurricane Katrina crippled the dozen floating gambling houses in 2005, Gov. Haley Barbour, also a Republican, called a special legislative session and, among other things, asked lawmakers to change state law to allow casinos to be built a short distance on shore.

Coast business leaders said the change was critical to the area’s redevelopment. The American Family Association was among the opponents.

Ross voted for the change. Bryant, as auditor, did not have to vote on the issue.

“Two of the largest (casinos) down there that I see — the Beau Rivage and the Hard Rock — have not moved,” Bryant told The Associated Press recently during an interview in his Jackson campaign office. “If it was that critical, why are they successfully operating? I think certainly there could’ve been another way.”

Bryant issued an audit report in 2006 saying illegal immigrants cost Mississippi $25 million a year for education, health care and other social services. Supporters said the report pointed to the need for tighter enforcement of immigration laws, while critics said it ignored immigrants’ role in Katrina recovery. Now, Bryant is endorsed by Jim Gilchrist, who helped found the Minuteman Project, a civilian group that patrols the U.S. border with Mexico.

Butch Townsend, chief of detectives for the Pearl Police Department, said he attended Hinds Community College and the University of Mississippi with Bryant. They both studied police science at Hinds and criminal justice at USM.

“The thing I like about Phil, he’s the real deal,” Townsend said after Bryant spoke last week at the Neshoba County Fair. “He’s not one that talks the talk and doesn’t walk the walk. What you see is what you get. He lives in a modest house, treasures his family. He’s just, he’s what America is all about.”

Bryant was born in the Delta town of Moorhead and grew up in the metro Jackson area. Along with his degrees from Hinds and USM, he earned a master’s in political science from Mississippi College.

Bryant has worked as a deputy sheriff and insurance investigator. He served five years in the state House before then-Gov. Kirk Fordice tapped him to fill the vacant state auditor’s job in 1996. Bryant and his wife, Deborah, have a son and a daughter.

Bryant says he would be a close ally of the current governor, who is widely expected to win a second term.

“Lieutenant governors are independently elected by people of the state of Mississippi,” Bryant said. “But it would be hard for me to find a philosophical, political difference that Haley Barbour and I would have.”

On the Net:

Phil Bryant campaign: http://www.philbryant.com