Some Mississippi politicians have a message for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm after her recent barb at their state: Check the economic scoreboard.

According to the Gongwer News Service, Granholm was defending tax increases this week when she said, “Now is the time to stand up for those priorities. What we’re fighting for is Michigan not becoming Mississippi.”

That doesn’t sit well with some of the southern state’s politicians, who see Mississippi with the 33rd lowest unemployment rate in the country at 9.5 percent while Michigan has the highest at 15.2 percent, according to the August statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Shame on you Governor Granholm,” Mississippi’s State Senator Dean Kirby, a Republican who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote in an e-mail. “Have you compared your tax structure to that of Mississippi? Have you ever been to Mississippi? Shame, shame shame !!”

In June, Chief Executive magazine released its 2009 “Best & Worst States” survey that had Mississippi as the state with the biggest improvement in the survey, jumping 15 spots to 30th overall.

Michigan ranked 49th worst, behind California (51st) and New York (50th). In the survey, 543 CEOs were asked to rank each state on taxation and regulation, workforce quality and living environment. The Great Lakes was 49th in 2008, 47th in 2007 and 48th in 2006 in the CEO list.

Forbes.com had Mississippi ranked 40th in the U.S. in its 2009 annual “Best States For Business Poll.” Mississippi moved up two slots from its 42nd place in 2008. Michigan, meanwhile, ranked No. 49 in 2009, dropping from 47th in 2008. Only Rhode Island was ranked worse than Michigan in 2009.

“I think we are better off with Haley Barbour as our Governor,” said Mississippi’s U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, a Republican, in an e-mail.

One Michigan senator said Granholm has got it mixed up.

“On that point, certainly no one would mistake Michigan for Mississippi right now,” Michigan State Senator Cameron Brown said in a televised comment he posted on his Facebook page. “Our unemployment rate is 15.2 percent. Mississippi’s is 9.5 percent. Mississippi has a lower bankruptcy rate and a lower tax burden for its residents.”

Brown said what Granholm doesn’t get is that “under her administration it is Michigan not Mississippi that governors around the country are trying to avoid becoming.”