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Like a Demon Chipmunk, the Legislature is working quickly to get the CARES money out to those who need it.

The post Marshall Ramsey: The CARES Rescue Vehicle appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Prominent special education figure Nancy New spent hundreds of thousands of welfare dollars her nonprofit had received from the state to cull favor and lobby state government for her private school interests, according to interviews and documents.

The nonprofit, at the center of what is now called the largest alleged public embezzlement scheme in state history, spent at least $400,000 in welfare funds to “maintain governmental revenue streams or to lobby on behalf of their organization” from 2017 to 2019, the state auditor reported.

In those three years, she and her son’s separate private school companies quietly received nearly $1.3 million from direct legislative appropriations in the public education budget.

But as is the case with many of the purchases her nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center made, investigators have found, little public documentation exists to show what influence their efforts may have had. 

Most of the lobbying payments in the audit — nearly $320,000 —went to lobbyist Will Longwitz, a former state senator and attorney who told Mississippi Today he was hired to secure funding for autism and dyslexia therapists. But his filings at the secretary of state’s office said he received $0 from the nonprofit.

The auditor also cited payments to lobbyists Serena Flowers, who told Mississippi Today she performed general counsel work, not lobbying, for the nonprofit, and a D.C.-based policy consulting firm Lucas Compton.

In Mississippi, entities often secure big government contracts or legislative appropriations by hiring well-connected consultants to make the case for why they should be funded. These lobbyists frequently fail to submit accurate reports to the secretary of state’s office showing how much they received, how much they earned and how much they spent on gifts for officials. State law provides little enforcement and penalty for lobbyists who do not comply with reporting rules.

Mississippi Community Education Center, founded by Nancy New, was able to hire many expensive lobbyists and attorneys to represent the organization in powerful circles because of a windfall of cash it began to receive from Mississippi Department of Human Services in 2016. The agency awarded the nonprofit a $1 million Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant in fiscal years 2015 and 2016. By 2017, that amount spiked to more than $14 million. In 2018, the agency awarded the organization $21.5 million.

According to interviews with several lobbyists, New, also owner of a well-regarded private school called New Summit School, was primarily lobbying for support of private education programs. Over the years, her for-profit private education company New Learning Resources Inc. and affiliated Mississippi Autism Center received nearly $3 million through direct appropriations from the Legislature through the Mississippi Department of Education budget.

The schools, which charge students tuition, have received a total of about $28 million in public school money since 2006 through direct appropriations, education scholarship accounts and other funds state-accredited non public schools may receive for special needs programs, the department found in an internal review.  

The Department of Human Services had contracted the separate New nonprofit to run a program called Families First for Mississippi, which was supposed to be using welfare money to help low-income families secure employment to support their families through wages instead of public assistance. Mississippi Community Education Center partnered with Family Resource Center of North Mississippi, which also misspent welfare money, the audit revealed, to run the program.

Under former agency director John Davis’ leadership, Families First for Mississippi essentially privatized the state’s anti-poverty plan called “gen+” or “generation plus” in 2016.

“The problem with this is there was no accountability,” said Lynn Evans, a retired public interest lobbyist. “Contracting everything out with private companies obscured the accountability so that when John Davis went down there (to the Capitol)… he would go down and talk about, ‘Oh this is so great. I’m sending all of the responsibilities to these private companies and aren’t you happy about that?’”

Evans continued: “It somehow escaped him that it was his responsibility to make sure that money was being used wisely.”

As New lobbied, several lawmakers grew skeptical of the bump in funding for the obscure Families First for Mississippi program. Officials from the two nonprofits hosted lunches and presented their mission to legislative caucuses, vaguely describing their “free” services, but were unable to quantify specific accomplishments, lawmakers said.

“They couldn’t answer any questions from me when I asked about exactly what were they doing with the money,” said Rep. Jarvis Dortch, D-Raymond.

One legislator with questions turned to the legislative watchdog group called the Joint Committee of Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER). 

“It was such a dramatic increase (of grant funding),” said James Barber, executive director of PEER.

