In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Pam Confer. Pam is an international, award-winning, bilingual singer, song-writer, and speaker. She has deep Mississippi roots, and a smile that can move the world. Her voice is described as velvety Jazz, dipped in soul.
Performing with her group Jazz Beautiful, she was voted the Mississippi Jazz Foundation’s 2015 “Jazz Ambassador of the Year.” She recently wrote and debuted the song, “Mississippi Beautiful,” which has quickly become a unifying and favored piece in Mississippi. “Mississippi Beautiful” is also permanently featured in Gallery 8 of the new Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. A self-proclaimed “Joy Scout,” Pam talks about positivity, empathy and the beauty all Mississippians possess. Prepared to be inspired.
The 2007 law that would ban abortions in Mississippi if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade isn’t the only so-called “trigger law” language the state has.
If the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns its 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriages, Mississippi has an existing law — even a provision in the state Constitution — banning same-sex marriage.
The language is simple and to the point.
“Marriage may take place and may be valid under the laws of this state only between a man and a woman,” the Mississippi law reads. “A marriage in another state or foreign jurisdiction between persons of the same gender, regardless of when the marriage took place, may not be recognized in this state and is void and unenforceable under the laws of this state.”
Seem farfetched that gay marriage could be repealed?
Perhaps, but numerous legal scholars have at least raised the specter that the same reasoning found in the recently leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade could be extended to deny a national right not only to an abortion, but to same-sex marriage, the use of contraceptives and even interracial marriage.
In its original abortion decision, the Supreme Court, in simplistic terms, cited a right to privacy and to other rights that are not explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.
The recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion says Roe v. Wade should be overturned since the right to an abortion is not specifically found in the Constitution. If the draft opinion becomes the final ruling, it would not outlaw abortion; instead, it would leave it to each individual state to decide.
Mississippi has the aforementioned “trigger law” that would be enacted if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Similarly, there is also is a Mississippi law on the books banning same-sex marriages in the state.
Maybe it’s not so farfetched to think that some politicians would try to convince the nation’s highest court to use the same logic that was used to overturn Roe v. Wade to rescind the national right for same-sex couples to marry and instead leave it up to each state to decide. After all, if Roe v. Wade ultimately is overturned, that’s how it would happen — with politicians passing laws that blatantly fly in the face of Roe v. Wade in the hopes that the justices will reverse the ruling.
The Supreme Court approved gay marriage by a slim 5-4 margin in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case, with conservative justices arguing that the right to gay marriage was not in the U.S. Constitution. That is essentially the same argument for overturning Roe v. Wade.
And there are more conservative justices now than there were in 2015.
The state approved placing the ban on gay marriage in the Mississippi Constitution in 2004. It was overwhelmingly approved by both chambers of the Legislature. The vote in the Senate was unanimous.
Then it was approved by 86% of the state’s electorate in the 2004 November general election. No county voted against the provision placing a ban on gay marriage in the state Constitution.
And to highlight what a hot-button issue gay marriage remains in Mississippi, legislators in 2016 passed a bill that allows public officials to opt out of providing services to same-sex couples, such as issuing a marriage license, and allows private businesses not to provide services to gay couples. That legislation, which still ensures the state will issue a marriage license to a gay couple even if a clerk opts out of providing the service, has not been overturned by the federal courts.
In addition, polling in 2017 by the Public Religion Research Institute found only three states where a majority or plurality opposed gay marriage: Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia.
Granted, at least one key obstacle to the Supreme Court overturning gay marriage is that there are already tens of thousands of couples who have married since the 2015 ruling. What would happen to those marriages? Still, do not be surprised if some politicians attempt to overturn gay marriage if Roe v. Wade is reversed.
In 1964, the Supreme Court also ruled state bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional. Even with that ruling, the provision in the Mississippi Constitution banning interracial marriage remained on the books until 1986, when the Legislature gave voters an opportunity to remove it.
Voters did approve the provision removing the interracial marriage prohibition, but by a significantly closer margin — 52% to 48% — than the margin by which most constitutional amendments pass in the state.
COVID-19 cases in Mississippi have increased rapidly over the past two weeks, though overall numbers still remain low.
Mississippi has seen the largest percentage increase in the nation for new COVID-19 cases over that time period, according to local and state health agency data compiled by the New York Times. Mississippi’s cases increased 251% compared to 59% nationally.
The state most recently reported 701 new cases of the virus for a two-day period (Wednesday and Thursday).
