Editing Ray Mabus (section)

==Early political career==
Mabus volunteered for [[William F. Winter]]'s unsuccessful gubernatorial candidacy in 1967.{{sfn|Bolton|2013|p=135}} Following Winter's successful election to the governorship in 1979, Mabus returned to Mississippi to work as the governor's legal counsel in 1980.{{sfn|Mullaney|1994|p=205}}<ref name=boyer/> While in office, Winter and his staff pushed through [[Mississippi Education Reform Act of 1982|a legislative overhaul]] of the state's public education system.{{sfn|Nash|Taggart|2009|pp=139, 196}} Mabus was one of several of the governor's aides who delivered lectures across the state to build popular support for the reform bill.{{sfn|Bolton|2013|p=248}} 

State Senator [[Ellis B. Bodron]], who was broadly opposed to the legislation, denounced Mabus and the other young Winter aides—including [[Dick Molpus]], David Crews, Bill Gartin, [[Andy P. Mullins]], and John Henegan—as the "Boys of Spring", a moniker which they thereafter took pride in.{{sfn|Nash|Taggart|2009|pp=139, 143–144}} Mabus also helped draft an open records law and more stringent [[driving under the influence]] legislation.<ref name= sansing/> He left the counsel position in 1983.{{sfn|Mullaney|1994|p=205}}