A local legislator running for re-electionis defending her position after a mail-out from a pro-educationpolitical action group charged her with voting against theMississippi School of the Arts.

    On Thursday, some local residents received campaign mailers thatsaid House District 92 Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, votedagainst MSA funding.

    Currie did vote against House Bill 1494 in the 2011 legislativesession, which appropriated funds for the Mississippi Department ofEducation.

    The bill’s text describes itself as “funding K-12 and other relatededucational activities.” The bill funded MSA, the Brookhaven SchoolDistrict, the Lincoln County District and all other public schoolsin the state.

    The final bill passed 117-5 and was signed by Gov. Haley Barbour onApril 26.

    The mailers were sent by the Mississippi Kids Political ActionCommittee, an organization that registered with the MississippiSecretary of State Oct. 10. The PAC’s registration material listedJohnny Stringer as director and Nancy Brown as treasurer.

    Nancy Brown is married to Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, House District 66representative. His close legislative colleague is Rep. JohnnyStringer, D-Montrose. Both have supported bills in the past torelocate MSA to Columbus, home of the Mississippi School for Mathand Science.

    Currie described the vote against HB 1494 as consistent with herother 2011 legislative session votes and dismissed the mailers as”junk mail.”

    “I voted against every appropriations bill, because we overspent by$400 million,” Currie said. “I felt this was the appropriate votefor these economic times.”

    However, Currie did vote to support Senate Bill 3082, whichappropriated $11,971,882 to the Secretary of State.

    Currie said she did not know why she supported appropriatingtaxpayer funds in that vote.

    “We go through 500 to 600 bills in a session,” Currie said. “If Imistakenly voted for an appropriation bill, it was an error. Myintention was to vote no on all appropriations bills because we didnot have a balanced budget. I even voted against appropriations formy own salary.”

    Currie said she also voted to support appropriations for agenciessuch as the Nursing Board that are self-financing.

    “These agencies support themselves through people paying for theirlicense in order to work,” Currie said.

    Bill Sones, chairman of the board of the MSA Foundation, expressedpuzzlement about the mailer and said Currie has always been an allyof MSA.

    “Becky (Currie) has been a major supporter of the arts school andone of MSA’s biggest assets in the legislature,” Sones said Fridaymorning.

    In the first three years of her legislative term, she worked todefeat stand-alone bills that would have taken MSA away fromBrookhaven, Currie said.

    In the 2011 session, there were no serious legislative attacks onMSA. A bill authored by Brown to move MSA died in an appropriationssubcommittee.

    Ken Dale Sullivan, Currie’s Democratic opponent for the District 92seat, denied that his campaign was involved in the mail-out, thoughhe said he had been informed of it.

    “I knew they were going to mail out some information concerning theissue,” Sullivan said.

    Sullivan described Currie’s decision to vote against allappropriation bills as failing to represent her constituents.

    “Our tax dollars are going to go somewhere,” he said. “She’s notrepresenting the desires of most of the people in thatdistrict.”