“We do have transmission, there is no doubt,” Liz Sharlot, communications director at Mississippi Department of Health, said. “COVID is still here and our best advice is to get vaccinated if you have not, get your booster and second booster if you are eligible. Our concern remains with elderly folks that don’t get the second booster. It does make a difference.”
Even with the recent increased transmission, 80 of Mississippi’s 82 counties have low levels of COVID-19 at the community level, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
Jasper and Wilkinson counties are experiencing “medium level transmission.” At that level, the CDC recommends that people at high risk for severe illness talk to their health care provider about whether they need to wear a mask and take other precautions.
The overall rate of COVID-19 transmission in Mississippi cratered following the explosive omicron wave seen in January, but has been rising again over the past month. Mississippi’s 7-day average for new cases was 104 on April 12, but had risen to 337 as of May 12.
There has been an uptick in outbreaks among long-term care facilities, which state health officials said could be an indicator of increased community spread.
Actual numbers are likely higher because of the increased use of at-home testing that goes unreported to the state health department.
The omicron variant still accounts for virtually all COVID cases in Mississippi.
Mississippi remains one of the least vaccinated states in the nation. The only state that has vaccinated less of its population is Wyoming.
As of May 11, 60% of Mississippians had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 52% had received at least two doses. The state has had more difficulty getting vaccinated people to receive booster does. Only 19% of the state’s population has received at least one booster dose, representing less than a third of those who have taken a COVID-19 vaccine in the state.
The largest share of recent COVID deaths in the state is among those who have not been vaccinated or are only partially vaccinated. That group made up over 47% of COVID-19 deaths in the state from April 12 to May 9, while fully vaccinated Misssissippians made up 17% of deaths in that period.
Although the state’s rate of hospitalizations has decreased as case counts have risen, those rates are a lagging indicator. The health department said the use of intensive care unit beds and ventilators for COVID patients remains low.
The availability of oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, such as Paxlovid and molnupiravir, has increased dramatically in Mississippi since January and has helped reduce hospitalizations.
Frank Dungan, a former disaster and emergency planner for the federal government, is used to solving problems. The 61-year-old Madison resident helped communities recover after being blown away by tornadoes or flooded by hurricanes. He maintains a tough exterior – and a sense of humor – that doesn’t dare show any vulnerability.
But the situation he finds himself in has him both stumped and defenseless.
After being diagnosed with end-stage liver disease in early 2020, Dungan underwent dual hip replacement surgery, numerous procedures on his esophagus and tests by an array of specialists in order to qualify as a liver transplant candidate at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the state’s only organ transplant program.
But because of the ongoing contract dispute between his insurer Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi and UMMC, he is currently ineligible for a transplant at the hospital. Meanwhile, he can’t get straight answers from either Blue Cross or UMMC about how much a life-saving surgery could cost or how he should proceed.
“I’m scared I’m going to freaking die, but that’s hard to say,” he said.
He lists out the array of people and agencies he’s reached out to – the governor, members of U.S. Congress, the insurance commissioner. Staffers for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney made a few calls on Dungan’s behalf, but nothing has materialized.
“I’m not getting any help.”
Dungan previously spoke with Mississippi Today about the situation on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from UMMC or Blue Cross. But after weeks of struggling to get clear answers about his health care from either side, he expressed desire to go on the record to tell his story.
Over the past month, Dungan has tried to get an estimate from UMMC of what a liver transplant would cost as well as an estimate from Blue Cross of the amount it would cover. (Blue Cross members can direct the insurer to send them the in-network benefit amount which they can then use to pay UMMC, though members are responsible for the difference in what Blue Cross pays and UMMC charges.)
He’s had no luck.
And because his case manager at Blue Cross directed him to get on the transplant list at Methodist Transplant Institute in Memphis as a result of UMMC going out of network, he asked the insurer whether the full cost of his transplant in Memphis – including follow-up care and rehabilitation – would be covered.
He can’t get an answer to that either, he said.
“What they’re doing to him is wrong,” Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney told Mississippi Today. “He has simply asked for what his estimated cost would be for a transplant. Both parties owe him an answer.”
Marc Rolph, executive director of communications and marketing at UMMC, told Mississippi Today transplant candidates “should be able to get a good faith estimate” of what a transplant and follow-up care would cost, though it won’t happen “overnight.”
It’s unclear why Dungan has not received that estimate as of Friday.
After soliciting help from everyone he could think of, Dungan is at a loss. He even considered purchasing health insurance off the public marketplace, but the language is unclear and he’s not confident in the coverage.
