Republican State Sen. Tim Johnson of?Mississippi recently announced his switch?to the Democratic Party?at the same time he declared his bid for?Lt. Governor in the next election. And Obamacare was the primary reason for his change, he said on Feb. 4.
Specifically, other Republican state legislators’ blocking of Medicaid Expansion was the trigger, resulting in a hospital in his hometown that’s currently at risk of closing. Other reasons for his new alignment with the Democratic Party include additional financial?issues: underfunded schools, unrepaired?roads and bridges, and the pay-gap between men and women, he said.
He was unhappy with the fact that the Republican leadership didn’t have a soft corner for the sick and poor. Other than this, he expressed discontent over underfunding of schools, refusal to repair roads and bridges, pay gap among men and women and corruption as reason to change his inclination towards democrats.
His statement?from the Feb. 4?press conference (which you can watch in the video below)?was:
?I am announcing today that I am, I am switching to the Mississippi Democratic Party. And I also want to announce that I am running to be the next Lieutenant Governor of the great state of Mississippi.
Why join the Democratic Party and run for Lieutenant Governor? I’ll tell you. We are all Mississippians first. Elected officials should be in the business of helping all Mississippians. Not picking out who to hurt.
In the current way of doing business in our State Capitol and especially in the State Senate, has hurt a lot of my fellow Mississippians. We watch these current leaders make excuses for underfunding our schools. We see them refuse to repair and maintain our crumbling roads and bridges. And we stood by while they ignored the twelve thousand dollars pay gap between working women and men. We have also witnessed shocking corruption on their watch.
But the failure of the Republican leadership in the Senate to help sick people was the final straw. My home town hospital in Kosciusko, Mississippi was up here the other day asking for a $5?million stopgap bond loan to try to stay open due to the drastic hit they are taking because of Republican leadership refusing to take and accept the return of federal tax dollars through Medicaid Expansion.
Instead of doing the right thing, the Republican leadership would rather see [a]?$5?million tax burden on the backs of the eighteen thousand citizens of Attala County. That’s not right. That’s my hometown. And that’s my home county.
If Montfort Jones Hospital had been closed three weeks ago, we wouldn’t have had a place to take my mother when she suffered a stroke. Thank goodness they were still open when we rushed her there for help. Because all indicators are that they won’t be open much longer all because of Republican political grandstanding.?
Here’s the video of Johnson’s press conference:
The Republican Party should surely take this seriously and understand that disrespect for the poor will ultimately lead to a situation where their own friends will stand opposition.
