Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck can’t get a break or a fair shake no matter if she’s a Democrat or a Republican.

When Tuck first ran for lieutenant governor, she did so with the blessing of her family and friends, but certainly not the party she had served for many years. As a Democrat, she was snubbed by Democratic lobbyist groups, by the state party’s leadership and by fellow Democrats with whom she had served in the Senate.

And all those folks be darned if she didn’t win the primary and general elections in spite of it all.

Then, in a move that confused every politician this side of the Mississippi &045; not to mention the political money men, pundits and the media who call this state home &045; Tuck abandoned the Democratic line of slice-and-dice redistricting to put forth a fair, straightforward and logical congressional map.

And as if that was not enough, she then stepped up and rammed tort reform through during a marathon special session.

After all of that, Tuck took cover with the party she has found is more inline with her beliefs &045; the Republican party. Seemed like a pretty smart move, given the fact that most Democrats were tired of her anyway. They gave her a few parting shots, and the Republicans rallied around her to welcome her home.

Ah, but it took only a matter of hours before the announcement’s ring dulled and radio call-in shows and newspaper editorials popped up saying things like, &8220;Amy Tuck has been a friend of the Republican Party, but …&8221;

It even took some arm-twisting of a few people to make sure Tuck would not have to waste time and money in a bloody Republican primary during this year’s election.

Now if you think that’s gratitude for you, try this on for size.

It has now come to light that Tuck has a loan agreement to the tune of $510,000 with trial lawyer-extraordinaire Dicky Scruggs. Given, Tuck violated the spirit of campaign finance laws by not reporting the loan, but that is not the big deal here. Nope. It seems more people are interested in blasting her over the irony that a Republican owes one of the state’s biggest Democratic backers nearly a half-million dollars (that’s after she’s paid back part of it).

No wonder Tuck did not want to say who it was that helped her out. She knew she would be crucified in the press and by the &8220;Republican purists&8221; who have distrusted her since the day she switched because &045; get this &045; she used to be a Democrat.

For those who do not understand exactly how the Republican Party came about in Mississippi, it came from old Democrats. Rankin County is one of the largest GOP strongholds in the state, and back when Pearl was the Rankin County mecca, it was solidly Democratic. Same thing for Madison, Harrison and DeSoto counties. Same thing for GOP state chairman Jim Herring and former Congressman and once-anointed GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Parker.

Sure, it’s a hoot-and-a-holler that our state’s top Republican office-holder took trial lawyer money. (No one seems to care she was a Democrat at the time!) But what is even more remarkable is that with $510,000 of Scruggs’ money in her pocket, she still did not blink an eye when it came to pushing tort reform through.

Just look at her record. When November rolls around, that’s what voters should do. And her grass-roots campaign machine has so far done a good job of endearing her to said voters.

Reach

Sam R. Hall

by e-mail to

shall@sctonline.net

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