Plus, he’s already met his $7,000 yearly deductible with Blue Cross. If he started all over on a new plan, he’d be out thousands more dollars.
He asked one of his physicians this week to make the referral to the Memphis transplant center, but he worries he won’t even be accepted as a candidate.
“What if I go to Memphis or Birmingham for evaluation and they catch me on a day I’m not that bad?” said Dungan, whose Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, a determinant of the severity of the liver disease, has wavered up and down. “I just want to stick with UMMC because they have watched this rollercoaster in my MELD score … and they understand it.”
Frank Dungan pets his service dog near Barnett Reservoir in Ridgeland, Miss., Tuesday, May 10, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Now Dungan, who pays nearly $1,200 a month for his insurance plan with Blue Cross and has developed relationships with his UMMC providers over the years, is facing a tough choice. And despite the fact the two parties recently agreed to mediation, it’s not binding – meaning either party could drop out at any point.
Dungan could wait for Blue Cross and UMMC to settle the dispute, but there’s no guarantee the two parties will, and there’s no deadline for them to do so. His other option is to move forward with a complex evaluation at an out-of-state transplant center he knows little about – and that may not even accept him as a candidate.
Dungan would prefer to continue his care at UMMC, where he is familiar with his doctors, has had numerous procedures on his esophagus and seen an array of specialists, including psychologists. He also doesn’t want to move to Memphis, nor does he want to pay for lodging, food and gas costs he would incur traveling back and forth.
Blue Cross doesn’t seem to understand the burden – both physical and financial – that getting on the transplant list in Memphis would be, he said.
“They trivialized it, is what they did in my mind. It’s a big deal to drive three hours for me,” he said, noting that he often has to pull off the road on long trips to rest because of fatigue associated with liver failure.
When he asked if the company was going to help offset the costs, he was dismissed, he said.
“They kind of guffawed at that,” said Dungan.
Cayla Mangrum, manager of corporate communications for Blue Cross, said she cannot answer questions about Dungan for confidentiality reasons. But she pointed to federal law that requires hospitals to continue providing care for certain patients and accepting in-network payments for a certain time period.
“This would be applicable to transplant patients,” Mangrum said in an emailed statement.
UMMC, however, told Mississippi Today transplant candidates are not considered under this law because a transplant recipient’s care extends far beyond 90 days and requires a lifelong prescription of expensive immunosuppressant drugs.
“You do not want a patient to get a transplant tomorrow and then their insurance (coverage) be gone by July 1, then they’re facing extremely high costs and have no recourse,” said Rolph, UMMC’s spokesperson. “That is just not responsible. It’s in the best interest of the patients to be listed with a facility they have confirmed … that they will receive coverage for the entirety of their care.”
The disagreement between the state’s largest hospital and insurer stems from UMMC’s request for an overall 30% increase in reimbursement rates for its services and Blue Cross’ refusal to provide that. The dispute has left patients – particularly those receiving care not available anywhere else in the state, like Dungan – as collateral damage.
UMMC has the state’s only organ transplant center in addition to the only children’s hospital, Level I trauma center, Level IV neonatal intensive care unit and other advanced specialties.
And because the details of the contract are confidential, it’s impossible for patients and policyholders to decipher much about what is going on. While specific Blue Cross reimbursement rates are private, studies show commercial reimbursement for inpatient and outpatient services in Mississippi is the lowest in the country.
Blue Cross is by far the biggest private insurer in Mississippi, with about 56% of the market. United, the second largest, claims only 17%.
According to UMMC, Blue Cross has essentially offered no increases in reimbursement rates since at least 2014. After an overall decrease between 2014 and 2017, the hospital negotiated a 1% increase in 2018, according to Marc Rolph, executive director of communications and marketing at the hospital.
Blue Cross officials disagree with UMMC’s claim but say they can’t share any specific information.
“The information provided by UMMC is not factual. However, we cannot comment further because the terms and conditions of the mediation agreement are to be kept confidential,” said Mangrum. “In addition, the underlying agreement requires confidentiality. We are disappointed UMMC has not only discussed the mediation but misrepresented the facts in doing so.”
As the back and forth between the hospital and the insurer continues, Dungan is trying to take care of his health and advocate for himself as best as he can. He recently bought a property on a lake where he goes fishing.
His diagnosis and this experience have changed his perspective on a lot – including fishing.
