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A former professional wrestler and defendant in the Mississippi welfare scandal is alleging that he personally witnessed Republican Gov. Phil Bryant instruct an appointee to cut welfare funding to a nonprofit because its director supported Democrat Jim Hood in the 2019 governor’s race.

The allegation that Bryant leveraged his control of welfare spending to punish a political opponent comes in a two-year-old federal court filing released Friday after Mississippi Today successfully motioned to unseal the case.

The account echoes a similar allegation Mississippi Today published just over a week ago that the same nonprofit was forced to fire Hood’s wife in order to keep receiving welfare grant funding.

Former WWE wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. had received millions of federal welfare dollars to conduct various anti-poverty services for two private nonprofits when suddenly, the state allegedly pulled the program.

Federal authorities, who are attempting to seize DiBiase’s house because of his alleged role in the welfare scheme, say the Mississippi Department of Human Services “abandoned” the program and the wrestler failed to perform the work under his contracts. The federal complaint against DiBiase mirrors new federal charges that former welfare director John Davis pleaded guilty to on Thursday.

But what actually happened, DiBiase says, is that in 2019, Gov. Bryant directed Davis to discontinue the agency’s partnership with nonprofit Family Resource Center of North Mississippi because of its connection to Democrats in the state. 

Family Resource Center director Christi Webb was an outspoken supporter of her friend and then-Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat who was running against Republican then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves for governor in 2019. That year, the term-limited Bryant, who still oversaw the welfare agency, also worked hard on the campaign trail to get Reeves elected to the Governor’s Mansion.

FRC was one of two nonprofits that funded the wrestler. DiBiase said his program, called the “RISE” program, was then moved out from under the private nonprofits to the state agency.

“Shortly before John Davis retired in mid-2019, he indicated … that the RISE program would be taken ‘in-house’ and overseen at MDHS as opposed to being overseen by FRC or MCEC,” reads DiBiase’s Aug. 10, 2020, answer to the federal complaint for forfeiture against him. “Upon information and belief, this occurred as a result of the Governor directing John Davis to cease funding and working with FRC because FRC’s Executive Director, Christi Webb, was openly supporting Jim Hood in the race for Mississippi Governor.”

“The claimant, who witnessed Bryant give that direction to Davis, was subsequently informed by Davis that his contracts with FRC would be moved to MCEC,” the filing continued. “This did not affect Claimant’s performance under the contract.”

Teddy DiBiase made this claim in his response to a federal forfeiture complaint the U.S. Department of Justice filed against him in 2020 alleging he entered fraudulent contracts in order to obtain welfare funds. Mississippi Today motioned to unseal the case on Aug. 18. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s initial complaint against Teddy DiBiase in 2021, after his lawyers successfully argued that the complaint failed to allege a crime, and allowed the government to enter an amended complaint in August. Teddy DiBiase argues that he completed the work the nonprofits paid him to conduct, therefore earning the money legally.

Teddy DiBiase Jr.’s allegation against Bryant adds to claims that the former governor used his power to influence welfare spending, not just to benefit political allies, but to punish a Democratic opponent.

Officials have not charged Bryant civilly or criminally.

The state prosecutor who secured a guilty plea from Davis last week said investigators have their sights set on higher level officials as the welfare probe continues.

“We’re still looking through records and text messages as we continue to move up,” Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said after Davis’ guilty plea Thursday. “We also continue to work with the federal authorities in Washington and in Mississippi. John Davis is critical because the ladder continues to move up.”

Mississippi Today first reported a similar allegation from Webb that a local lawmaker had threatened her on Bryant’s behalf to fire Hood’s wife Debbie Hood in order to keep receiving funding from the state. Webb said she relayed the news to Debbie Hood, who agreed to resign. Hood’s campaign manager Michael Rejebian said Debbie Hood confirmed the account. Webb also alleged that she eventually refused to continue paying the DiBiases, which angered Davis.

READ MORE: Welfare defendant alleges Gov. Phil Bryant used federal funds to hurt political rival

Family Resource Center’s original founder, Cathy Grace, was also running as a Democrat in 2019 for a local House seat against Republican Rep. Shane Aguirre, R-Tupelo, who worked for FRC as an accountant in charge of reviewing invoices from its partners. Aguirre told Mississippi Today he did not work on or review the DiBiase projects.

Teddy DiBiase Jr. is the son of WWE legend Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase Sr. His younger brother, Brett DiBiase, also received welfare funds and pleaded guilty to his role in the fraud scheme in 2020. Through various contracts with the men, as well as Ted DiBiase Sr.’s Christian ministry, the DiBiase family received over $5 million in welfare funds.

In the 2020 ongoing forfeiture complaint against Teddy DiBiase, federal authorities are attempting to seize his $1.5 million French-colonial lakeside home in the Madison community of Reunion, Clarion Ledger first reported. Prosecutors say he purchased the property with money obtained from the state’s welfare program — a total of over $3 million, according to the state auditor. At the time in 2020, the complaint contained details of an ongoing investigation.

Davis pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to two federal charges — one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of theft — related to these payments to Teddy DiBiase. Mississippi Today identified one of the four unnamed alleged co-conspirators in the charges against Davis as Teddy DiBiase. 

Teddy DiBiase Jr. and Ted DiBiase Sr. have not publicly faced criminal charges, though they are targets of an ongoing state civil case that attempts to recoup misspent welfare funds.

All of the charges are part of a wider scandal that resulted in the misspending of $77 million in federal welfare funds. The money flowed through Family Resource Center of North Mississippi and another nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, founded by defendant Nancy New. New, who has pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud, was a friend of Bryant’s wife.

The two nonprofits were running a statewide program called Families First for Mississippi.

Filings in the federal forfeiture case against Teddy DiBiase Jr. outline several alleged events:

June 2017: Teddy DiBiase’s company Priceless Ventures signed a contract with FRC and MCEC for $250,000 to “act as a ‘leadership training coordinator’” for Families First for Mississippi. FRC paid the retired wrestler in full on June 1, 2017, the first day of the contract period.

