Free speech may be all some candidates have

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer

August 04, 2008 09:48 am

— North Mississippi voters shouldn’t expect to see TV ads for independent congressional candidate Wally Pang because he probably can’t afford to buy any air time.
“I will never accept campaign financing,” Pang told The Associated Press.
Pang owned and operated Wally’s Hong Kong restaurant in Batesville for 22 years. He’s paying his own minimal expenses as he runs in the 1st Congressional District — and he’s not exactly drawing from a Ross Perot-sized bank account.
He and several others this year are continuing the tradition of running long-shot, low-budget campaigns.
Pang is challenging Democratic Rep. Travis Childers of Booneville, who won a special election in May. Also on the Nov. 4 ballot are Republican Mayor Greg Davis of Southaven, who will enjoy a significant campaign budget, and the Green Party’s John M. Wages Jr. of Tupelo, who will not.
Pang, whose grandfather immigrated from China in 1901, grew up in the Mississippi Delta town of Marks. He said this country will suffer if the population grows too quickly because of illegal immigration.
“When there’s a billion people and everybody flushes the toilet at the same time, all that sewage from that toilet is going to be overflowing,” Pang said.
Wages is relying on grassroots buzz rather than expensive campaign promotions as he talks about issues familiar to Green Party supporters, including his goal of ending taxpayer subsidies to coal and petroleum industries. Wages teaches science courses at Itawamba Community College in Fulton and says the U.S. should focus on developing sustainable forms of energy.
Wages told AP that he believes President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be impeached because of the Iraq war.
“I think most people are pretty sold on this war as having been a mistake,” Wages said. “It has caused a whole generation of people in the Arab world to hate us.”
In the 2nd Congressional District, which stretches through the Delta and into metro Jackson, Republican Richard Cook of Byram is running a penny-pinching campaign to challenge Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Bolton, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Cook teaches gifted 6th graders at Jackson’s Peeples Middle School. This is his first run for public office, and he’s calling for smaller government. Unlike some of Thompson’s past opponents, who have lobbed harsh criticism at the congressman, Cook is almost generous in his assessment.
“I don’t think he’s been a bad representative of Mississippi,” Cook told AP. “But looking at a lot of his voting things, he votes for a lot of taxes. We pay too much in taxes now.”
In central Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District, Republican Chip Pickering opted not to seek re-election. The district is drawn to heavily favor the GOP. The Republican nominee, Gregg Harper of Pearl, is expected to have significantly more campaign cash than the Democrat, cattleman Joel Gill of Pickens.
In south Mississippi’s 4th District, Republican John McCay III of Gulfport is running a low-budget race against Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor of Bay St. Louis.
Taylor has strengthened his base with his no-love-lost criticism of insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
McCay, who has worked for several United Methodist churches, has been involved in Republican politics since he was a college student in the 1990s. He’s making his first run for public office, and his campaign staff is hoping he’ll get a boost from his sorta, kinda name recognition. Say it out loud: John McCay. John McCain. Get it?
It’s a stretch, but without much money to spend, a candidate will grab any kind of attention he can get.