Voters in Jackson’s Ward 2 will soon cast a ballot to elect a new city council member following Angelique Lee’s resignation from the post and subsequent guilty plea to federal bribery charges.
Currently, two candidates have announced their intentions to occupy the seat. Celestial Gordon-Griffin, the program director for Congressman Bennie Thompson’s Delta Leadership Initiative, joins Jackson businesswoman and philanthropist Tina Clay in the pursuit of holding the city office. The special election will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Ward 1 City Councilman Ashby Foote is hopeful the pool of candidates will deepen but with quality candidates capable of conducting their duties with integrity.
“There are a lot of people in Ward 2 that are looking for good candidates that they can support,” Foote said during a recent appearance on Mary Wieden & You. “I would hope there will be four or five people who will put their name in the hat.”
Lee abruptly resigned from her spot on the council on Aug. 14. The 48-year-old is said to have accepted bribes of $13,654 in cash and used an additional $6,000 on a credit card provided by undercover FBI informants between February and March 2024.
On top of the monetary bribes, Lee received designer handbags and Golden Goose shoes, among other items, to vouch for a major convention center hotel, retail developments, and the closure of a road related to the FBI-staged project through her role as a council member.
Foote, a council colleague of Lee’s, believes he was also pursued by undercover informants. After receiving a call from Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens’ planner about a meeting with real estate developers earlier this year, Foote gladly made his way to the Capital Club in downtown Jackson in hopes of discussing his plans to remove vacant, dilapidated buildings scattered across the area.
Instead of exchanging ideas with business tycoons, Foote was met with vague conversations by individuals who seemed unorganized and did not present themselves as typical businessmen.
“There was no formal presentation, which is kind of unusual. They didn’t give me business cards or any brochures. They were just talking about generalities about making investments,” Foote recounted. “We went over to the window and looked down at the properties. You can see the convention center and empty properties around the convention center. Other than just general conversations, they asked me, ‘How does Jackson work?’ which was an oddball question. But the conversation really didn’t go anywhere.”
While the encounter proved to be fruitless, and even odd to Foote, the Jackson leader was not aware that he had likely met with federal informants.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that they were undercover,” Foote said.
More indictments are expected to come soon as federal investigators continue to weed out corruption in Jackson. While Foote did not expound on who may be the next to face charges, outspoken Councilman Kenneth Stokes did not hesitate to opine.
“We can go with rumor,” Stokes said after Lee’s guilty plea. “Rumor has it that it’s going to be the DA, Jody Owens. Rumor has it that’s going to be the mayor, and rumor has it that it might be Councilman Aaron Banks.”
