Rep. Karl Oliver, R-Winona, responded to a Mississippi resident’s email, saying “I appreciate you going to the trouble to share your (political views) with me, but quite frankly, and with all due respect, I could care less.”
Why it stinks: Becky Guidry, a Gulfport resident, emailed every representative in the House, asking them to consider voting against the Mississippi Taxpayer Pay Raise Act last week. Oliver responded by essentially telling Guidry he doesn’t have to listen to her opinions because they don’t agree—and besides she’s not a native Mississippian anyway. U.S. Census data shows that 37 percent of people born in Mississippi now live somewhere else. Oliver’s response illuminates a myth that several lawmakers operate under: that their Mississippi is the only one that exists. They fail to understand or recognize how many people like Guidry might have the state’s best interest at heart, and how many people—over a million native Mississippians—left the state because being “native” didn’t change anything, either.
