Paul Michael Parker (born October 31, 1949) is an American businessman and politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. He served in Congress as a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and, later, the Republican Party. He later served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army, with authority over the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

Biography

Parker was born in

Laurel, Mississippi Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, M ...

and he graduated from

William Carey College William Carey University (also known as Carey, William Carey, or WCU) is a Private university, private Christianity, Christian university in Mississippi, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mississippi Baptist Convention. T ...

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 House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

as a Democrat in 1988 following a hard-fought primary with a wide field of contenders. The district included

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

, Vicksburg,

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

, McComb, and Brookhaven.

Party switch

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 William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. 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 Richard Andrew Gephardt (; born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who served as a United States Representative from Missouri from 1977 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was House Majority Leader fro ...

. 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 A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. In the 1999 gubernatorial election Parker had almost 9,000 fewer votes than his Democratic opponent, Lieutenant Governor

Ronnie Musgrove David Ronald Musgrove (born July 29, 1956) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from January 16, 1996 to January 11, 2000 and as the 62nd Governor of Mississippi from January ...

. 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.

Army Corps

Parker was appointed by

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) The Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), abbreviated ASA(CW), is an office of the United States Department of the Army responsible for overseeing the civil functions of the United States Army. The Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil ...

, 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.

Post-politics

In August 2020, Parker endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for President, along with 26 other former Republican members of Congress.

References

External links