“It’s not about catching the fish – it’s getting to go,” he said.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, is shown in this photograph taken June 11, 2021, in Greenville, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Reeves will be the first African American to serve as chair of the group that was created in the 1980s to reduce sentencing disparities and promote transparency in criminal sentencing.
Reeves, who has presided over several monumental civil rights cases at the federal level, previously served as a Mississippi Supreme Court clerk, as chief of the civil division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi and in private practice for multiple years.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi’s sole African American and Democratic member of Congress, praised the appointment this week on social media.
“I support the appointment of Judge Carlton Reeves on being named head of the United States Sentencing Commission,” Thompson said. “It is a pleasure to witness the first Black judge to be appointed chair of the commission.”
Reeves is the second African American appointed as a judge in the Southern District of Mississippi. He was nominated in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama.
The Sentencing Commission consists of seven members, but has not had enough members since 2019 to function. That inability to function has caused concern among members of the judiciary since federal judges across the nation rely on the commission’s work to set sentencing guidelines.
The membership of the commission must include three federal judges. No more than four members can be of the same political party.
As a federal judge, Reeves has handled some of the most high-profile cases in Mississippi, including the trial and ultimate conviction of three young white men for brutally murdering a Black man in 2011. He also issued the ruling that legalized gay marriage in Mississippi, has heard numerous cases seeking to limit abortion access in the state, and has been overseeing a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s mental health system.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to add a defunct chemical manufacturing plant in Hattiesburg to its priority list of hazardous waste sites around the country.
Hercules, Inc. produced hundreds of chemical products, such as paints, varnishes, and pesticides in the city from 1923 until 2009. Since its closure, multiple EPA inspections have turned up benzene and over a dozen other contaminants in the underlying groundwater.
After its most recent inspection in 2021, the agency proposed in March to add Hercules to its Superfund National Priorities List.
In 2016, the Delaware-based company, since bought by Ashland Global, settled a lawsuit with the City of Hattiesburg for $3 million after the city alleged that the factory “knowingly and improperly disposed of hazardous waste.” Two years before that, the EPA ordered Hercules to spend $1 million for groundwater remediation in the city.
Sludge disposal pits at the site of the former Hercules, Inc. property in Hattiesburg on Mar. 17, 2021. Credit: EPA
After its 2021 visit, the EPA said that the groundwater contamination extends outside of the Hercules property line, underneath an industrial complex and into a residential area.
The City of Hattiesburg maintains eight drinking wells within two miles of the site. While the EPA hasn’t found any impact to those wells, it said it will continue sampling the residential area, which includes several apartment complexes within a mile radius of the old factory.
The agency is receiving comments from the public until June 16, and will hold a public meeting on May 19 at the C.E. Roy Community Center in Hattiesburg at 6 P.M. The EPA will then take the comments into consideration as to whether or not to add the old Hercules site to its National Priorities List, or NPL.
Smoke stacks at the property of the former Hercules, Inc. facility in Hattiesburg on Feb. 9, 2021. Credit: EPA
Doing so would initiate an EPA-lead remediation process, after which the agency would work with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and local stakeholders to redevelop the site.
Hercules would become the second location in Hattiesburg to make the NPL. In 2000, the EPA added Davis Timber Company, a wood-preservation facility, after detecting contaminants from the company in dead fish at a nearby country club in the 1970s and 1980s.
The redevelopment effort there resulted in an animal shelter at the site that opened in 2013, joined a few years later by a dog park called Fields of Barktopia. The EPA finally removed it from the NPL in 2018.
If added to the NPL, Hercules would become the ninth current site on the list in Mississippi, all but one of which were either a wood or chemical product facility. The other eight are mapped below:
State leaders this week scrambled to clarify that prohibiting contraception isn’t on the table in Mississippi after Gov. Tate Reeves declined on national television to rule out a ban on contraceptives.
But neither Reeves or Speaker of the House Philip Gunn answered questions from Mississippi Today asking whether they consider intrauterine devices (IUDs) and Plan B – which anti-abortion lawmakers in Louisiana have proposed outlawing – to be contraceptives. Legislators in Idaho have suggested they could ban Plan B, while lawmakers in Missouri have sought to label IUDs and Plan B as abortion-inducing, which doctors say is inaccurate.
Meanwhile, family planning providers in Mississippi are focused on what they see as the bottom line in the wake of a leaked draft opinion that suggests the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade: Contraceptives of all types are legal in Mississippi, and nothing in the draft opinion itself would change that.
