Posted on 09/10/2004 7:10:40 PM PDT by RKB-AFG
Fordice refused 'politician' label
The Vicksburg Post
A mere 15 or so years ago, Daniel Kirkwood Fordice had no use for politicians. He was an engineer. He was a government contractor. He liked big-game hunting, riding his horse and flying his airplane.
All that changed during trips to Washington, D.C. Fordice had risen through the ranks to become president of Associated General Contractors, and had been getting his belly full testifying before Congress on employer-related matters.
A visit with the first President Bush was part of that experience, and it dawned on Fordice that he might actually be able to make a difference in elective office.
No one gave him a chance. Not one single person thought a first-time Republican candidate with no organization, no nothing, could beat a sitting Democratic governor. In January 1991, a handful of people turned out at the Vicksburg Holiday Inn for breakfast and a kickoff message. It was clear this man planned to win. It was clear his wife, Pat, would be a tremendous asset in that quest.
Two primary wins over seasoned campaigners followed as did a general election victory over incumbent Ray Mabus, who had outspent Fordice 7 to 1. Then, on one of the coldest inaugural days in state history, Daniel Kirkwood Fordice - who continued to bristle when anyone called him a politician - warmed the hearts of not a handful, but thousands of people. He promised them a new, more plainspoken brand of government.
The honeymoon was short. Fordice, the most conservative of fiscal conservatives, had a sales tax increase enacted over his veto.
But he did get lawmakers for the first time ever to promise to set a keep a budget reserve - something faithfully done until last budget year.
There were problems with the press and the public who couldn't deal with a man who said what he thought: Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was a "nitwit." America "is a Christian nation." But the voters never lost faith, even through a marital crisis, a near-fatal accident and more.
Fordice, Mississippi's first Republican governor in 116 years and the only governor elected to two full terms before or since succession was reinstated, died today of leukemia at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. He was 70.
He will live on in the hearts and minds of people who seek clarity - who would just like government to make sense.
Fordice may not have made a tremendous dent in the bureaucracies that dominate people's lives, but he gave it his best effort.
He never told people things just to get their votes. He never shaded his views to court favor.
Put "leader" on his tombstone. Put "businessman" or "governor." But don't put "politician." He said he wasn't one, and he meant it.
Thanks for posting this. He was a good man. We need more like him.
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