Formed in 1991, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy is a Mississippi charitable non-profit corporation with IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.

 

The Center in its annual IRS filings has consistently stated that its charitable mission has been to research public policy issues and dispense that information to policy makers, business leaders, the media and the general public.

 

It was interesting to learn last month that this charitable mission included researching Jackson attorney Luther Munford and then dispensing that information to said list.

 

The issue began when Center president Douglas Carswell addressed the North Jackson Rotary Club. Among his comments were statements in favor of school choice, a priority issue for the Center.

 

During the question and answer period, Mr. Munford, a known advocate for public education, challenged Mr. Carswell’s positions. Later, Mr. Munford wrote a fact-filled column in the Northside Sun debunking school vouchers. He likened it to the Brexit initiative in Britain that began as a popular concept but failed to deliver promised benefits after it was adopted.

 

The column did not mention Mr. Carswell by name, but he was, as he describes it, “one of the founders of the official Brexit campaign back in my native Britain, a key proponent of Brexit.”

 

Soon after Mr. Munford’s column appeared, a digital blast and written column from the Center were dispensed to news outlets across the state wherein Mr. Carswell fervently responded to Mr. Munford’s article.

 

But, he did not stop there.

 

“What kind of hypocrite attacks school choice but sends their own kids to private school?” Mr. Carswell wrote. After writing he did not know Mr. Munford, he apparently conducted research to learn the Munford children attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. He failed to note they attended Jackson public schools through the eighth grade.

 

Mr. Carswell’s statewide dispensing of information were distributed as Center for Public Policy communications. Mr. Munford, a private citizen, asked a question at a meeting and wrote a column in one newspaper

 

Weeks earlier, Mr. Carswell dispensed information that derided Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann for not marching to the Center’s drumbeat on school choice. Calling Mr. Hosemann “the biggest obstacle to the education reforms we need,” he contrasted the Lt. Governor to President-elect Trump and suggested Mr. Hosemann might enjoy a future “conspicuous absence of invitations to Mar-a-Lago.”

 

Informing the public is one thing, browbeating individuals quite another. These attacks would appear to be personal and political rather than charitable policy research and information dispensing. The Center might want to refocus Mr. Carswell on convincing rather than vilifying.

 

 

Crawford is the author of “A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.”