However, such a ruling would make access more important in a state with such poor outcomes for women and babies. Mississippi has one of the country’s highest rates of unplanned pregnancy and maternal mortality and the highest infant mortality rate.
“What we want to reinforce is that contraception is legally accessible,” said Jamie Bardwell, one of the co-founders of Converge, the nonprofit now administering Mississippi’s $4.5 million federal family planning grant. “There is no law on the table that would limit that right now. A majority of women have used it, and we do anticipate that any future limits on access to abortion will increase the demand for contraception.”
One Delta group is already taking action. More than half of counties in the rural region have no OB-GYN. The Delta is home to about a third of all Black Mississippians, who are about three times likelier than white Mississippians to die of pregnancy-related complications and more likely to lose their babies before their first birthday.
Plan A, the mobile health clinic established to expand access to reproductive health care in the area, announced in an email Wednesday that it plans to distribute emergency contraception to more than 250 patients over the next three months, as well as free pregnancy tests.
Reeves said Sunday morning in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that he believes life begins at conception. When pressed, he declined to say whether he considers “conception” to mean when an egg is fertilized or when there is implantation in the uterus, usually about five to six days later.
In response to a follow-up question about whether the state would consider banning certain forms of contraceptives, Reeves said, “That is not what we are focused on at this time.”
The precise meaning of “conception” matters, because some IUDs that usually work by preventing fertilization can also stop a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. Laws stating that life begins at fertilization could thus ban certain forms of birth control.
They could also criminalize emergency contraceptives like Plan B, which most commonly prevents pregnancy by stopping ovulation but can also stop implantation.
In Louisiana, a legislative committee approved a bill that would make abortion a homicide and states life “should be equally protected from fertilization to natural death.”
“I’m not interested in banning contraceptives,” he wrote.
Mississippi Today asked Reeves’ office this week whether he considers IUDs to be contraceptives. The office responded with a statement that did not directly answer the question.
“The Governor has been clear that he has no interest in banning contraceptives,” the statement from a spokesperson said.
Mississippi Today asked a second time if the spokesperson would directly answer whether Reeves considers IUDs and Plan B to be contraceptives. She did not respond.
Philip Gunn is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Speaker of the House Philip Gunn issued a statement saying that the House wouldn’t move legislation banning contraceptives shortly after Reeves’ television interviews.
“Gov. Reeves’ recent interviews caused confusion on the future of contraceptives in MS after a ruling on Dobbs,” he said on Twitter. “The scaremongering on the left intended to make pro-life states look extreme won’t work. Rest assured, @MSHouseofRep wouldn’t move legislation banning contraceptives.”
Gunn’s office did not respond to phone calls and text messages from Mississippi Today asking whether he considers IUDs and Plan B to be contraceptives.
Reeves’ Twitter thread on Sunday claimed that banning contraceptives has “never been a conversation here.”
But Mississippi lawmakers in the past have supported measures that could have criminalized certain forms of contraceptives. In 2011, many backed a constitutional amendment that sought to define life “to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the equivalent thereof.” Opponents argued that if passed, it would ban both contraceptives and in vitro fertilization (IVF), and 58% of voters rejected it.
Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, the author of many anti-abortion bills, said in an interview with Mississippi Today that he doesn’t anticipate reviving “personhood” legislation because the state’s trigger law will ban abortion in almost all cases. He said he is not interested in banning contraceptives.
“I’m in favor of all the contraceptive options, short of an abortion,” he said.
The anti-abortion movement contains a range of views on contraceptives. Some see them as a way to reduce abortions, while others oppose them for the same reasons they oppose abortions, believing that life begins at fertilization. Groups like Students for Life of America and Americans United for Life have labeled IUDs and Plan B as “abortifacients,” or a drug or chemical that induces an abortion.
While there is only one abortion clinic in Missisisippi, IUDs and other forms of long-acting, reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are common. These forms of birth control are the most effective: a copper IUD is more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy, compared to about 85% for male condoms.
Family planning providers in Mississippi are preparing for an end to legal abortion access in the state.
In addition to distributing emergency contraception and pregnancy tests, Plan A said it is working with local OB-GYNs to add prenatal services.
“Mississippi has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the country and banning abortion will lead to an increase in high-risk pregnancies with no plans to reduce the barriers to care faced by pregnant people,” the email said. “Plan A will help to fill that gap.”
Converge, which administers federal funds to ensure low-income Mississippians can access birth control and other reproductive health services, is focused on rolling out telemedicine to make it easier for people to get prescriptions.
