Rounsaville, Ross tout experience

Commercial Dispatch - Rousaville touts experience in bid for 3rd Congressional seat - John Rounsaville used to work for U.S. Congressman Chip Pickering and now wants to take the 3rd Congressional District seat his former boss is vacating.

“I'm the only candidate that has experience working for Mississippi on Capitol Hill. I have a decade-long track record delivering results for Mississippi, and I'm the only candidate that can hit the ground running on day one,” Rounsaville said.

The 33-year-old Madison resident served as Pickering's deputy chief of staff and most recently was the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development director for Mississippi. Rounsaville has also worked as a staff adviser for Gov. Haley Barbour.

“Governor Barbour has set a strong course for economic growth and job creation in Mississippi, and we've been very successful in locating new industry,” Rounsaville said. “Some areas, however, have not enjoyed this growth. As Governor Barbour's economic development aide, I am confident that I am well-suited to continue the fight to bring higher-skilled and better-paying jobs to help grow the 3rd District.”

“Over the past decade, federal spending has gotten out of control. I will vote for the lowest budget offered in Congress each year. But once that budget is set, I will fight to make sure Mississippi gets its fair share,” he said.

“The McCain-Kennedy bill would have provided amnesty to those who have broken the law, and I was strongly opposed to it,” Rounsaville said. “I think the solution is to secure the border, enforce existing laws, prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants and reject any form of amnesty.”

Rounsaville is the youngest candidate in the 3rd District's Republican field. “One of the advantages I bring to this race is my age,” he said. “Mississippi has a history of electing young, former congressional aides with great experience to Congress and then leaving them there for a long time to build up seniority and power so they can deliver for our state. Trent Lott, Thad Cochran and Chip Pickering were all in their early 30s when first elected to the House.”

Rounsaville grew up in Calhoun County and received bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural economics from Mississippi State University.

He served 10 months as Mississippi director of the USDA's Office of Rural Development before resigning last September to begin his campaign for the House. Rounsaville previously served as Pickering's deputy chief of staff for five years and then worked three years for Barbour as a policy adviser.

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Commercial Dispatch - Ross touts legislative experience in bid for 3rd Congressional seat - Charlie Ross is a former state legislator who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor last year and is now seeking the U.S. House seat Rep. Chip Pickering is giving up.

“I am the only candidate with experience in the legislative arena. I will be able to hit the ground running in Washington,” Ross said. Ross, who turned 52 today, is an attorney who served 10 years in the Mississippi Senate and one year in the House. He chaired the Senate Judiciary “A” Committee from 2004 through last year.

In his bid for a U.S. House seat, Ross boasts that “experience counts” and highlights his legislative accomplishments in getting bills passed. They include measures to limit damage suits and to strengthen the rights of residents to shoot burglars. He also pushed the enactment of bills to protect children from sexual predators and to impose the death penalty for murders committed on school property.

“While in the Mississippi Senate, I authored the tort reform bill, the Castle Doctrine Law, Jessica's Law and Megan's Law,” Ross said.

A Harvard law school graduate, Ross has received a civil justice achievement award from the American Tort Reform Association and was named legislator of the year by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

“The tax rebates are useful in the short term. More fundamentally, we must extend the Bush tax cuts while at the same time restraining spending,” Ross said.

“The U.S. is in a global war against Islamic extremism,” he said. “We must be strong and resilient, just like we were during the war on fascism during World War II and against communism during the Cold War. Weakness or appeasement will only invite more aggression.”

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Ross was a fighter pilot and veteran of Desert Storm, the 1990s military conflict in Iraq.

“Transportation and infrastructure are not pork. They are investments. Sound economic-development spending and community improvements are not pork. They are investments,” he said. However, he said he does want to limit how members of Congress can tuck projects into bills with little public scrutiny. “I do support reform to allow more transparency in the appropriation process,” he said.

He said he'll focus on constituent services, another key duty congressmen have. “I will be the advocate for veterans and others that have problems with getting answers from the bureaucrats,” he said.