JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A new Mississippi lawmaker is resigning because she says Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn is blocking her and other retired public employees from collecting state government pensions while serving in the House.
Republican Rep. Ramona Blackledge of Laurel said Gunn’s interpretation of a state law creates an unfair financial burden. Her resignation takes effect Friday, less than a month after she and all other lawmakers were inaugurated for a four-year term.
“I worked for over 40 years in county government and earned my retirement,” Blackledge wrote in a letter to Gunn and other officials. Blackledge is a retired Jones County tax assessor and collector.
“Now I am being forced to either relinquish my right to my retirement income, or give up my right to continue legislative service because one man has the power and influence to prevent the will and vote of my district to prevail,” she added.
Blackledge is among the 25 new members elected in November to the 122-member Mississippi House of Representatives. All legislators were inaugurated Jan. 7.
The Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System had a longstanding rule that said state elected officials could not receive salaries and pension benefits simultaneously. In November 2018, then-Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, issued a nonbinding legal opinion contradicting that rule.
In late 2019, the pension board finalized a rule that went along with Hood’s legal opinion. It said said Mississippi government retirees can continue collecting pension benefits while also being paid to serve in the Legislature.
Blackledge was among the four retired public employees - all Republican - who were elected to the House in November. Another is Rep. Billy Andrews of Purvis.
In a Jan. 13 memo, Andrews wrote that the four members met with Gunn and House Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White on Jan. 10. Andrews wrote that Gunn and White said they disagree with Hood’s interpretation of the law dealing with government retirees serving in the Legislature.
Gunn said Wednesday that he told the four affected representatives that if they want to change the law, they need to file a bill.
“It’s not Philip Gunn enforcing anything or making them do anything,” Gunn said. “I’m simply following the law. The law has been in place since 1952.”
Speaking of Blackledge, Gunn said: “I did not force her to resign. She has a choice under the law.”
A special election will be set to fill the seat Blackledge is leaving. People in the district in Jasper and Jones counties could be without representation for much of the rest of the legislative session that ends in early May.
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