State Rep. George Flaggs reacts at the Capitol in Jackson Tuesday to the final vote for speaker pro tempore of the Mississippi House.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[1/7/04]JACKSON State Rep. George Flaggs said Tuesday after coming up short in his bid to become speaker pro tempore that he may seek a different elective office in 2005.

“It’s over,” Flaggs said after three votes were taken to confirm Rep. J.P. Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis, as the new “deputy chief” of the Mississippi House of Representatives.

“Like my father always said, When you do your best and still lose, it means God’s got something better for you,'” he said. “Maybe I’ll run for mayor of Vicksburg.”

The next municipal election will be in July 2005. Flaggs, who works as a counselor in Warren County Youth Court, sought the Democratic nomination for mayor in 1997, but was outdistanced by Robert Major Walker, who went on to win the office.

Flaggs, 49, has served 16 years in the House and won his fifth term after being unopposed in November. He was one of four candidates seeking the speaker pro tempore post which became vacant with the retirement of Rep. Robert Clark, D-Ebenezer.

Others in the contest for their colleagues’ votes were House Appropriations chairman Charlie Capps, D-Cleveland, and Rep. Mark Formby, R-Picayune. The election took three roll call votes since no one received a majority of the 122 House votes in the first two.

Flaggs took the most votes, 35, out of the field of four candidates during the first vote when Capps was eliminated after receiving the fewest votes. Flaggs also received the tie-breaking vote from the newly elected speaker, Rep. Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, during the second vote, nudging out Formby and moving into a final election with Compretta. But in the final tally, Compretta had 85 votes to Flaggs’ 36.

“I want to thank all of you for your support in electing me,” Compretta said after taking the oath of office. An attorney, he was first elected in 1976, served two terms before missing eight years and then returned to the House in 1988.

The Legislative session that began Tuesday will last 120 days instead of the usual 90, because it is the first year in office for a newly elected governor.

One week after the session begins, Haley Barbour of Yazoo City will take office as only the second Republican in the Mansion since Reconstruction.