As a professional football player, Brett Favre was familiar with trades. Late in his NFL career, after his considerable athletic skills had begun to deteriorate, he was traded from Green Bay to the New York Jets.
In a much different arena, Favre was dealt a different trade this week. The Mississippi Department of Human Services, pursuing tens of millions of dollars stolen or squandered in a welfare scandal, dropped a $1.1 million demand against Favre but added a one for $5 million.
One move was expected, the other a bit of a surprise, though a welcome one.
Since Favre had already paid back the $1.1 million in welfare funds he had been given for speaking engagements and promotional appearances that never happened, that claim was a moot point, other than the demand that’s still out there from Shad White, a stickler of a state auditor, for interest and investigative costs from Favre.
But until now it seemed DHS, which falls under the purview of Gov. Tate Reeves, was not all that concerned about the $5 million, which had been used to pay the majority of the cost of building a volleyball arena at the University of Southern Mississippi, a pet cause of Favre’s. In fact, when the first attorney hired by the state to chase after the misspent money started to aggressively look into the volleyball deal, he lost his job.
The amended lawsuit picks up, however, where that attorney left off. It demands the money back not only from Favre but the USM Athletic Foundation, saying they and other parties, including a couple of DHS attorneys, were fully aware that using the welfare funds for construction was against federal regulations and a sham lease was drawn up in an effort to try to skirt those rules.
Favre continues to deny the allegations, despite a considerable trail of text messages that point to his culpability. He also questions, through his attorneys, why former Gov. Phil Bryant is being let off the hook not only on the volleyball arena but a separate welfare-funded investment in a pharmaceutical start-up, for which Favre is also being held financially responsible.
Favre is not the only person to raise this question. So have a couple of the other defendants in the case. And there are plenty of text messages to underscore the legitimacy of that question.
So far, Bryant has gone unscathed, other than some hits to his reputation for being a straight arrow who looked out for the taxpayers’ money. He has not been named among the dozens of defendants in the civil case, nor is he among the handful of friends and subordinates who have been criminally prosecuted.
Going after the volleyball money was a surprise. Maybe there are more surprises in store in this scandal.