“The legislator who asked us to gather information had concerns about Families First and the type of services they provided and the fact that really there didn’t seem to be a lot of brick and mortar that you could point to as being the program,” Barber said. “The legislator thought that there was something not quite right and kept asking questions about it.”

Barber sent a letter to the Department Human Services in October of 2017 asking three questions: What is Families First and what benefits do participants in the program receive; which organizations were contracted to run Families First and how much did they receive; and were any other state agencies involved?

Davis responded with a nine page letter explaining the services and outcomes provided by Families First for Mississippi: “employability, literacy, family financial stability, graduation rates, parenting education positive youth development, at risk youth and senior citizens.” Attached to the letter were exhibits, dozens of pages of agency communications, PowerPoint presentations, directories and blank assessments for Families First clients that explained what the agency was doing.

Davis did not include in his response the outcomes data the agency required the nonprofits to submit to record how many people they served. The reports contained nonsensical figures, Mississippi Today later revealed.

Barber followed up again in 2019 shortly before the investigation began, but lawmakers never took further action to compel the agency to prove how the nonprofits spent the money or who they had helped.

A Hinds County grand jury indicted Davis, another agency employee and three officers from the New nonprofit on embezzlement charges in early February; they’ve pleaded not guilty.

None of the lobbyists Mississippi Today reached said they lobbied Human Services for funds; instead, Nancy New’s lobbying efforts were more focused on her other for-profit ventures, including programs under the umbrella of her corporation New Learning Resources Inc.

MCEC or New Learning Resources hired the following lobbyists or government relations consultants:

• Clare Hester, Capitol Resources, represented MCEC 2019-2020, $67,500
• Sidney Allen, Butler Snow, represented NLR 2019-2020, $36,000
• Caroline Sims and Kathryn Stewart, Butler Snow, represented NLR 2019-2020, $0
• Will Longwitz, Inside Capital, represented NLR 2017-2019, $12,000; represented MCEC 2018, $318,325 from 2017-2019, according to auditor’s report.
• Serena Flowers, AvantGarde Strategies, represented MCEC 2019, $21,000 according to auditor’s report; she said she was hired as an attorney, not a lobbyist
• Lucas Compton, represented MCEC 2018-2019, $72,000, according to auditor’s report
• Alice Mitchell, represented MCEC 2011-2012 & 2014-2017, $24,200; represented NLR 2018-2019, $0

Longwitz represented New Learning Resources at the Capitol in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 sessions, according to his filings at the Secretary of State’s office.

“During my time in the Senate, I worked to get insurance and therapy coverage for kids with dyslexia and autism,” he said in an email in early February. “After I left office, I was asked by New Learning Resources to help explain the legislative process and to help them get funding to help pay for dyslexia and autism therapists.”

Longwitz filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office showing the New private school company, not the nonprofit, paid him a total of $12,000 from 2017 to 2019. He also reported representing Mississippi Community Education Center in 2018 and reported $0 compensation.

But the state auditor’s report says Mississippi Community Education Center paid his firm, Inside Capital LLC, $318,325 those three years. Longwitz did not return calls or emails to Mississippi Today for this story.

Similarly, Secretary of State filings show Alice Mitchell lobbied for Mississippi Community Education Center in 2011-2012 and 2014-2017, for which she received a total of $24,200, but she told Mississippi Today in February that she represented New Summit School. She also filed on behalf of New Learning Resources in 2018 and 2019 but reported $0 compensation.

“I’m not sure when MCEC came about,” Mitchell said in a text message. “I worked with them to seek funding for an exercise program for school age children. Then just monitored legislation for them. I was not involved in any of their other programs. My only focus was the school.”

Sidney Allen, Caroline Sims and Kathryn Stewart, lobbyists at the powerful firm Butler Snow, registered as lobbyists for New Learning Resources, under the name NLR Inc. and affiliates, in 2019 and 2020. Sidney reported receiving $36,000 in fees in 2019 and the other two reported $0. Allen did not appear in the audit, which only dealt with Mississippi Community Education Center’s purchases.