“I think that we are all preparing for the decision, when it comes, to create a higher need for contraception and a higher need for clear and accurate public communications around the availability of contraception,” said Converge co-founder Danielle Lampton.
Mississippians who use Title X services have historically been less likely to receive highly effective LARCs and more likely to wind up with the pill or male condoms.
“We don’t want the community to be confused by what’s going on in the news,” said Jitoria Hunter, director of external affairs at Converge.
Three former state auditors say they would have recused themselves or limited their involvement in the investigation into Mississippi’s welfare fraud scandal to avoid perceptions of conflict of interest due to current auditor Shad White’s close relationship with former Gov. Phil Bryant.
White and his office identified the misspending and possible theft of tens of millions of dollars in federal money meant to help the state’s poor. But Bryant’s responsibility in directly supervising his welfare department director and the fact that some of the taxpayer money flowed to people and programs favored by the former governor are notably missing from his extensive audit report.
White also faced questions early on — and criticism from the U.S. Attorney’s Office — as to why he didn’t promptly bring in federal authorities, who have massive investigative resources, particularly since the malfeasance involved federal tax dollars.
The spotlight on White has grown more intense in the wake of Mississippi Today’s “The Backchannel” investigation, which showed Bryant using private texts to influence his welfare director and try to broker a deal with a pharmaceutical startup that enticed him with stock in the company.
Bryant has since acknowledged that the content of his messages “doesn’t look good,” but while the auditor’s office has possessed the records for over two years, it concealed them from the public and has not made any indication it has further investigated the matter.
White’s relationship with Bryant goes back more than a decade. He served as policy director when Bryant was lieutenant governor and was his gubernatorial campaign manager in 2015. Bryant appointed White as state auditor, a job that has been a launching pad for runs to higher office, and supported him in his subsequent election.
Those connections have helped cast doubt over the independence and rigor of the state welfare investigation led by White.
“The rule that I lived by was if there is any question whatsoever, don’t do it,” said Pete Johnson, who served as state auditor from 1988-1992, and ran unsuccessfully for governor, losing to Kirk Fordice in the Republican primary in 1991. Johnson said under similar circumstances, if he had such connections to someone potentially involved, he would have recused himself or limited his role in the investigation.
“You’re not only jeopardizing your integrity but the integrity of the purpose you’re pursuing … Those facts raise the question of whether or not it passes the smell test,” Johnson said. “And when those facts are looming out there, you’ve got to back off and ask will my involvement jeopardize the integrity of the investigation … I think (White) is a man of high integrity, but you asked me personally what I would do and that’s it.”
Former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus served as state auditor from 1984 to 1988. He worked closely with federal authorities in the “Operation Pretense” investigation and prosecution of widespread county government corruption across Mississippi. Mabus said that given White’s ties to Bryant, he should have handed off his lead role in investigating to someone else.
“Look, if you’re going to give the taxpayers confidence that investigations are being done impartially and objectively, even if this one is being done that way, it’s never going to look that way because of their closeness, and nobody’s going to believe that punches weren’t pulled,” Mabus said.
“… I guess a similar situation would have been if I ever learned something about (former Gov.) William Winter, whom I worked for as governor and a little bit on a campaign and I was his legal counsel,” Mabus said. “William Winter is the very last person who would ever do anything like that, but if I had come across evidence, I would have removed myself. Especially if I wasn’t going to take strong action on it, I would turn it over to somebody else.”
Steve Patterson was state auditor from 1992 to 1996, when he resigned after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of using a false affidavit to buy a car tag. In 2009 he was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in a judicial bribery case.
Patterson said that were he in White’s position, “I would hope that I would have recused myself or brought the attorney general in to do the investigation.”
“Having said that, it’s a timing thing,” Patterson said. “You get those complaints that come in, and it’s what did you know and when did you know it. Knowing what we know now, clearly he should have recused himself and should be recusing himself now.”
Former Auditor Stacey Pickering, whom Bryant replaced with White, declined comment.
White as auditor has burnished a reputation as a hard-charging defender of state tax dollars, and was credited with unmasking a massive scheme in the 2019 welfare scandal. But some holes in the audit have since emerged, especially relating to Bryant’s involvement behind the scenes.
The Mississippi Today investigation revealed that the former governor assisted a company called Prevacus, which improperly received welfare money, and he was poised to receive stock in the company until White’s office made arrests and announced its investigation.