August 2017: FRC paid Ted DiBiase Sr. $250,000, near the beginning of a year-long contract to be a motivational speaker for Families First.

May 2018: Teddy DiBiase’s company Priceless Ventures signed a contract with FRC for $500,000. MCEC paid $500,000 on May 17, 2018. He “performed no significant work under this leadership outreach contract,” the complaint alleges, “but instead merely provided one or two training sessions — an immaterial amount of work that fell far short of what the contract required.”

July 2018: FRC paid Priceless Ventures nearly $500,000 in emergency food assistance funds on July 13, 2018, for a contract that was supposed to run from May 2018 to September 2018. “The only work DiBiase Jr. completed on this contract was to send a list of food pantry locations to FRC,” the filing alleged.

October 2018: Priceless Ventures signed a $130,000 contract with MCEC to create a personal development training program. MCEC eventually paid the company $199,500 under this contract.

December 2018: MDHS signed a $48,000 contract with Brett DiBiase to conduct training sessions on opioid addiction from December 2018 to June 2019. 

February 2019: Brett DiBiase began treatment at a luxury drug rehabilitation center in Malibu called RISE, where he would receive therapy for four months. Davis directed MCEC to make four $40,000 payments to the facility.

The federal complaint alleges that Teddy DiBiase used the money from the Family Resource Center contracts to make a more than $400,000 down payment on his Madison home. Teddy DiBiase denies the assertion that he failed to complete the work for which he was hired.

The federal complaint also uses Davis’ text messages to establish the close relationship that the government bureaucrat developed with the DiBiase family, such as Davis telling his administrative assistant that he “loves B. DIBIASE like his own child,” the amended complaint reads. Davis also pleaded guilty last week to charges related to welfare payments to Brett DiBiase and to pay for his drug rehab stint.

As Mississippi Today previously reported, Davis and Teddy DiBiase swapped Christian devotionals, traveled out of state and exercised at the gym together. Davis frequently texted the older brother, “I love you.” The welfare director flew across the country to visit Brett DiBiase while he was in drug rehab, discussed his treatment options with a specialist and called him the “son I never had.” When not together, they shared long, late-night phone calls, phone records show.

While Teddy DiBiase Jr. was never a payroll employee of the state welfare agency — only a contractor of the welfare-funded private nonprofits — he occupied one of the largest offices inside the private downtown high-rise where Davis relocated MDHS offices after he became director.

Under one of the contracts, Teddy DiBiase was supposed to accomplish several things, including meeting “the multiple needs of inner-city youth”; identifying services for “successfully linking the youth served with opportunities for self-sufficiency and independence”; providing feedback about “parents as they pursue skill-building and education that lead to better jobs”; and helping employers on “improving opportunity and outcomes in the workforce.”

In Mississippi, nearly one in five people live in poverty. Average wages in the state, as well as the state’s workforce participation rate, are among the lowest in the nation. Teddy DiBiase’s contract illustrates both the state’s frenetic emphasis on workforce development and its disregard for whether the programs it supports actually produce the desired outcomes.

In this case, the U.S. Department of Justice contends the actions were illegal.

Davis and DiBiase Jr. entered into the workforce-related contracts, according to the federal complaint, “even though DAVIS and DIBIASE JR. knew, at the inception of the contract … that, in fact, no significant services would be performed under the contract and that the actual purpose of entering into the contract and disbursing funds under it was to enrich DIBIASE JR. by stealing and misapplying funds under the federally-funded contract.”

The post Retired wrestler says GOP Gov. Phil Bryant cut welfare funding to nonprofit because of Democratic support appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Tougaloo College will get nearly half a million dollars from the federal government to shore-up campus security and mental health care in the wake of this year’s nationwide bomb threats targeting historically Black colleges and universities. 

The funding will come from a U.S. Department of Education initiative called Project SERV, or “School Emergency Response to Violence,” that provides short-term support to educational entities that have experienced a traumatic event. 

When the department opened applications in March, it said grants would range from $50,000 to $150,000, but Tougaloo will receive much more than that – $420,000 – for a year’s worth of additional staff. 

Schenika Harrison, a special projects director who applied for the grant, said the funds will cover two trauma therapists to help students whose mental health was affected by the threats, three security officers to better patrol the 500 wooded acres of campus and about 20 adjuncts, which will make it easier for faculty to take mental health days. 

Carmen Walters, Tougaloo’s president, said that seven months later, many people on campus still struggle with “the shock and trauma of dealing with bomb threats at 4 o’clock in the morning, being awaken out of your sleep, not being able to walk the buildings freely and having everyone say, ‘look for any packages that look unfamiliar.’” 

“That’s a lot of trauma for our kids that they shouldn’t have to deal with,” she added. 

More than one-third of the country’s 101 HBCUs received bomb threats earlier this year, including every HBCU in Mississippi except Coahoma Community College. 

So far, Tougaloo is the only HBCU in Mississippi that has received the funding. Rust College did not apply, a spokesperson told Mississippi Today. Jackson State University’s spokesperson said the school is still working on its application with the goal of using the funds to create an “emergency central hub” on campus. 

Alcorn State University did not return Mississippi Today’s request for comment. 

Mississippi Valley State University’s director of communications, Donell Maxie, told Mississippi Today that a reporter’s inquiry was the first time the university had heard of the program. 

“They will be looking into it,” Maxie wrote in an email.  

The FBI has yet to announce any arrests related to the bomb threats despite identifying six “tech savvy” juveniles as persons of interests in February. 

POLITICO reported that the FBI told the House Oversight Committee in March no arrests have been made due to “‘challenges with attribution’ because ‘some of [the threats] come from encrypted platforms.’” 