Allen said New Learning hired him to educate lawmakers about the educational services they provided, such as programs at New Summit’s Spectrum Academy, which specializes in services for children with autism and developmental delays. 

“There are many parents and students who benefit from the Legislature’s support of these programs,” Allen said in an email.

The audit shows Mississippi Community Education Center also paid AvantGarde Strategies, owned by Serena Flowers, $21,000 in 2019 and Lucas Compton $72,000 between 2018 and 2019. The nonprofit hired Compton, a D.C.-based firm, “for services including sustaining federal revenue streams and bipartisan advocacy,” according to the audit. Family Resource Center of North Mississippi also entered a lobbying contract with Lucas Compton for $84,000 in 2018, the audit said.

Flowers said she had a contract with the nonprofit for general counsel work, mostly related to labor laws, such as rewriting the organization’s handbook and renewing employment contracts, not for lobbying or government relations. This is why she did not register with the Secretary of State, she said. Flowers also said she offered her contract to the auditor’s office but it never retrieved it from her.

Expenditures revealed in the annual audit are not a full accounting of the nonprofit’s purchases; the report covers only fiscal year 2019 and a smattering of earlier purchases connected to those made in 2019, such as through a contract that spanned multiple years.

In the case of Inside Capital and AvantGarde Strategies, the audit said, the nonprofit did not provide the auditor a contract explaining the work they hired the firms to perform. Welfare funds may not be used to pay for “influencing activities,” the audit pointed out.

After the end of the 2019 session, just before the auditor’s investigation began, Mississippi Community Education Center hired high-powered lobbyist Clare Hester of Capitol Resources, who received $67,500 in the months after the legislative session had concluded. She does not appear in the audit. Hester also registered as the nonprofit’s lobbyist in 2020 but did not receive compensation.

The commingling of funds and the transfer of money between the welfare nonprofit and the for-profit private education company has confused the accounting and at times obscured exactly what the News were doing. 

This was the mechanism Nancy and Zach New used to embezzle $2 million in welfare funds for their personal use, according to the criminal indictments against them, and the audit revealed they also transferred at least $6 million to the private schools. The audit did not track where the money went after that. 

The New nonprofit was also using TANF funds to pay building costs for the for-profit Mississippi Dyslexia Center owned by Nancy’s sons Zach New and Jess New, the audit found. Jess New, an attorney and the executive director of the Mississippi State Oil and Gas Board, is the registered agent and is listed as an officer on many of the business filings for the New companies.

Mississippi Community Education Center had received most of its revenue from Human Services, plus several million from other agencies, such as the Mississippi State Health Department for anti-smoking education and other health programs and Mississippi Community College Board to run early childhood academies.

But the nonprofit and New Learning Resources Inc. also received a combined $28.9 million from Mississippi Department of Education since 2006 for programs for students with disabilities, through a combination of special needs scholarship account funds, dyslexia scholarships and other funding streams called Section 504 teacher units and educable child services.

“MDE was not lobbied to contract with MCEC or New Learning Resources, and MDE has no contacts with either entity,” the department said in an email.

New Learning Resources and the New-affiliated Mississippi Autism Center each received about $1.5 million since 2006 from “flow-through” grants from the Legislature in the education budget, most of which in recent years — a total of $550,000 in 2017, $360,000 in 2018 and $360,000 in 2019. Allen confirmed these were the funds he was hired to help secure in 2019.

In 2015, lawmakers passed legislation allowing the education department to set aside public school dollars for children with special needs to spend on private school tuition. In the years since, lawmakers have considered unsuccessful bills to expand the program to all children.

Gov. Tate Reeves, one of the strongest proponents, used Nancy New’s New Summit School as the location for one of his 2019 gubernatorial TV ads.

With Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s new leadership in the Senate, lawmakers must reauthorize the scholarship account bill this year and they’ve already drafted language that would provide increased accountability for the entire program, including which schools are eligible to participate. They’ve not progressed any legislation to increase accountability within grant funding at the Department of Human Services.

