Governor Haley Barbour The Future of the Republican Party
                                      

Haley Barbour, currently serving as the 63rd Governor of the State of Mississippi was born on October 22, 1947 in Yazoo City, Miss. He assumed office as Governor on January 13, 2004. He is married to Marsha Barbour and they have two sons, Sterling and Reeves. He attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford in addition to the University of Mississippi Law School where he received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1972.

Prior to being elected Governor, Barbour worked as a lawyer and lobbyist, and also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997, during which the Republicans captured both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives for the first time since 1954.

Gov. Barbour, gained a national attention in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. In the face of the worst natural disaster in American history – Hurricane Katrina, which struck on August 29, 2005 – Governor Barbour took the lead early on helping Mississippians rebuild and recover. He and First Lady Marsha Barbour, his wife of nearly 37 years, have worked tirelessly and innovatively with local, state and national leadership to tap into many resources of assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

For his leadership after Katrina, Governor Barbour was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award, which is presented to a nationally recognized leader by the bipartisan American Legislative Exchange Council

He went on to win re-election as Governor in 2007.Under Mississippi's term limits, Barbour cannot run again for Governor in 2011 when his term ends.

When Barbour took office, the state of Mississippi had run a $709 million budget deficit for the 2004 fiscal year. With bipartisan support, and without raising taxes, Barbour implemented a plan called Operation: Streamline to cut the budget deficit in half. He accomplished this largely by reducing spending on social services, most notably Medicaid; the 2005 budget drastically reduced coverage for 65,000 individuals classified as Poverty-Level Aged and Disabled (PLAD), most of whom qualified for the federal Medicare program, and also significantly limited prescription drug coverage. In 2005, the state was budgeted to spend a total of $130 million less on Medicaid than in the previous year.

A few highlights for Barbour since taking office is tort reform, Mississippi has the most comprehensive tort reform in the nation, restoring balance for plaintiffs and defendants in the state’s civil justice system and also saving the Medicaid program for truly needy recipients, emphasizing preventative care and implementing the strongest anti-fraud plan in the history of Mississippi Medicaid.

Here is how Gov. Barbour stands on some of the issues:

He is Pro Life
He protects the rights of gun owners.
He is Pro education and believes in increased salaries for teachers.
He supports dyslexia screening and early childhood education.
He does not feel taxes should be raised for anyone.
He believes in criminal control, not gun control.

Barbour was named Governor of the Year by a Washington, D.C.-based Governing magazine and awarded the Gulf Guardian Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for his work to rebuild and protect sensitive Coast ecosystems.

Governor Haley Barbour, is on our list of up and coming Conservatives who we believe will change the face of the Republican Party and bring back the conservative values and principles that made the Republican Party so great and which will make it great once more! Join us America to protect your rights, your country, and your money. Comment here and email us at Yourvoice@speaknowamerica.org Help us and be part of bringing our Great country back.

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