BARBOUR: DRUG FIGHTING DOLLARS HAVE DROPPED UNDER MUSGROVE

JACKSON (AP) -- Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's administration has
slashed drug-fighting budgets and badly handled prison spending the
past 3 1/2 years, Republican Haley Barbour said Thursday.

Barbour, who hopes to face Musgrove in the Nov. 4 general election,
said Mississippi should move some inmates out of state-run prisons and
put them in private prisons or regional jails, where he said the state
could get a better financial deal.

"It is time to quit playing politics with public safety," Barbour said
during a news conference in Jackson, where he was surrounded by about
a dozen law officers.

Prison spending has been a hotly disputed topic at the state Capitol
the past several years, with some lawmakers pushing to put more
prisoners in regional jails -- a move that's politically popular with
sheriffs who run the regional lockups.

Musgrove, who became governor in January 2000, has said it's more
cost-efficient to house inmates in state-run prisons. He shut the
privately managed Delta Correctional Facility near Greenwood last
year, and Leflore County is renovating part of the prison for local
use.

Barbour said shutting the prison near Greenwood was a bad
move.

Musgrove campaign manager Lisa McMurray said: "I'm still not clear
what Haley's proposal was, other than spending more of taxpayers'
dollars on convicted felons. The Mississippi criminal justice system
should not be a jobs program. The governor is opposed to the building
of prisons for economic development and doesn't believe profits should
be gained from crime."

Barbour said most crimes are tied to drugs and the state Bureau of
Narcotics budget has dropped since Musgrove became governor.

Barbour said the bureau's budget is down 41 percent from fiscal 2000,
which ended June 30, 2000, through fiscal 2003, which ended June 30,
2003. An Associated Press check of Legislative Budget Office records
showed the Bureau of Narcotics budget had dropped 27.9 percent for
that period.

Barbour said with a significant decrease in spending on fighting
drugs, "it doesn't take a genius to understand that drug crimes will
only get worse."

Barbour, a former Republican National Committee Chairman, faces lawyer
Mitch Tyner in the Aug. 5 GOP primary. Musgrove faces four little
known opponents in the Democratic primary.