Dick Molpus
| Dick Molpus | |
|---|---|
| Secretary of State of Mississippi | |
|
In office January 10, 1984 – January 16, 1996 |
|
| Governor |
Bill Allain Ray Mabus Kirk Fordice |
| Preceded by | Ed Pittman |
| Succeeded by | Eric Clark |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 7, 1949 Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Mississippi, Oxford |
Richard "Dick" Molpus (born September 7, 1949) is an American politician and businessman who served as Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1984 until 1996.
A Philadelphia, Mississippi native and a 1971 Business Administration graduate of the University of Mississippi, Molpus served for a number of years as Vice President of Manufacturing for Molpus Lumber Company.
In 1980, he was Governor William Winter's first appointee and was selected as Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Federal-State Programs, an agency in disarray from the previous administration. For his work in reducing staff and bringing managerial efficiency to that troubled agency, he was selected in 1983 as Mississippi's Public Administrator of the Year by the American Society of Public Administrators.
Dick Molpus was among several younger staff members, including future Governor Ray Mabus, known as the "Boys of Spring" who helped guide Governor Winter's historic Education Reform Act of 1982 to passage. In 1983, he successfully ran statewide for Secretary of State of Mississippi against seven opponents. He was re-elected by significant margins in 1987 and 1991. Mr. Molpus took the Secretary of State's Office from an agency that was a tax drain of $200,000 to a profit maker of over $2,000,000 per year.
As Secretary of State he also served as Lands Commissioner of Mississippi and, in that capacity, supervised more than 600,000 acres (2,400 km2) of 16th Section commercial, residential, and timber property that had been set aside in the early 19th century to raise money for the public schools. By forcing renegotiation of some 5,000 below market leases, he increased, by more than $24,000,000, the amount of revenue to the public schools from those properties during his tenure.
He also successfully led efforts in the Mississippi Legislature for sweeping lobbyist law reform that required lobbyists to report all money spent on public officials. In addition, he proposed and led to passage substantial election law improvements, including allowing citizens to register to vote by mail.
On June 21, 1989, Molpus officially apologized to the families of murdered civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner at an Ecumenical Memorial Service at Mount Zion Church in Philadelphia, Mississippi. For this act, he received death threats but has cited it as his proudest moment.
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