The text messages between Bryant, the owner of Prevacus and retired NFL star Brett Favre have been in the possession of the auditor’s office for more than two years. They show the two men telling Bryant the company had received public funds, and that the governor intended to make his own business deal with Prevacus after he left office. But White did not reveal that storyline to the public.
Instead, White has credited Bryant as the “whistle blower” who prompted his investigation, and said that it was Bryant’s welfare director’s responsibility to know the law and refuse any improper directives from the governor.
Questions about if and when White’s office alerted other authorities to the text messages remain. The auditor’s office refused to turn the messages over to Mississippi Today after a public records request, and the outlet has a pending Ethics Commission records complaint against the office.
White and numerous other officials have declined comment on the case for months citing a gag order from a state judge.
But in an October 2021 interview with Mississippi Today — before the judge strengthened the gag order in the case to further restrict White — the auditor said he had not seen instances of Bryant directing his welfare chief to spend federal money on specific programs. Mississippi Today later obtained communications between the governor and principal players in the scandal discussing the allocation of financial aid.
White also said then that it was the welfare director’s duty to reject improper requests from the governor, not the governor’s responsibility to know the rules and laws.
An early oddity in the auditor’s probe came when White went to the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office — notoriously understaffed and suffering huge backlogs of cases — after he launched an eight-month investigation without notifying federal authorities.
Then-Southern District U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst in early 2020 issued a release noting, “We in the United States Attorney’s Office and the FBI only learned … from media reports about the indictments and arrests, at the same time the general public did.”
“While we commend the reported actions, neither the FBI nor the United States Attorney’s Office was contacted by the State Auditor or the Hinds County District Attorney about this investigation, although millions of federal dollars are alleged to have been stolen.”
White at the time said that his office moved swiftly and without notifying or involving federal authorities so as to halt the scheme before any more money was misspent or stolen. White has pointed to slow action by federal authorities as justification for his agency investigating and making the arrests. More than two years later, federal authorities have not brought any charges related to the welfare scandal.
White did face questions about Bryant, given that the former governor’s director of human services and close friends of Bryant were among those arrested and indicted, and the malfeasance appeared to involve programs or companies Bryant had championed. But shortly after the arrests, White said that then-Gov. Bryant was actually the whistleblower who prompted the auditor’s office investigation.
Federal criminal investigations are notoriously slow, but also notoriously thorough. Their vast undercover, wiretap and other resources allow the FBI and DOJ to cast wide nets over criminal conspiracies.
Hurst, in his statement at the time of the arrests, noted, “Investigating and prosecuting cases of this magnitude and complexity is routinely what the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Offices do here in Mississippi and around the country.”
Hurst, a Trump administration appointee who left office in early 2021, declined a recent request for comment on the case.
White has said that after his initial eight-month investigation and arrests, he has involved federal authorities and turned over everything his investigators have.
Nearly three years after the massive scandal involving at least $77 million in misspent or stolen federal welfare dollars, the state Department of Human Services on Monday announced a civil lawsuit attempting to claw back $24 million from famous former athletes and pro wrestlers — including Bryant’s friend Brett Favre and Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase – among others.
It’s unclear where any continuing federal or state investigations stand at this point. No further arrests have been made since White’s office initially arrested six people in February of 2020 — Bryant’s head of DHS and another agency employee, former pro wrestler Brett DiBiase, a nonprofit and private school owner and her son and an accountant that worked for them. Four out of six have since pleaded guilty to state charges.
In a statement about the DHS lawsuit White said: “We will continue to work alongside our federal partners — who have been given access to all our evidence for more than two years — to make sure the case is fully investigated.”
Bryant’s appointment of his former campaign manager and policy director White as state auditor in 2018 was something of a surprise to most political observers. Bryant said at the time that he wanted someone with “independence” who did not have numerous political relationships and ties to the government officials and institutions he would be auditing.
At White’s swearing in as auditor after he appointed him, Bryant said: “When I was auditor, I used to enjoy saying, ‘In God we trust. All others, we audit.’ Shad, you’re welcome to use that.”
Every seat was taken and there was little standing room at Pete Taylor Park Wednesday night. (Photo by Joe Harper/BigGold Photography)
HATTIESBURG — To paraphrase the great Twain: Reports of the demise of the Ole Miss Rebels baseball team have been greatly exaggerated.
Yes, the road to a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament — and the 21st in Mike Bianco’s 26-season Ole Miss coaching stint — looked at dead end just a few days ago. The Rebels were floundering at 24-19, and a lowly 7-14 in the SEC.
