Michael Parker | |
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Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works | |
In office October 2001 –March 2002 | |
President | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Joseph Westphal |
Succeeded by | John Woodley |
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from Mississippi's 4th district | |
In office January 3,1989 –January 3,1999 | |
Preceded by | Wayne Dowdy |
Succeeded by | Ronnie Shows |
Personal details | |
Born | Paul Michael Parker October 31,1949 Laurel,Mississippi,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic (before 1995) Republican (1995–present) |
Education | William Carey University (BA) |
Paul Michael Parker (born October 31,1949) is an American businessman and politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. From 1989 to 1999,he served five terms in Congress as a member of the Democratic Party and,later,the Republican Party.
In 1999,he was the Republican nominee for Governor of Mississippi. He was defeated in a tight election that was decided by the Mississippi House of Representatives. He later served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army,with authority over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Parker was born in Laurel,Mississippi and he graduated from William Carey College with a BA in English in 1970. Before entering politics,Parker owned and operated a funeral home business,insurance companies,land and timber companies,and a sand,clay and gravel business. Parker was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1988 following a hard-fought primary with a wide field of contenders. The district included Jackson,Vicksburg,Natchez,McComb,and Brookhaven.
As a Democratic congressman,Parker wore his party ties very loosely. His voting record was conservative even by Mississippi Democratic standards. During Parker's successful 1992 general election campaign,he did not endorse Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Clinton. After his re-election in November 1994,Parker voted 'Present' in the election for Speaker of the House in 1995 instead of voting for the House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt.
On November 10,1995,Parker joined the Republican Party. Although his district was almost 40 percent African-American—one of the highest percentages for a Republican-held district—Parker was reelected with little difficulty in 1996. He did not run for re-election in 1998 in order to focus on his bid for Governor of Mississippi.
In the 1999 gubernatorial election Parker had almost 9,000 fewer votes than his Democratic opponent,Lieutenant Governor Ronnie Musgrove. However,due to the presence of two minor candidates,Musgrove came up a few thousand votes short of a majority. Under the state constitution,a gubernatorial candidate must win a majority of the popular vote and a majority of state house districts. Each candidate carried 61 of the 122 state house districts. The election was thus decided by the state house,where the Democrats had a supermajority at the time. However,Parker refused to concede,and the House elected Musgrove 86-36 along partisan lines. [1]
Parker was appointed by George W. Bush as Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works),with oversight of the Army Corps of Engineers,which has numerous projects in Parker's home state of Mississippi. Parker was one of the first political casualties of the Bush administration's heavily centralized management style when he spoke out to promote the Corps of Engineers priorities and was then asked to leave in the summer of 2002. In recent years Parker has been a Washington lobbyist,specializing in infrastructure issues.
In August 2020,Parker endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for President,along with 26 other former Republican members of Congress. [2]
In 2023,Parker endorsed Democrat Brandon Presley for the 2023 Mississippi gubernatorial election. He appeared in a campaign commercial titled "Republicans" which featured various Republicans espousing their support for Presley. [3] [4]
David Ronald Musgrove is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2004. A Democrat,he previously served as the 29th lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 1996 to 2000. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2008 special election for one of Mississippi's seats in the United States Senate,losing to incumbent Senator Roger Wicker. Musgrove is a principal at a public affairs consulting firm,Politics. In 2014,he became founding partner of a new law firm in Jackson,Mississippi,Musgrove/Smith Law. As of 2023,he is the last Democrat to hold the office of Governor of Mississippi.
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