READ MORE: JSU president calls for more HBCU funding in testimony about bomb threats

In recent weeks, several HBCU leaders, including Walters, have publicly criticized the pace of the investigation. She said she was “beyond frustrated” with the lack of updates from the bureau at a dinner for HBCU presidents in Washington., D.C. in August, POLITICO reported. 

“I’m very angry that no one has been brought to justice,” Walters said, “but there’s been no conversation about the investigation at all.”

Though Project SERV provides much-needed funding, Walters also took issue with the application process, calling it a ‘complete joke,” POLITICO reported. 

Since POLITICO published its story, Walters said the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice held a national call to update HBCU leaders on the investigation. 

“I won’t repeat it, because it’s their update, but I will say that we were on the call feeling connected and that this is a priority and that they’re taking it seriously and that’s what we wanted,” she told Mississippi Today. 

Walters said that the Department of Education has provided “phenomenal” support to HBCUs this year. She added that she was frustrated with the grant application process for Project SERV because it seemed needlessly competitive.

“When you say, ‘a grant process,’ it makes me feel that it’s competitive, that I’m competing against my colleagues,” she said. 

Tougaloo is also in the process of applying for grants to replace keyhole locks in the campus dorms with scan-and-swipe technology. 

The post Tougaloo to receive $420,000 for security and mental health care in wake of HBCU bomb threats appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi State Personnel Board Director Kelly Hardwick talks with Mississippi Today about the state government workforce, how workers are paid and whether a pay raise is in order.

The post Podcast: Kelly Hardwick discusses state employee pay raises appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Supreme Court did not testify during the one day of public hearings held recently by the influential Legislative Budget Committee, but that does not mean the justices were not discussed.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph’s interpretation of a law enacted in 2012 that he says grants him the authority to give the state’s judiciary a pay raise without legislative approval was an undercurrent of the meeting of legislative leaders.

Actually, for Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, it was more than an undercurrent.

“I just think it is appropriate for the Legislature to do the appropriations,” Hosemann said. “That is what people hired them (legislators) to do. I don’t think there should be an exception to that.”

Hosemann, of course, was referring to the classic, old school breakdown of the responsibilities of the three branches of government: the legislative branch makes the laws and appropriates funds, the executive branch carries out those laws, and the judiciary interprets the laws.

Randolph would argue lawmakers in the 2012 legislation relinquished to him the authority to appropriate money for the judicial pay raises.

Starting after 2019, the 2012 law called for the Supreme Court justices and other judges to receive an automatic pay raise if funds are available, based on a determination of “an adequate level of compensation” as determined by the state Personnel Board. That board regularly conducts studies to determine the salary levels for state employees based on various factors, such as pay for similar positions in the private sector and in neighboring states. Until the 2012 law, the Personnel Board had not been involved in the issue of providing pay raises for the judiciary. That had been left up to the Legislature as it continues to be for other state elected officials.

The 2012 law increased the fees on various court filings — such as the fee to file a civil lawsuit or on the levies in criminal proceedings — to help pay for the salary increase. Some argued at the time the increase on the court filings was equivalent to a tax increase for those who use the courts. But then-Chief Justice William Waller Jr., who advocated for the 2012 legislation, said judges at the time desperately needed a pay increase and he was trying to be responsible by providing a method to pay for it.

What was not clear at the time, at least to many legislators, is that the law would be used by the chief justice to bypass the Legislature to provide a pay raise for himself and other members of the judiciary.

In the 2020 session, House Appropriations Chair John Read, R-Gautier, authored legislation that would have provided a judicial pay raise but would have removed the 2012 language that allowed the judges to set their own salary based on the Personnel Board report. The legislation passed the House, but died in the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg.

In September 2020, less than six months after the 2020 legislation died, Randolph contacted the Personnel Board inquiring about its salary recommendation report for the judiciary. That recommendation was for about a cumulative $2 million increase for state judges starting in January 2021 — a pay increase greater than what was proposed in the 2020 House bill. Randolph enacted the pay raise based on that report.

During last week’s Legislative Budget Committee meeting, House Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, asked questions about one of the guidelines the legislative leaders adopted for developing a budget – a requirement that any across-the-board pay raise for an agency had to be approved by the Legislature.

“We got in a position, one particular agency where raises went into effect and we were kind of in a take it or leave it scenario,” White said.

“You mean the Supreme Court?” asked Hosemann.

“Yes sir,” White replied.

Referring to the 2012 law, Hopson said, “I think the statute probably trumps what we do…When we get back into session there needs to be something that confirms this (guideline.) We probably need to adjust the statute.”

Whether Hopson and other legislators will be willing to take the power to provide their own raises away from the judiciary remains to be seen. Many of the top legislative leaders are attorneys who often must appear before Randolph and the other justices in their private lives to argue cases. They might be reluctant to incur the ire of the Supreme Court.

Hosemann also is an attorney, but at age 75 has directed most of his active work life away from private law practice and toward public service, where he believes in the system set out by the nation’s and state’s founding fathers where the legislative branch appropriates public funds.

The post Legislative leaders weigh stripping Supreme Court’s ability to give own raise appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Former Gov. Phil Bryant has publicly produced dozens of text messages in an attempt to prove he was unaware that former NFL quarterback Brett Favre was using welfare money for his volleyball project.

The court documents filed Friday come within a court battle between Bryant and the attorney for nonprofit founder Nancy New over whether Bryant should have to produce any more of his communication regarding the welfare-funded volleyball stadium.

In response to a state civil complaint against her, New alleged in July that she had the approval and direction from the governor and other welfare officials to make the allegedly illegal purchases.

Bryant now objects to turning over any more records that New’s attorney Gerry Bufkin has subpoenaed in order to argue New’s defense.

In the latest filing, Bryant’s newly-hired attorney Billy Quin suggests Bufkin lacks the evidence to prove Bryant directed New’s payments – yet the purpose of Bufkin’s subpoena is to obtain additional evidence.

The most-recently filed texts, which were selected by Bryant’s attorney and do not reflect the entirety of communication that exists, show Bryant and Favre discussed in 2017 raising private donations to build a state-of-the-art volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi — both men’s alma mater.

“Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Governor Bryant, New and Favre were pursuing MDHS funds for the USM Volleyball Center,” Bryant’s filing reads.

Other key arguments Bryant’s attorney made in the latest court filing include:

• Bryant was unaware of the 2017 plans that Favre, New and Davis had allegedly made to secure welfare funds from the state for the volleyball stadium — including plans to pass welfare funds through a lease with the USM Athletic Foundation to skirt federal regulations.
• Bryant warned Favre in September 2019 after a meeting the two had about the volleyball center: “We are going to get there. This was a great meeting. But we have to follow the law. I am to[o] old for Federal Prison. [smiley face, sunglasses emoji].”
• Bryant asked that if the court compels him to produce all his text messages regarding the USM volleyball center, the records should be kept from the public and from the press.

The filing suggests Bryant’s appointed welfare director, John Davis, who pleaded guilty this week to state and federal charges, instantaneously committed $4 million in federal welfare funds to the Favre volleyball project without his boss’s knowledge. The filing produces no texts between Bryant and Davis.

The texts shed more light on the pressure that Favre and New attempted to place on Bryant in 2019 in order to secure even more money from the Mississippi Department of Human Services, an agency under Bryant’s control. They even proposed naming the facility after Bryant — a gesture that was meant to be a surprise, but, “Due to the urgency in getting this secured, we felt it appropriate to share,” they wrote in a proposal.

“She’s relentless,” the governor’s attorney texted Bryant in September of 2019.

“Nancy is worrying,” Bryant responded. “She know[s] what they were doing was wrong.”

Knowing that the auditor’s office was investigating welfare spending, Bryant spoke frankly to Favre about their need to follow federal spending regulations and agency regulations around contract procurement.

“We are going to get there. This was a great meeting,” Bryant texted Favre in September of 2019, directly after they met with Christopher Freeze, the welfare director who replaced Davis after Davis was suspected of defrauding the agency. “But we have to follow the law. I am to[o] old for Federal Prison. [smiley face, sunglasses emoji].”

Texts indicate that during this time in late 2019, Bryant had shifted normal course. “Until Audit has [completed] its work I am staying out of all decisions that the agency will make,” Bryant texted New, according to the most recent filing.

The text messages appearing in this story are quoted from Bryant’s court filing, with editing from his attorney.

In 2017 and 2018, New’s nonprofit paid $5 million to the volleyball construction and $1.1 million to Favre directly. But by 2019, builders needed more funding to complete the project, and Favre became worried that he would be left holding the bag, as he was the one who initially committed the funds. As investigators cracked down on Mississippi Department of Human Services and the New nonprofit, the welfare funding dried up and Favre began talking to other state agencies about getting the rest of the money to finish the project. It’s unclear what, if any, other public money wound up going to the volleyball project.

Nancy New’s son Zach New pleaded guilty in April to defrauding the government by acting “with John Davis and others at their direction, to disguise the USM construction project as a ‘lease’ as a means of circumventing the limited purpose grant’s strict prohibition against ‘brick and mortar’ construction projects.”

The Favre-related payments reflect a small portion of a scheme to misspend $77 million in funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program during the last four years of Bryant’s administration. Most of the money flowed through two nonprofits who were running a state-sanctioned anti-poverty program called Families First for Mississippi, which Favre references in texts to Bryant.

According to the filing, Favre first reached out to Bryant about fundraising in April of 2017. 

“Deanna and I are building a volleyball facility on campus and I need your influence somehow to get donations and or sponsorships. Obviously Southern has no money so I’m hustling to get it raised,” Favre texted the governor.

“We will have that thing built before you know it,” Bryant responded.

In July of 2017, Davis, New and Favre met with University of Southern Mississippi officials to discuss the welfare department supporting the volleyball stadium construction. Not long after, New texted Favre that she had “just got off the phone with Phil Bryant! He is on board with us! We will get this done!”

“New did not tell Governor Bryant that she and Davis had arranged to contribute $4 million in TANF funds to the project,” Bryant’s filing reads. “She simply explained that she was helping Favre gain university approval of the project and it appeared the university would ultimately approve it. Just as he had indicated to Favre, Bryant told New that he would assist them in raising private donations and corporate sponsorships to help fund the project.”

The project involved New’s nonprofit entering a five-year, $5 million lease of the university’s athletic facilities, which it would purportedly use to provide programming to the community’s underserved population. The filing explains that the lease agreement was approved by university attorneys, then the Institutes for Higher Learning’s appointed Attorney General’s Office attorney. A USM announcement said the project would be funded by Mississippi Community Education Center and private donations.

Later, in May of 2018, Favre reached out again to Gov. Bryant for help constructing lockers for the facility. 

“I’m still trying to save money on [the] Vball facility,” Favre texted. 

Favre even suggested “the prison industry possibly as a builder.”

HGTV star and woodworker Ben Napier assisted with constructing the lockers on Bryant’s request, according to the filing.

The filing says Bryant first learned that the welfare department had funded the volleyball project through a text Favre sent him in July of 2019, after Bryant had ousted Davis from office.

“I’m on [my] way and I’m sure I won’t have time [or] privacy enough to speak about this so I want you to know how much I love Nancy New and John Davis,” Favre texted Bryant, according to the filing. “What they have done for me and Southern Miss is amazing. Her family’s first is incredible and she cares. We were planning to do workshops and youth clinics in the new Vball facility with her families first kids. And also[,] I paid for 3/4 of Vball facility and the rest was a joint project with her and John which was saving me 1.8 million. I was informed today that she may not be able to fund her part. I and we need your help very badly Governor and sorry to even bring this up.”

The filing notes that while Bryant had no reason to question Favre’s characterization of the funding, Favre’s message was inaccurate, considering the welfare department had paid much more than $1.8 million. 

