Revised version of the Simpson County News Announcement

I made a few changes in the first draft of my announcement. Some people thought that I was too tough on the incumbent so I toughened it up a little more.


I am Cliff Brown. I am a tough, no nonsense, conservative business owner who is running for state senate. There is a rumor that I am a little too tough and no nonsense to be a good senator. Some people say that I am uncompromising almost to the point of being stubborn. They say that I am too stiff to bring home the bacon. They say that I am so inflexible in my beliefs that I cannot do deals that benefit my friends. Actually I must admit that those rumors might be true.

Our nation is in bad economic shape and that is affecting all fifty states. Mississippi no longer has access to as much out of the federal cookie jar. We can no longer afford politicians at any level who believe in taxing more money from the economy and thinking it will not damage the tax base. We can no longer afford any more wasteful spending. We can no longer afford legislators who have never had to deal with crime against their own businesses. We can no longer afford state legislators who do not sign business checks on the front.

Please do not assume that I am totally against the incumbent who is running for his third term. When times were good he did not do too bad. I believe him to be a moral man who did not do anything to embarrass his supporters. He did not vote for many tax increases and except for the bond sale to pay for two museums, most of the taxes he voted for were small. He provided good leadership on agricultural issues, which is his area of expertise. He can show a list of issues, like Nathan’s Law, on which he voted the same as I would have. Compared to the majority of the legislature, our incumbent is among the best. In better times and under different situations I might vote for him, but these are not ordinary times. We must have among our legislators at least a few who hold like solid anchors on conservative issues.

I was born in Brandon and raised in a small community near Star. My father, Clarence Brown, was a long time employee at Universal and Magnetic and died in the factory just before it shut down. My father and grandfather were both deacons in the same small church. My mother is still the pianist and I teach the young adult Sunday school class. My daughter, Jessica Sailor, is serving in the active duty Air Force stationed in South Korea. My step son, Dennis Adams, is about to finish his training to become a school teacher. Just in case you are wondering, it is true that both my daughter and step son have a child, so I have two grand reasons to care about the future of our state.

I joined the Mississippi Air National Guard in 1980 and retired in 2004. My National Guard service includes four consecutive years of active duty, two years in a California reserve unit, plus many years worth of short activations. I met my wife, Jade Brown, while serving on active duty in California. She was born in South Korea and immigrated to America legally. She followed the INS rules and studied English and civics so she could take her citizenship test. It is an insult to legal immigrants to say that some one who invaded our nation is an immigrant. My wife and I have owned and operated a small retail store in Magee since 1995. We keep our store open 60 hours each week so I tell people that we sleep in Star but live in Magee.

One of the rumors about me is that I make fun of politicians who have never held a non government job. That is another rumor that might be true. I am not saying that government service is not important experience, but I believe that it is important to have some real world experience too. I attended Hinds Jr. College, Mississippi State University and Solano College in California. I have more than twenty years of military training. I have worked for the state of Mississippi, the City of Jackson and the City of Fairfield, California. I started a business from scratch and have depended on it for a living. Those are all valuable sources of knowledge, but the most valuable lessons I learned was as a kid in the hay fields picking up bales for a nickel each.

There are only two candidates running for senate district 35 and both are in the Republican Party. The Republican Primary is August 2. There are no Democrats or third party candidates. Please do not vote for the Republican best able to win in November, because there will not be an election in November. The question is not Democrat or Republican but which Republican. Please vote for the conservative tea party type Republican. Please vote for Cliff Brown.