The News organizations’ influence began to dwindle after Davis abruptly resigned in July, investigators raided the nonprofit’s office, Human Services froze their funding and agents arrested Nancy and Zach New in early February.

Along with lobbyists, the nonprofit had hired several large law firms on retainer, according to interviews with people close to the situation, such as Bradley Arant and Watkins & Eager, mentioned in the audit, and Butler Snow, which still represents the nonprofit, its board members, as well as Zach New individually in his criminal case.

Elected officials who received donations from Nancy or Zach New over the last few years include Gov. Tate Reeves ($5,000), Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann ($5,500), U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith ($2,000) — all three of which said they would return or donate the money to charity — Secretary of State Michael Watson ($250), State Sen. Chris Johnson ($2,000) and 2019 gubernatorial candidate Bill Waller Jr. ($1,000).

The post Nonprofit officials spent $400,000 in welfare dollars to lobby state government. Public education funding flowed their way. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today’s photojournalist, is one of 22 photographers from all over the world showcasing work in “Prints for Mississippi,” a print sale collaboration from the nonprofit Delta Health Center and The Raw Society.

The sale, which began May 11 and will run through May 25, is a fundraising effort for COVID-19 testing and affordable health care. All proceeds from the sale will go to DHC.

Eric’s piece, which features a member of Jackson State University’s Sonic Boom of the South band during JSU’s 2018 homecoming game, is among a collection of photographs showcasing Mississippi’s landscape and diverse population.

To learn more about the print sale fundraiser, organized by Delta-based photographer Rory Doyle, visit The Raw Society. View a gallery of the prints featured in the sale below.

The post Staff Spotlight: Work by photojournalist Eric J. Shelton featured by international organization appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Color your way through Mississippi with me! Click below to download a coloring sheet of Wood College in Mathiston. 

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Don’t miss my art lessons — live every Friday at noon.

The post A tour of Mississippi: Wood College appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Ole Miss athletics

Ben Williams, 74, was a remarkable football player and a history-making individual at Ole Miss. Here, he sacks Southern Miss quarterback Jeff Bower in a 1973 game.

Ole Miss athletics

Ben Williams

They called him Gentle Ben. But Jim Carmody, who coached history-making, trail-blazing Ben Williams at both Ole Miss and then the Buffalo Bills, would like to expound on that nickname.

“When Ben Williams was on the football field and the game was on, there was not one thing gentle about him,” Carmody said. “He annihilated people. On the field, he had more than a little meanness to him. At Ole Miss, he dominated everybody he faced. And I’ll tell you something else about Ben. He was a helluva guy, too, one of my favorite people I ever coached.”

Robert Jerry “Ben” Williams, the first African American to play football at Ole Miss and one of the greatest defensive players in the school’s history, died Monday. He was 65.

Rick Cleveland

Williams, from Yazoo City, and James Reed, a running back from Meridian, were the first two African Americans recruited to play football at Ole Miss in 1971. Williams, who possessed remarkable quickness and speed to go with his brute strength, was the first to play as a freshman in the 1972 season, just 10 years after James Meredith integrated the university amid a riot. Williams started as a freshman, made All-SEC the next three years, All-American as a senior.

And this will tell you so much about Ben Williams: As a senior, in 1976, he was voted “Colonel Rebel” – equivalent to Mr. Ole Miss – by the student body.

Ole Miss athletics

Ben Williams was elected Colonel Rebel in 1976. Here he is pictured with Barbara Biggs, who was Miss Ole Miss.

“His teammates loved him, his coaches loved him,” Carmody said. “Obviously, he was really popular on campus, as well. The only people who didn’t love him were the guys who had to play against him.”

Jackson dentist Roger Parkes was a junior football player at Ole Miss when Williams and Reed signed with the Rebels making the university the last in the SEC to break the color line in football.