“Moreover, based on the content and tenor of Favre’s text message, it is also apparent that Governor Bryant did not know what had previously transpired between New, Davis, and Favre regarding the funding of the USM Volleyball Center,” the filing reads. “If, as MCEC and certain press members have insinuated, Governor Bryant was directing the funding for the project, why did Favre provide him a synopsis of the project’s funding history? And why did Favre provide details of the funding history to the governor? Regardless of the answer to these questions, the record is clear that USM and its attorneys, the IHL Board, and the state attorney general’s office all approved a $5 million payment of TANF funds from MCEC to construct the facility without Governor Bryant’s involvement.”

At this point, however, Bryant did begin aiding Favre and New in their efforts to seek additional funding from the welfare department.

New sent the proposal to the governor’s office – with a project title of “The Dewey Phillip Bryant Center for Excellence at the University of Southern Mississippi focusing on Obesity, Bullying Prevention and Personal Development Project.” Bryant suggested ways to reword the proposal to pass muster at the department. 

Favre texted New, ‘[the Governor] said to me just a second ago that he has seen [the funding proposal] but hint hint that you need to reword it to get it accepted,” reads Bufkin’s Sept. 12 motion.

But by 2020, Bryant’s filing says, the governor had instructed Freeze to cease payments to New’s nonprofit.

This appears to conflict with State Auditor Shad White’s statement that the February 2020 arrests were necessary in order to stop the flow of funds to the perpetrators.

“Just his (Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens’) decision alone to indict those individuals, who we then arrested, likely saved the taxpayers millions and millions of dollars of welfare funds because we know now that more money was prepared to be pumped out to those same individuals who have today plead guilty to fraud,” White said after Davis’ plea hearing Thursday.

A review of state expenditures shows that Mississippi Community Education Center received its last TANF payment of nearly $1.4 million on Dec. 6, 2019, though the nonprofit did receive a few smaller food assistance payments after that time.

After Bryant left office in early 2020, the filing explains that Favre continued to push for Bryant’s help, and Bryant consulted Favre about lobbying the Legislature for bonds to finish out the volleyball construction.

Bryant also talked to then-USM President Rodney Bennett about the predicament. 

“I’ve asked Brett not to do the things he’s doing to seek funding from state agencies and the legislature for the volleyball facility,” Bennett texted Bryant in late January 2020, according to the filing. “As you know, IHL has a process of how we request and get approval for projects and what he’s doing is outside those guidelines. I will see, for the ‘umpteenth time’ if we can get him to stand down. The bottom line is he personally guaranteed the project, and on his word and handshake we proceeded. It’s time for him to pay up – it really is just that simple.” 

After the auditor’s office arrested New and Davis in February of 2020, Favre again asked if Bryant had spoken to the incoming Gov. Tate Reeves about the project. Bryant forwarded a link to a story about the embezzlement case to Favre, saying, “This has been the problem. Not sure what funding will be available in the future.”

Bryant then again encouraged Favre to meet with Reeves to explore a bond bill.

Bryant’s latest court filing in the state’s ongoing civil suit is an objection to a motion to compel that Bufkin filed on behalf of New’s nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center. Bufkin wants Bryant to publicly produce all of his communication surrounding the volleyball deal. Bryant’s attorney Billy Quin argues the information is privileged and irrelevant to the civil suit.

While the volleyball stadium is not a subject of the state’s civil suit, Mississippi Department of Human Services is suing New and Favre over the $1.1 million payment New’s nonprofit made to Favre under a promotional agreement. The suit also targets over $2 million in welfare payments to a pharmaceutical start-up company called Prevacus, another project on which Favre and Bryant worked together.

Texts show Favre suggested New pay him $1.1 million under an advertising contract as a way to get more money to the volleyball project. This is one way Bufkin is arguing the relevancy of Bryant’s involvement in the volleyball stadium to the allegations against his clients.

“Governor Bryant was not involved in crafting the (advertising) arrangement, and he had no knowledge of its existence. Clearly, the concept of passing through funds to USM was not Governor Bryant’s idea,” Bryant’s filing reads.

Bufkin filed the original subpoena on July 25; Quin wrote a letter objecting to the subpoena on Aug. 26; and Bufkin filed the motion to compel on Sept. 12, attaching several text messages between New, Favre and Bryant. Bufkin’s filing made national airwaves, catapulting the Mississippi welfare scandal into every major national news outlet.

“MCEC filed the present motion and attached numerous text messages to create a media frenzy that distracts from New’s felonious conduct,” Bryant’s latest filing reads. “MCEC’s primary intention with the present motion is not to seek legitimate discovery, but rather to create a media circus. The purpose of this response is to set the record straight regarding Governor Bryant’s knowledge of and involvement with the USM Volleyball Center project.”

Bryant’s filing also asks the court to quash the subpoena or to place any subpoenaed documents under a protective order. He also asks that the court sanction the nonprofit for abusing their subpoena power.

Quin argues that any more text messages Bryant might be required to produce should be shielded from the public because of how they may be portrayed in the media. 

“In a court of law, Governor Bryant has the right to respond to unfounded or misguided allegations before an impartial court,” the motion reads. “This is not true with the media. Media members sometimes carry biases and unfounded and unfair opinions that impact their work. Instead of impartially seeking the truth, the media member sometimes seeks to reinforce her already-existing beliefs, however unfounded they may be. This can result in a social media echo-chamber of confirmation bias that unduly influences court proceedings and biases potential jurors against parties and/or witnesses. And this influence threatens the integrity of this court’s proceedings.”

The post Former Gov. Phil Bryant moves to keep texts private while denying he helped channel welfare funds to Brett Favre’s volleyball stadium appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi is one of only 13 states that tax groceries, and at 7%, the state’s tax is the highest in the nation.

View the data on the states that tax their groceries, including standard sales tax rates:

Grocery taxes only continue to burden low-income people, which compounds another problem of food insecurity: Mississippi has the highest food insecurity rate in the country, according to 2020 data provided by Feeding America.

