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Name: Johnson, Patrick "Pete"

Current Position: Previous Federal Co-Chairman

Pete Johnson’s grandfather served as a Mississippi Congressman and Governor, and his uncle was Mississippi Lieutenant Governor and Governor. Johnson himself received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi at Oxford in 1971 and a law degree from the Jackson School of Law in 1974. He joined the Bank of Clarksdale as a Senior Vice President, and also served as President of the Young Bankers Section of the Mississippi Bankers Association. He then moved into the financial planning field and formed his own firm. In 1984, the Governor of Mississippi appointed him Chair of the Mississippi Marketing Council. He was also President of the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Chamber of Commerce and Director of the Delta Council’s Community and Industrial Development Board. In 1988 Johnson was elected to a four-year term as Mississippi State Auditor, after which President George H. W. Bush appointed him Mississippi Director of the Farmers Home Administration. Johnson practiced law in Clarksdale for the firm, Johnson Bobo. On October 23, 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Johnson to become the first Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority.

Johnson is a long-time contributor to the Republican Party and Republican candidates. In 2008, he contributed to the presidential campaigns of Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

Current Alternate Federal Co-Chairman: Rex Nelson

Rex Nelson received a BA in Mass Communications from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, in 1982. He went on to spend four years as the Washington Bureau Chief for the Arkansas Democrat newspaper. He was also the editor of Arkansas Business; the Political Editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, from July 1992 to July 1996; the host of a daily political talk radio show; and campaign manager and Director of Policy and Communications for Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. In 2007 Nelson contributed to the Huckabee for President campaign. In August 2005, President Bush appointed Nelson co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority.

In 1993 Nelson co-wrote, with Phillip Martin, a positive biography of Hillary Clinton entitled, The Hillary Factor: The Story of America’s First Lady.

Official Bio

Former Huckabee aide now leads efforts to improve Delta (by Wesley Brown, Arkansas News)

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