Eight members of the Legislature received subpoenas in the yearlong case about control of the Jackson airport.

Attorneys for members of the Jackson Municipal Airport authority filed notices on April 6 to serve subpoenas to legislators for documents going back five years related to the authority’s performance in managing the Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport as well as any information that went into the decision to introduce a bill in 2016 to install a new airport board.

In 2016, lawmakers approved legislation that would replace the five-member board of commissioners selected by Jackson officials with a nine-member commission appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and supervisors in Madison and Rankin counties as well as Jackson officials.

The bill prompted a lawsuit from the Rev. Jeffery Stallworth, a Jackson resident and former airport commissioner. The city of Jackson, along with each of the city council members, later joined Stallworth’s suit as plaintiffs in the federal suit. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, who is presiding over the case, later dismissed Stallworth from the case.

The legislators receiving subpoenas include Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, who sponsored the Jackson airport bill last year along with fellow Rankin County members Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, and Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon.

Rep. Alex Monsour, chairman of the House Ports, Harbors and Airports Committee, also is receiving a subpoena, as are Sens. Philip Moran, R-Kiln; Chris Caughman, R-Mendenhall; Sen. Nickey Browning; R-Pontotoc, and John Polk, R-Hattiesburg.

Each legislator is ordered to comply with the subpoena on or before May 1.

Tylvestor O. Goss, the attorney for current Jackson airport board members who requested the documents, said he is unable to comment on why these lawmakers were chosen to receive subpoenas.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Mississippi Today’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications:

• Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
• Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

For print publications:

• You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

If you have any other questions, contact Audience Development Director Lauchlin Fields.

In Jackson airport case, eight lawmakers subpoenaed

by R.L. Nave, Mississippi Today
April 11, 2017

<h1>In Jackson airport case, eight lawmakers subpoenaed</h1> <p class="byline">by R.L. Nave, Mississippi Today <br />April 11, 2017</p> <p>Eight members of the Legislature received subpoenas in the yearlong case about control of the Jackson airport.</p> <div id="attachment_248" class="wp-block-image wp-caption"> <figure class="alignleft is-resized"><a href="https://i1.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20_harkins_josh.jpg?ssl=1"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/20_harkins_josh.jpg?resize=140%2C140&amp;ssl=1" alt="State Sen. Josh Harkins" class="wp-image-248" height="140" width="140" /></a><figcaption>Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood</figcaption></figure> </div> <p>Attorneys for members of the Jackson Municipal Airport authority filed notices on April 6 to serve subpoenas to legislators for documents going back five years related to the authority’s performance in managing the Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport as well as any information that went into the decision to introduce a bill in 2016 to install a new airport board.</p> <p>In 2016, lawmakers approved legislation that would replace the five-member board of commissioners selected by Jackson officials with a nine-member commission appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and supervisors in Madison and Rankin counties as well as Jackson officials.</p> <p>The bill prompted a lawsuit from the Rev. Jeffery Stallworth, a Jackson resident and former airport commissioner. The city of Jackson, along with each of the city council members, later joined Stallworth’s suit as plaintiffs in the federal suit. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, who is presiding over the case, later dismissed Stallworth from the case.</p> <p>The legislators receiving subpoenas include Sen. Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, who sponsored the Jackson airport bill last year along with fellow Rankin County members Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, and Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon.</p> <p>Rep. Alex Monsour, chairman of the House Ports, Harbors and Airports Committee, also is receiving a subpoena, as are Sens. Philip Moran, R-Kiln; Chris Caughman, R-Mendenhall; Sen. Nickey Browning; R-Pontotoc, and John Polk, R-Hattiesburg.</p> <p>Each legislator is ordered to comply with the subpoena on or before May 1.</p> <p>Tylvestor O. Goss, the attorney for current Jackson airport board members who requested the documents, said he is unable to comment on why these lawmakers were chosen to receive subpoenas.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2017/04/11/in-jackson-airport-case-eight-lawmakers-subpoenaed/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=63042&amp;ga3=UA-75003810-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

1