Mississippi, the poorest state, also has one of the highest sales tax rates across the board, matching Indiana, Rhode Island and Tennessee. California has the highest sales tax of 7.25%.

The debate on whether or not to cut Mississippi's grocery tax has persisted for years, with late politician Alan Nunnelee calling the 7% tax "the most cruel tax any government can impose" as far back as 2007.

READ MORE: Some see grocery tax as ‘cruel.’ Others, including top state leaders, believe it is fair.

As Bobby Harrison reported in a 2020 analysis, Vice President for State Fiscal Policy Michael Leachman of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities argued that Mississippi — the first state to impose a modern-day sales tax — did so because of race, at least partially.

To quote Harrison, "Even if Mississippi politicians are given a huge benefit of the doubt on the issue of race that history tells us they might not deserve, it is fair to assume that a high percentage of people whom [former Gov. Mike] Connor was referencing as paying no taxes were African American. After all, because of the higher levels of poverty among Black residents, they had then and have now less property and income to tax.

Many of the states where the higher sales taxes can be found are in the South. And only three states levy as much sales tax on food as they do on other retail items. Two of those also are Southern states — Mississippi and Alabama — with the other being South Dakota."

As of 2022, the number of states that levy their full sales tax on food is now seven: Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Elected officials, though they discuss the possibility of cutting the grocery tax, have consistently stated that income tax is their priority.

READ MORE:

• Tennessee exempted taxes on food. Mississippi exempted taxes on guns.
• Grocery tax cut considered, but never acted upon by state’s political leadership
• Key House leader says Mississippi should cut highest-in-nation grocery tax

The post Data Dive: Which states tax groceries? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

While officials on the state and local level continue to discuss the best options for a long-term fix of Jackson’s water problems, Politico is reporting that on the federal level House Democrats may designate as much as $200 million for the beleaguered city water system.

The national publication reported that Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who represents the state’s 2nd District, which includes much of Jackson, said he is pushing for an appropriation of $200 million. The funds would be part of legislation to continue funding the federal government past Sept. 30, presumably meaning the money could be appropriated soon if agreement is reached on the bill.

The money, Politico reported, would go straight to the city and bypass the Republican leadership of the state.

Often, the Republican leaders of the state and the Democratic leaders of Jackson, the state’s capital and largest city, have been at odds on how to fix the water system that serves about 180,000 customers.

Thompson, though, also has questioned the city’s ability to develop a plan to fix the system. The system had been under a boil water notice for much of the summer, and in late August both state and federal emergency declarations were issued when many customers of the system lost pressure and the entire system was placed under a strict boil water notice.

Water pressure has been restored and the boil water notice lifted. But the cost of long-term repairs to a distribution system that is more than 100 years old could be $1 billion, some have estimated.

Both Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, and House Speaker Philip Gunn said talks are ongoing on the long-term fix.

“The long-term solution is a little more challenging,” Gunn said, compared to the “temporary” fix that restored water pressure and lifted the boil water notice.

Millsaps College, which often is listed as one of the top small schools in the nation, recently wrote state leaders calling for a special session of the Legislature to try to develop a long-term fix. Millsaps, the letter said, is waiting for permits to be approved to drill its own water well, but still believed a long-term fix of the city system would be in the best interest of the school and the city of Jackson.

”The issues related to the city’s water system, infrastructure and safety concerns present ongoing challenges to our ability to safely and adequately provide a world-class educational experience to the students who come to Millsaps from across the country and around the globe,” Millsaps President Robert Pearigen wrote.   “We are not alone in this, as our colleagues at Belhaven University and Jackson State University are similarly impacted.”

Pearigen added, “Our efforts to recruit students to Millsaps have always included the promotion of the city as a vibrant, exciting and engaging location, full of opportunity and promise for students during their collegiate career and after they graduate and enter the workforce. Prospective and even current students and their parents are now asking questions about the infrastructure of the city and the college’s ability to provide a safe and healthy learning environment.”

Others also have called for a special session. But Thompson said on the Mississippi Today’s “The Other Side” podcast earlier this month it might be best to wait for the regular session of the Mississippi Legislature to deal with the issue, giving time to develop more consensus on who will govern the system going forward.

Gov. Tate Reeves, who has the sole authority to call a special session, has not given any indication he plans to do so. But the governor has indicated that a long-term fix could mean the operation of the system is removed from the city of Jackson.

Some advocates have called for both state and local officials being bypassed, and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assume oversight of the system.

Whether those issues would be addressed if $200 million is set aside for the Jackson water system remains to be seen.

Providing help for the Jackson water system in the September budget bill seems to also have support of some Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation.

In early September, Hyde-Smith, who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote a letter to the Biden administration asking that it include funds for the city of Jackson.

“The same day that the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator and other White House officials traveled to Mississippi to ‘ensure’ Jackson had everything needed to restore its water quality, OMB (the Office of Management and Budget) submitted an emergency funding request addressing a host of issues deemed critical by the Biden administration.  The city of Jackson was not included,” Hyde-Smith said.  “Jackson’s water crisis is nothing short of a full-blown emergency, and it’s disappointing and concerning that the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure needs did not make it in the administration’s $47.1 billion emergency request.”

Hosemann said he recently met jointly with Thompson and Republican Rep. Michael Guest, who also represents a portion of Jackson, to discuss possible solutions.

READ MORE: Mississippi Today’s full coverage of the Jackson water crisis

The post Report: Rep. Thompson pushes $200 million in federal funds this month for Jackson water crisis appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Gov. Tate Reeves on Friday named his picks to run the state Public Utilities Staff and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks, with both choices drawing the ire of one of the state’s largest environmental groups.

Reeves named State Rep. Jim Beckett, R-Bruce, as Public Utilities Staff director. He named former state senator and former Public Service Commissioner Lynn Posey to run MDWFP, where he has been serving as interim director.

Reeves praised Beckett and Posey and said, “Each have a long track record of distinguished public service.”

