All Politics Are Local -- Good Night, Plantersville!

From the CL:

Backed by hospital officials who reiterated their support for a cigarette tax hike, Gov. Haley Barbour urged lawmakers today to approve a complicated hospital tax plan to solve Medicaid funding woes.

But some Democrats voiced skepticism after listening to the plan during Barbour’s news conference. A key House leader said “extensive hearings” will be required before that chamber signs off.

“I hope he don’t think we’re gonna go for this quick just because he wants us to,” House Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, said after listening to the proposal. “There’s a hell of a lot of questions to be answered.”

Guess I have some questions, as follows:

• Do the people of Plantersville really like Steve Holland?
• Do the people of Plantersville really like extensive hearings?
• How many folks in Plantersville receive Medicaid?
  
• Has a group of Mississippians opposed to a legislative leader ever appealed directly to that lawmaker's constituency for his or her removal from office?

Nothing personal against Savage Steve, mind you, but he and Billy McCoy and others who generally irritate folks statewide seem to be re-elected quite a bit.

Gov. pushes hospital tax | clarionledger.com | The Clarion-Ledger