William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography

12. Post-Governor Blues

232 12 POSTGOVERNOR BLUES The Christmas Miracle of 1982 not only boosted William Winter’s popularity but also transformed the political landscape of Mississippi. The 1983 state elections demonstrated strong public support for the education reform cause, and numerous individuals with close ties to the governor were elevated to political office. As journalist Bill Minor noted, the governor succeeded in “Winterizing” state government.1 At the same time, Winter, who was still only sixty years old in 1983, lamented the end of his four years as governor. He would have liked to have served another four years and likely could have easily won reelection, but the Mississippi Constitution prohibited gubernatorial succession. The momentum that produced the Education Reform Act of 1982 carried over into the last year of Winter’s administration. Mississippi governors usually accomplished little in their last year in office, but when the legislature convened in early 1983, just a few short weeks after ratifying the Education Reform Act, lawmakers acted on a number of Winter priorities. The legislature approved the Public Utilities Reform Act, the first overhaul of Mississippi’s utilities law since 1956. Winter aide Herman Glazier helped draft the new model law, which provided extra staff for the Public Service Commission and required public oversight of both utility construction projects and contractual agreements between utility affiliates. The legislature also approved an open records bill that the governor had pressed for since he took office. The law granted the public the right to examine most records generated by Mississippi government at all levels and advanced a key Winter objective: maintaining citizen faith in government by encouraging transparency and accountability on the part Post-Governor Blues 233 of elected and appointed public officials. In addition, prison reform initiatives supported by Winter, which the 1982 legislature had rejected, were reintroduced in 1983, this time with greater success.2 After the close of the 1983 legislative session, a number of matters occupied the governor’s attention. At the beginning of June, the dedication ceremony for the remodeled Capitol was held. A crowd of two thousand attended to hear speeches by J. P. Coleman and William Winter. Coleman recounted the history of the construction of the New Capitol at the turn of the twentieth century. He recalled that twenty-two years earlier he had spoken at the dedication of another newly restored structure, the Old Capitol Building, a project Winter had helped win legislative support for in the 1950s. While Coleman paid homage to Mississippi’s official architecture, Winter used the occasion to talk about the future for Mississippians . He said that the state’s residents had a “reasonable anticipation that the majesty of the building would be matched by the performances of those who serve here. Nothing could be more detrimental to our system of government and its ideals than to have this architectural triumph be the scene of political mediocrity.” Winter noted that the 1982 special session and the 1983 regular session had been a fine beginning, but, he said, Mississippi needed “an increased commitment to do much more if we are going to claim our rightful place among the leading states of the region.” Winter restated his longstanding belief that great things were possible now that Mississippi had moved beyond the racial divisions that had dimmed its progress for so long: “I am convinced that there is a unique quality to this fascinating mix of human beings that claim to be Mississippians. It is a quality that lay unrecognized for so many years under the inhibitions of a social system that generated for itself too many fears. Now with those fears dissipated and laid to rest, we can truly be ourselves and enjoy what so many other people in this country may have forgotten how to enjoy, and that is our common humanity.”3 Throughout the summer of 1983, Winter faced an impassioned debate in the state over a difficult human-rights issue: the resumption of capital punishment. After almost two decades in which lawsuits challenging the legality of capital punishment had halted the execution of Mississippi criminals, in May 1983 the Mississippi Supreme Court set a July date for the execution of Jimmy Lee Gray. In 1976, Gray had kidnapped, brutally raped, and murdered a three-year-old girl in south Mississippi. Less than a Post-Governor Blues 234 year earlier, Gray had been released on...