Beckett replaces Sally Doty, appointed by Reeves in 2020, who left that agency earlier this year to run the state’s new broadband expansion office.

Beckett has served in the Legislature for 19 years, including an eight-year stint as chair of the Public Utilities Committee.

“Affordability (of utility bills) is going to be a challenge for our citizens, but we will make every effort to do so,” Beckett said.

Mississippi Sierra Club Director Louie Miller said he believes Beckett is too cozy with the large utility companies he will now help regulate. He called both Beckett and Posey “political hacks” and said the governor should have chosen more qualified directors.

“All you have to do is look at Jim Beckett’s campaign contributions and the legislation that he has sponsored to know that he is a wholly-owned subsidiary of out-of-state, multi-billion dollar utility monopolies doing business in Mississippi,” Miller said. “We know what he’s about, and it’s not protecting the consumer or advancing clean energy.”

The Public Utilities Staff was created in 1990 to provide technical assistance and make recommendations to the elected, three-member Public Service Commission. The independent staff office was created in an effort to remove politics and corruption from oversight and rate setting of public utilities.

The elected Public Service Commission is required to submit a list of at least three people to the governor for a utilities staff director. The governor’s choice is subject to approval by the state Senate. The people the PSC had submitted for consideration were: Beckett, former Texas lawmaker and Texas Railroad Commission Chair Elizabeth Ames Coleman, David Boackle, an engineer on the Public Utilities Staff and state Sen. Philip Moran, R-Kiln.

Elected Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley on Friday said: “Although a political appointment, the actual job of executive director is very non-partisan and should be based on good regulatory policy as an advisor to the PSC. At the end of the day, decisions are made by the three elected commissioners, but I’ve seen these two agencies work best in the past when the goal has been to work together in pursuit of the public interest. I certainly hope Mr. Beckett shares that same philosophy.”

Posey replaces MDWFP Director Sam Polles, the longest tenured director in the agency’s history, who announced his retirement early this year after 29 years. Polles was appointed by Gov. Kirk Fordice and had served under five governors.

Reeves said Posey has “a long legacy of commitment to the outdoors and … has helped protect our natural resources.” Posey in the state Senate served as chairman of the Wildlife Fisheries and Parks Committee. He later served as Public Service Commissioner from 2008 to 2016.

“The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks touches lives in all 82 counties every day,” Posey said Friday. “Outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing is what Mississippi is all about.”

Polles had been praised by many for expanding wildlife management areas and the state’s lakes system, providing more hunting and fishing opportunities, and construction of the new Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. But he had also been criticized for allowing state parks to deteriorate and pushing plans to privatize them.

Posey on Friday thanked the governor and lawmakers for providing more money this year to rehabilitate state parks, and vowed to “make our park system one that every citizen of this state can be proud of and enjoy.”

But Miller said that so far during his time as assistant director and interim director at MDWF, Posey has supported privatization.

“He has shown he has no interest in keeping state parks public, so Mississippians can afford a vacation,” Miller said. “He’s proven that with wanting to privatize several state parks in Mississippi. That speaks volumes about where his interest is, rather than trying to rebuild this park system with monies that have come down from Washington.”

Miller said that as PSC commissioner, Posey also voted approval for Mississippi Power Co.’s failed Kemper County coal gassification plant — one of the largest energy boondoggles in U.S. history.

“He was a consistent yes vote for the $7.5 billion boondoggle,” Miller said. “I don’t think his track record serves him sell as somebody who would be a steward of our public natural resources.”

MDWFP is governed by a five-member commission, with members appointed by the governor. The commission sends a list of at least three people for the governor to choose, subject to approval by the state Senate.

Also on Friday, at the same press conference in Hernando, Reeves announced his appointment Robert “Bob” Morris III as district attorney for the 17th Circuit Court District. Morris will finish the term of longtime DA John Champion, who died earlier this month.

The post Reeves names Posey to head MDWFP, Beckett for Public Utilities appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A superintendent, a country singer, and the Grenada County sheriff were among the 69 friends, family and local officials who wrote letters last month asking a Lafayette County Circuit Court judge to release Sheldon Timothy Herrington, Jr., the University of Mississippi graduate charged with the murder of Jimmie “Jay” Lee. 

As nearly a dozen protesters outside chanted so loudly they could be heard in the second-floor courtroom on Aug. 9, the letters from many of the people who sat behind Herrington advocated for a different outcome to the nearly six-hour hearing – for Judge Gray Tollison to release the 22-year-old to his parents. 

One family friend put it this way: “Truthfully, I cannot think of anything negative when speaking on behalf of Sheldon Timothy Herrington.” 

The letters to Tollison – all written before evidence was presented at the hearing – described the Herrington that his community in Grenada knew: Not Tim, but “Timmy,” the soft-spoken son of an “influential” family who wore glasses in high school, sang in the choir and played guitar at church, and always called his teachers “sir” and “ma’am.” 

“He was an excellent student and worked extremely hard toward reaching his educational goals,” wrote David Daigneault, the superintendent of the Grenada School District who taught Herrington’s father, aunt and uncle at Grenada High School. “Timmy is well respected by his fellow classmates and teachers.” 

It’s typical for friends and family to write character letters to help their accused loved one obtain bond. In Herrington’s case, the amount of letters is notable and reflects the esteem his family has in Grenada, a small town of about 12,500 people an hour’s drive south of Oxford on MS-Highway 7. 

To Tevin Coleman, Herrington’s half-brother, the number of people who wrote letters is demonstrative of his brother’s innocence. 

“I mean, you seen the people that got up and the people that have known him since he was a child all the way to now,” Coleman told Mississippi Today. “When it comes down to it, we’re all in shock, we’re all devastated, and we are all looking forward to proving his innocence.” 

Despite these pleas, Tollison denied Herrington bond after the prosecution presented evidence that he was planning to move to Dallas and had, the day before Lee was murdered, looked up flights to Singapore. He’ll wait in the Lafayette County Detention Center for a grand jury hearing, likely some time next year. 

