Governor Haley Barbour has been on a roll lately pushing his message of jobs through smart energy, health care, and tort reform policies.  I write about it in my column this week, but below are links to some of the items I discuss.  You can read the full column at The Madison County Journal online: Perry / Barbour’s politics rooted in jobs

• Governor Haley Barbour (09/28/09): Governor Barbour Begins Asian Economic Development Trip
• Republican Governors Association (09/25/09): “Energy 101″ Webinar Featuring Gov Haley Barbour
• The Heritage Foundation (09/18/09): “Tort Reform in the States: Protecting Consumers and Enhancing Economic Growth” Featuring Gov Haley Barbour
• The Washington Times Editorial Board (09/18/09): Haley Barbour: It’s about policy not race (includes video)
• Governor Haley Barbour (09/15/09): Small Business Forum on Energy and Healthcare
• Haley Barbour Op-Ed (Washington Examiner 08/13/09): Obamacare is going too far, too soon, too fast, and costing too much
• Haley Barbour Op-Ed (Washington Times 04/22/09): Cheap energy, yes; Cap and trade, no

Governor Haley Barbour is hosting a Small Business Forum focusing on “Healthcare & Energy for Small Businesses.” The forum is sponsored by the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the Mississippi Economic Council.

September 15, 2009
Jackson Convention Complex
1:30pm - 4:30pm
RSVP: rstaples@governor.state.ms.us or 601-359-3150

A few weeks after Hurricane Katrina, USA Today published this feature on Mississippi Power’s efforts to restore electricity on the Coast.  At the time I was working for Congressman Chip Pickering and he made this article required reading for his staff.  Here is an excerpt:

Melvin Wilson, 46, a marketing manager for Mississippi Power, was reviewing next year’s advertising campaign when Hurricane Katrina turned toward Mississippi.
 
A day later, the marketing man was “director of storm logistics,” responsible for feeding and housing 11,000 repairmen from 24 states and Canada.

He needed nurses, beds, meals, tetanus shots, laundry service, showers, toilets and much more — and he needed them now. And he needed double the quantities called for in the company’s “worst-case scenario.” And he needed them in places that had no electricity, no plumbing, no phones, few road signs and sporadic looting.

The fact that Wilson didn’t have a working phone was his tough luck: If he failed, men would go hungry, hospitals would stay dark and the suffering of his community would endure. “My day job did not prepare me for this,” says Wilson, his voice choked with emotion, recalling the burden of having 11,000 mouths to feed.

Let it be told: Wilson got the job done. So did his colleagues. And how they restored power in just 12 days is one of the great modern crisis-management stories.

Read the full article at USA Today online: The little company that could.  I didn’t even include the best parts.

The feature listed four key elements of the company’s success, all of which show why this private company was able to achieve their goals ahead of schedule, while the government was struggling to organize a school bus convoy out of New Orleans.

1) A can-do corporate culture.

2) Clear lines of responsibility.

3) Decentralized decision-making.

4) Company procedures were less important than the ability to improvise.

The article also listed six lessons learned.

Lesson 1: Think ahead — A good forecast pays off

Lesson 2: Be prepared — Back up your backup plans

Lesson 3: Teamwork — How to get help when you need it

Lesson 4: Be clever — Seek breakthrough solutions

Lesson 5: Set high goals — Hard work and pride pay off

Lesson 6: Measure results

There are hundreds of great stories from Mississippi’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and this is one of my favorites.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour talks about the need for more American energy like clean coal and nuclear, and how important energy is to drive our state and nation’s economy. He also gets a question about running for President in 2012.

Hat/Tip to Kingfish at Jackson Jambalaya

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour promotes his energy policy (”more energy”) in today’s Washington Times. Barbour has encouraged energy expansion and infrastructure enhancement in Mississippi as a vital component of economic development. He has said that in the future, businesses won’t ask how much energy costs, but whether they can get it.  And he wants Mississippi to be able to meet the needs of job creating businesses. Now, President Obama’s policies threaten that not only in Mississippi but across the country.  Here are some excerpts from Barbour’s column:

Conservative economic policy is under attack on many fronts by the Obama administration and its liberal allies in Congress: taxes, spending, government borrowing and free-market capitalism itself. As we fight on these fronts, conservatives also must be focused on another issue of critical importance to our country’s economic and national security: energy.

America needs more American energy, but the Obama policy is for less American energy and more expensive energy.

As a candidate, Mr. Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle last year: “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity bills will necessarily skyrocket.”

And the cap-and-trade tax he has proposed in his budget fulfills his prediction. It will be the biggest tax increase in history and will clobber low- and middle-income families. His additional proposal for $81 billion of tax increases on the oil and gas industry will add that much more to gasoline and electricity prices, while also reducing supply, thereby driving fuel costs even higher.

Over and above the gigantic cost increases to families, these skyrocketing electric rates and motor-fuel prices will dramatically drive up the cost of doing business in our country. Small businesses, America’s economic engine that creates nearly 80 percent of all net new jobs, will pay far higher utility bills, and the cost of manufacturing goods in the United States will make many of our products uncompetitive and drive production and jobs overseas.

While the Obama policy is to drive energy costs through the ceiling, what Americans want and need is abundant, affordable, reliable, American energy. And, with the right energy policy, they can have it.

A policy based on more American energy would mean our families and, critically, our economy would benefit from all the available energy sources our tremendously endowed country has to offer: more oil and gas, not less; more nuclear power; cleaner coal-generated electricity; and wind, biomass, hydro and solar to the maximum degree they can contribute. And that will increase over time. Conservation and efficiency also can and must play a larger role in our energy equation.

A policy of more American energy will result in more abundant, more reliable and lower cost energy, and because it’s all American, it will reduce our reliance on foreign oil even more than efficiency and conservation, as important as they are.

The answer to our energy policy is: All of the above - more American energy. We need it all.

Such a policy reduces, then eliminates excessive U.S. dependence on foreign oil. It keeps costs where Americans can afford the quality of life they deserve and work so hard to attain, and allows our nation’s businesses and industries to stay competitive.

More American energy is the right policy for conservatives and for our country.

You can read the full piece here: Barbour: Cheap energy, yes; cap and trade, no