“Both Ben and James and were good guys as well as players, but Ben was the first to make a big contribution on the field,” Parkes said. “He was just a physically superior dude. One man was not going to block him and sometimes two people couldn’t do it. He threw people around like rag dolls.”

As it turns out, Williams was more than qualified for the moment. Williams commanded respect – not only with his superior playing ability but with his calm off-the field demeanor and personality.

“People talk about his physical skills and how he threw people around,” Carmody said. “But he was a smart player, as well. He worked at it. He knew how to use his hands and forearms. He listened. He wanted to learn. He wanted to be as good as he could be. His effort was always outstanding.”

Carmody, who coached at Ole Miss twice, at Mississippi State twice and at Southern Miss twice (as head coach and defensive coordinator), said Williams and Jerald Baylis, a nose tackle at USM, were the two best college players he ever coached.

Williams made first team All American as a senior in 1976 and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the third round. Carmody joined him with the Bills in 1982 as the team’s defensive line coach. Williams made the Pro Bowl in 1983.

Williams and Carmody, both Mississippi Sports Hall of Famers, had a long-running joke between them.

“Ben always told me he made me the coach I was, and I guess there might have been some truth there,” Carmody said. “Players like Ben will make anyone a better coach. But I’d always remind him he didn’t make All American until I got him at Ole Miss and he didn’t make All-Pro until I went to Buffalo. We had a lot of laughs about that.”

Carmody says that during all the time he spent at Ole Miss – in two different tenures – he only went to one basketball game.

Ole Miss athletics

Ben Williams once wrestled a bear at halftime of an Ole Miss basketball game.

“Did you ever hear about the time Ben wrestled a real bear at halftime of a basketball game?” Carmody said. “That’s why I went to see that basketball game to see Ben wrestle that Bear.

“It was kind of funny really. Ben couldn’t get the bear down and the bear couldn’t put Ben down, either. It was kind of a tie. I talked to Ben afterward and he said, ‘Coach, you can’t believe how bad that bear smelled. It was awful.’ He said he never had anything to worry about, because the bear didn’t have any teeth, not a single tooth in his mouth.”

Carmody said Williams’ popularity with teammates carried over to the NFL and to the Buffalo Bills. Williams retired from the Bills in 1985 as the franchise’s all-time leader in sacks with 45.5.

“Ben was on the same defensive line with Fred Smerlas and Sherman White, two really great players,” Carmody said. “Jim Haslett, who later coached the Saints, was one of the linebackers.

“A bunch of those guys came to Jackson a few years ago to spend some time with Ben when he was having some health issues,” Carmody said. “We played golf and then had a big steak dinner at Tico’s. It was more or less a testimonial dinner for Ben. Most of those guys came a long way for that. That’s how much respect they had for Ben.”

The post RIP: Gentle Ben Williams, who broke football color line at Ole Miss, became ‘Colonel Rebel’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves has faced the wrath of the Legislature, protestors and people who are mad him on Facebook during his press conferences. So instead of reading birthdays or graduates’ names to give them a boost, maybe he should just read his own name over and over to make himself feel better.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Tate’s pick-me-up appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Rep. Jason White speaks about legislation that would remove Gov. Tate Reeves’ spending authority over federal coronavirus stimulus money.

One day last week during a committee meeting he was chairing, Rep. Larry Byrd, R-Petal, looked over his shoulder to see the imposing figure of House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton.

“I had a stroke,” said Byrd, the non-assuming chair of the County Affairs Committee who was not expecting the House speaker to attend the meeting.

Gunn, still catching his breath after running up four flights of Capitol stairs after attending another meeting, pulled off his mask and gave the charge he was delivering to the multiple House committees meeting throughout the building. That charge was to look for ways to efficiently and quickly distribute $1.25 billion in federal funds to help people and entities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legislative leaders had been fighting with Gov. Tate Reeves over who would have spending authority of the federal funds. Reeves had said legislators, stuck in a cumbersome process involving 174 members, would not be able to efficiently appropriate the funds in a timely manner to those in need.