Meanwhile, police still have not found Lee’s body more than 75 days after he went missing. Lee is the third feminine-presenting queer person killed in Mississippi this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign – a number that reflects the high rate of violence against the state’s small LGBTQ community. 

The Oxford Police Department has not shared new information about the case since the preliminary hearing when Ryan Baker, a detective, testified that Herrington drove a moving truck to Grenada the same day that he allegedly killed Lee and retrieved a shovel and wheelbarrow from his parent’s house in the GlenBrook neighborhood. 

But it’s unclear to what extent OPD is working with law enforcement in Grenada. The sheriff, Rolando Fair, told Mississippi Today he could not comment because “the investigation is not my investigation” and no one from Oxford has reached out to him personally even though officers executed a search warrant on Herrington’s parent’s house in late July. 

In his letter to the judge, Fair wrote he has known Herrington’s family for over 20 years. 

“They have been pillars in our community and in the church,” Fair wrote. “Sheldon and Tina Herrington are members of various organizations that have helped and changed so many people’s lives. I have also known Sheldon Timothy Herrington, Jr. since he was a small child, never had any problems with him.” 

Lee’s killing has garnered national attention and sparked a movement – called Justice for Jay Lee – to keep his legacy alive by protesting outside Herrington’s hearings and pushing for more protections for LGBTQ people in Oxford. 

Braylyn Johnson, a member of Justice for Jay Lee who was his roommate in college, also knew Herrington through campus organizations like the Black Student Union and the student government Black Caucus. 

She said the evidence against Herrington does not sound like the person she knew, but that the disconnect did not make her believe he is innocent. She referred to the Snapchat messages Herrington sent Lee after they hooked up on the morning of July 8 and his Google search, “how long does it take to strangle someone gabby petito.”

“It was cryptic to me as somebody that had been around Tim for all of these years and had been acquainted with him,” she said. “Those messages did not seem like they came from Tim, but … from I don’t know, John Wayne Gacy, somebody weird.” 

Coleman said he thought the prosecution made assumptions about his brother during the preliminary hearing and that he couldn’t tell if all of the evidence presented was factual.

“I don’t truly know in regard to, if that was really Tim that sent the Snapchat messages,” he said. “I mean, they’re saying it is, so there’s a possibility that it is him in the Snapchat messages, so I mean, that could be factual.” 

At the preliminary hearing, the prosecutor, Tiffany Kilpatrick, argued Herrington lived a double-life unknown to his family and friends in Grenada. 

Many people from Grenada wrote that the crime did not sound like the Herrington they knew. 

“We continue to follow the unbelievable news that Tim has been arrested and is facing an incredible charge,” country singer Charlie Worsham and his parents wrote to the judge. “We find this difficult to believe and completely incongruent with the person we know.” 

According to the Worshams’ letter, Herrington taught guitar classes with a minority outreach program for their nonprofit, Follow Your Heart Arts, minority outreach program. 

Multiple letters describe Herrington’s family as “exceptional” and “god-fearing,” a reputation that comes in large part from Abundant Life Assembly, an Apostolic Christian church founded 40 years ago by Herrington’s grandfather, James. Herrington’s father, Sheldon, is also involved as an assistant pastor. 

The brick church sits on a grass hill a few minutes from downtown. Herrington grew up following his grandfather around the property like a shadow, James wrote in his letter to the judge, assisting with clean-up after fellowship dinners, playing guitar at worship, teaching Sunday school and mentoring young boys. 

“He has always wanted to be like his Papaw,” James wrote, adding later, “He really is a great young man.”

Herrington’s arrest on July 22 was devastating, James wrote, and he was praying not just for his family, but for Lee’s. If the judge granted Herrington bail, James wrote that “with his influence,” he knew his grandson would comply with any stipulations. 

Mississippi Today called the church to reach James. Sheldon answered and said the family is “not permitted to talk to anyone,” but Coleman called a reporter a few hours later.

Several members of Herrington’s family work in the school district. His mother, Tina, is an administrator in the central office and his uncle, Reginald, is an assistant principal for an elementary school. 

Daigneault, the superintendent, was subpoenaed by his attorney, state Rep. Kevin Horan, to testify during the bond hearing. Herrington’s father was subpoenaed too, though neither were called to the stand. When reached by a Mississippi Today reporter, Daigneault said he will help any student in the school district but had no additional comment.

Twenty-six letters were from current and former teachers and administrators in the district, as well as the principals of the elementary, middle and high schools. Many recalled watching Herrington grow up and how he was respectful in the classroom.

“‘Yes Mam’ and ‘No Mam’ are just a natural part of his vocabulary,” one teacher wrote. 

His teachers noted Herrington had never been in trouble before. 

“I never saw Timothy act violently toward anybody,” wrote a former principal of Grenada Middle School who now works with Herrington’s mom in the central office. “From my experiences with Timmy, I can’t imagine him committing this charge of murder. I can’t even imagine Timmy getting in a fight.”

Herrington’s family’s reputation is proof he would not flee the state, a former elementary school counselor in Grenada wrote.

“For generations, the Herringtons have worked hard, studied well, earned college degrees, chosen admirable careers to make a true difference for others, and established successful lives in their community,” the counselor wrote. “Their accomplishments do not make their child a flight risk.” 

Johnson, the member of Justice for Jay Lee, said that she feels like people in Oxford who had initially defended Herrington stopped talking about the case once they saw the evidence from last month’s hearing.  

She said that when communities ignore cases like Lee’s, it contributes to continued violence against queer people. 

“These aren’t the type of stories that people should be using for a ‘wow factor,’” she said. “These are the types of stories that should be used as an example so that actual change can happen.”

The post ‘I cannot think of anything negative:’ Letters from friends, family paint picture of Ole Miss grad charged with murder appeared first on Mississippi Today.