2nd candidate: No solo meeting with any woman not his wife

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A second man running for Mississippi governor says he won’t meet alone with a woman who is not his wife, even in a professional setting.

Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Bill Waller Jr. says he tries to have at least one staff person with him, including when he met with a female colleague on the court. Waller said Monday the practice is “common sense” because “appearances are important.”

Another of the three men seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination, state Rep. Robert Foster, said last week that if a woman journalist wanted to ride in his truck for campaign coverage, she would have to be chaperoned by a male colleague. Foster said he would meet alone with an unchaperoned man.

Foster calls it the “Billy Graham rule,” after the late evangelist.

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