Man being sued over Mississippi welfare spending files his own suit against the governor

JACKSON, Miss. — One of the folks being sued via the Mississippi Department of Human Services over allegations of misspending welfare cash has filed a separate lawsuit against Gov. Tate Reeves, announcing the Republican is attempting to offer protection to political allies together with a former governor.

Austin Garrett Smith filed the suit Wednesday and described himself in courtroom papers as “politically powerless.” Smith’s suit says Reeves will have to sue Republican former Gov. Phil Bryant, who was once in place of work when prosecutors say cash that was once meant to assist a few of the poorest folks in the U.S. was once as an alternative spent on tasks driven via rich and smartly attached folks.

“Reeves has actively shifted the focus of the MDHS lawsuit away from Bryant, despite overwhelming evidence of Bryant’s involvement,” Smith’s legal professional, Jim Waide, wrote.

Reeves press secretary Shelby Wilcher mentioned according to questions on Smith’s lawsuit: “The State of Mississippi is fighting to claw back every single dollar that was misspent in the scandal that occurred before Governor Reeves assumed this office.”

The Department of Human Services filed a lawsuit in 2022 against greater than two dozen companies or folks, together with Smith and retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre. The ongoing suit seeks to recuperate greater than $20 million of the kind of $77 million in welfare cash that the state auditor mentioned have been misspent between 2016 and 2019, all through Bryant’s 2d time period as governor.

Auditor Shad White mentioned the misspending integrated $5 million for considered one of Favre’s puppy tasks, a volleyball enviornment at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Smith is a nephew of former Mississippi Department of Human Services govt director John Davis.

The state’s lawsuit says Smith gained greater than $426,000 of cash from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program from 2017 to 2019 for functions no longer allowed via the program. It says Smith was once paid from “under the guise” of offering services and products for 2 nonprofit teams whose leaders had shut ties to Davis and Bryant.

Smith’s lawsuit says that a number of defendants in the state’s lawsuit, together with Smith, have “little or no” assets they may use to pay any judgment against them.

Smith’s lawsuit additionally says Reeves has improperly employed non-public lawyers to constitute the Department of Human Services when that felony paintings will have to be accomplished via the state legal professional normal’s place of work.

“Reeves has controlled the MDHS suit in order to advance his own political interests and protect his political allies,” Waide wrote.

Reeves is looking for a 2d time period in the Nov. 7 election. The Democratic nominee for governor, Brandon Presley, mentioned Reeves is tainted via the welfare misspending that befell when Reeves was once lieutenant governor and had energy to supervise how the Department of Human Services was once working. Presley famous that Reeves had gained marketing campaign contributions from central figures in the scandal and that the governor’s brother, Todd Reeves, had despatched textual content message to the state auditor asking White to reward Favre.

“Tate Reeves is too ethically compromised to lead this investigation,” Presley mentioned Wednesday.

Reeves marketing campaign spokesperson Clifton Carroll mentioned in a remark: “It’s no surprise that some of the defendants who are being sued by the Reeves administration are unhappy because he is aggressively pursuing this case.”