But that was before the Rebels swept three straight from Missouri by a combined score of 25-8 and then bested Southern Miss 4-1 before a packed house of 6,346 at Pete Taylor Park.
All of the sudden, the Rebs are 28-19 with a No. 49 RPI (up six places in one night) and with a chance to make a quantum leap this weekend at LSU.
Rick Cleveland
As mid-week victories go, the Rebs’ conquest of the Golden Eagles was about as big as they come. Southern Miss came in at 36-12 and with a No. 16 RPI. The victory was earned before a standing-room-only crowd of 6,346, the largest in Southern Miss history by more than 600. You’d have needed a shoehorn to get another warm body in the place.
There’s a baseball lesson here for the taking. In this most capricious of sports, things are never quite as desperate as they may seem. Seasons can turn around as quickly as a couple bats heat up or a key player gets healthy. Look at the Atlanta Braves or the Mississippi State Bulldogs last season. Look at Southern Miss’ only College World Series team back in 2009. The Eagles were dead in the water in early May, in Omaha in June. This stuff just happens in baseball. Things change. Fast.
And here’s another lesson: In baseball, things often aren’t nearly as rosy as they may seem, either. Just two weeks ago, Southern Miss had just won its school-record 15th straight game, had a 33-8 record and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation. Then a couple sluggers got hurt, a couple breaks went the wrong way, and now the Golden Eagles have lost five of their last eight games and back-to-back Conference USA series, and seem to be limping toward the finish.
Their Conference USA lead is down to two games over UTSA. And guess who comes to town Friday. If you guessed the UTSA Roadrunners, winners of their last six conference series, you would be absolutely correct.
Southern Miss.catcher Rodrigo Montenegro (15) tags out Ole Miss infielder Peyton Chatagnier (1) trying to score from third base. (Photo by Joe Harper/BigGold Photography)
But let’s get back to Ole Miss for the moment. Once the No. 1 ranked team in the land (before the Tennessee monster appeared), the Rebels are fully capable of extending this modest four-game win streak and playing their way into the NCAA Tournament. Few teams can slug with the Rebels when they are on seeing the ball as they appear to be seeing it now.
They can strike like lightning, as they showed in the fourth inning Wednesday night. Southern Miss starter Matt Adams had faced the minimum through three innings and the Eagles held a 1-0 lead. Then, Jacob Gonzalez singled up the middle, and one batter later, sweet-swinging Kevin Graham slammed a two-run home run into USM’s Right Field Roost. Before the home crowd could recover from that, Kemp Alderman then launched a massive, solo home run to left field. Little did we know, the Rebels had all the runs they would need with five innings still to play.
Graham’s homer was the game’s big blow and it came on a change-up from Adams that Graham was totally expecting. “He threw me four changes my first at bat,” Graham said. “That’s what I was expecting. That’s what I got, over the middle of the plate and down.”
Drew McDaniel gave the Rebels a quality start, five innings 0f one-run baseball. Jackson Kimbrell, Josh Mallitz and Brandon Johnson then shut the Eagles down on one hit over the last four frames.
“This was obviously a big win,” Bianco said. “They’ve been a top 10 team and this is a tough place to play. You can’t say enough about the job Scott Berry has done here. We needed this and it’s nice to play well tonight in this atmosphere after we played so well last weekend.”
Across the field, Berry lamented what he called “too many non-competitive at bats.”
“We struck out 15 times, and I can’t remember a time when we’ve struck out more than our opponents, but that’s what happened tonight. Not taking anything away from Ole Miss, they pitched it well, but we just didn’t compete. We had runners in scoring position in four innings and didn’t get a hit. We didn’t get anything but Sarge’s (Christopher Sargent’s) second inning home run.
“We’ve scored five runs in our last three losses,” Berry continued. “That’s not going to get it.”
Slugger Slade Wilks is back in the Eagles lineup after missing four games, but Reece Ewing, the normally the No. 3 hitter in the Southern Miss order, has now missed nine straight games with a broken hand that has healed slowly. Let’s put it this way: The Eagles lineup looks a lot different without him in it.
Berry said Ewing will visit a hand specialist Thursday, but he didn’t sound hopeful of getting him back any time soon — and certainly not for this weekend’s big conference series.
Berry’s offense currently needs a shot in the arm, and Ewing is not where it’s coming from — at least not immediately. If there’s a silver lining for the Golden Eagles, it’s this: This is baseball. It can turn back around as quickly as it just turned around.