Last week legislators worked to create and pass a program to provide $300 million in grants and funds to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus. While it took a better part of a week before the small business package was passed Wednesday after 11 p.m., it still was quite a legislative feat to create and pass a brand new program in a relatively short period of time considering the speed at which the legislative process normally operates.

Last week it was not unusual to see both presiding officers – Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Gunn – in committee meetings. It has not been unusual for Hosemann, in his first year as lieutenant governor, to attend committee meetings, but seldom if ever does the speaker participate in committee meetings – at least not before the task of legislators doling out that $1.25 billion in federal funds began.

After working together to prevent Reeves from single-handedly appropriating the funds, it would be reasonable to assume that the two presiding officers felt a bit of pressure and motivation to show they could deliver those funds in an efficient manner.

“We were motivated by the needs of the people of Mississippi and not anything else,” Hosemann contended when asked if he felt any pressure, especially since the fight over who would appropriate the funds was contentious at times.

Soon after it became apparent that the state would receive those funds – before Reeves proclaimed his sole authority to appropriate them – Hosemann said the legislative leaders began talking about where the money could do the most good.

“We recognized the urgency here was for small businesses,” said Gunn, calling them the backbone of the state’s economy.

House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, who was one of the key negotiators on the small business program, perhaps provided more insight.

“I don’t know about pressure…about the best way to motivate me, I am just speaking for myself…, is to tell me I can’t do it,” he said on Mississippi Today’s “The Other Side” podcast.

“When the governor made those statements that the Legislature is incapable of spending, appropriating these funds in an efficient manner where we could do some good and get the funds to the people who need them quickly, then I kind of made that a personal mission of mine to help ensure that happened. I don’t think I am alone in that regard. Through the leadership with the speaker and the lieutenant governor… we sat down and man, we went to work, and I think the byproduct is something we can all be proud of.”

Whether the Legislature was actually successful in developing the program, of course, will be borne out in the coming days and weeks.

While Reeves has praised the small business legislation, as of Monday afternoon he had not signed it into law yet. And it is not clear yet when funds will be available from the program, though, there has been speculation that once the bill becomes law $2,000 checks to small businesses forced to close by the coronavirus could be sent out in the next two weeks by the Department of Revenue.

In reality, though, the effort to efficiently spend the funds is just beginning for legislators. They have more than $900 million remaining in the fund to deal with coronavirus-related costs. The states have until the end of the year to spend the funds they received through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Security Act or the money will revert to the federal government.

Legislators have talked of the need to spend the funds to help hard hit cities and counties with their costs. They also want to improve distance learning opportunities, but legislators are learning that $1 billion will not solve all the Mississippi’s rural broadband issues.

Hospitals, which have struggled to deal with the costs of the pandemic and the fact other medical procedures have been put on hold to deal with the coronavirus, thus costing them needed revenue, also have been singled out for possible help.

Reeves has said he believes some of the funds should be set aside for work force training opportunities for many of the about 50,0000 Mississippians who have lost their jobs during the economic slowdown. Related to that, he also has said some of the funds should be used to help rebuild reserves in the state’s unemployment trust fund.

Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, said a large portion of the funds – about $450 million – should be used in areas related to the black community since Africans Americans have been disproportionately impacted.

The Black Caucus has proposed programs at the state’s predominately African American colleges and universities, programs to improve health outcomes in the black communities, additional pay for workers put in jeopardy through their jobs during the pandemic and other programs.

“The corona pandemic has highlighted many of the public health, socio-economic and education disparities that have long been impacting the African American community,” Turner-Ford said in a commentary sent out to the state’s media.

“The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus calls upon the Mississippi Legislature to make conscious and deliberate efforts to address known barriers to opportunities and progress in the African American community.”

In the coming days debate will continue on spending the funds.

And perhaps the pressure on the Legislature and its leadership will grow.

The post Legislature quickly passes small business program even after Gov. Tate Reeves said they couldn’t appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Color your way through Mississippi with me! Click below to download a coloring sheet of Pickwick Lake. 

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