So texted Governor Phil Bryant in describing Anna Wolfe back in 2019 as she investigated DHS's welfare programs. Ms. Wolfe might just have the last laugh as she took no prisoners in scooping the media this week on the DHS scandal as the intrepid reporter managed to get her mitts on thousands of text messages between Governor Phil Bryant, Brett Favre, Former DHS Director John Davis, and some other peeps that were quite revealing. Big paydays, anyone? Ms. Wolfe penned a soliloquy on her Facebook page that told the story of her dealings with DHS and how the Governor reacted to her investigation:
Then-Gov. Phil Bryant screenshotted a tweet of mine — which touched on my investigation into welfare in the spring of 2019, at the fever pitch of the largest alleged taxpayer theft in state history — and sent it to MDHS Director John Davis. “How is she figuring this?” he asked.
My tweet contained a plain observation: "For every dollar Mississippi spends on basic cash assistance for poor families, the state leaves three dollars unspent, rolling over to the next year." In the poorest state in the country, we were leaving tens of millions of TANF or "welfare" dollars unspent — something advocates had screamed about for years. I was digging around in the only public data available, limited and outdated, after MDHS had completely shut me out.I had a long, congenial introductory call with the new MDHS spokesperson, a former staffer for Gov. Bryant and network executive for conservative talk radio station Supertalk, in September of 2018. I remember rattling on about my personal values and intentions as a reporter, specifically in getting to the bottom of TANF. I never got a return call from her.MDHS began refusing to answer any of my questions. Eventually, they started routing all emails from me through the attorney general’s office. If I sent the head of the TANF program a question, an AAG would respond in legalese.Public records requests were agonizing. Any meager explanations I did get—like about what NSPARC, the political powerful research center, was doing to track outcomes for the agency—were hazy and never backed up by documents.So, when the governor forwarded my straightforward tweet based on data, his welfare director spun it into an ideological agenda: “She is advocating that we should use more TANF funds towards cash assistance,” he responded.We were spending 5% of our welfare funds on direct cash assistance. I wasn’t advocating for anything, but I was asking if MDHS thought that was a proper balance and why. And to show me what they were doing with the rest of the money and how they knew the programs worked.Two months after my tweet, the agency employee responsible for creating many of the TANF subgrants and paying vendors “without creating an audit finding”—part of the alleged scheme to misspend $77 million—tattled on Davis for sending $48,000 meant for a professional wrestler to his own P.O. Box.That’s the tip Phil Bryant took to the state auditor that prompted an investigation, not the overall and very obviously broken welfare system that was letting tens of millions fly out the door unchecked.During my interview with Phil Bryant on Saturday, his tone was that he wished he’d known sooner so he could have stopped it. But he would have known if he’d listened back in 2017—before much of the known alleged fraud occurred. That's when I first started writing about it.Phil Bryant explained to me that when Brett Favre texted the governor "he couldn't be more happy" about his pharmaceutical venture working with welfare officials and receiving funds from the state—the basis of the pending embezzlement charges against a nonprofit founder—the governor didn't read his texts carefully enough to grasp what they meant.He may not read his texts, but Phil Bryant appeared to read my tweet. And he was unfazed about the serious issues raised in my reporting because, as he responded, I’m a “raving liberal.”I think about all the public assistance recipients and advocates who helped me peek into the system over the years and figure out what the right questions were, and the explanation we would make up in our heads in the absence of any answers from state leadership.The reality was even worse. And still, we were way more right than we ever wanted to be, because we were hoping we were wrong.
Ms. Wolfe's reporting that so stirred the Governor are available on this Twitter thread.
Kingfish note: Phil, Phil, Phil.
53 comments:
Maybe Phil can explain what part of looting tax dollars to hang out with celebrities is a conservative principal. That's less fiscally conservative than AOC's trash policy goals. The irony of calling someone a raving liberal when his administration is robbing the bank. This is a chance for actual conservatives to practice what we preach in regards to personal responsibility and accountability instead of trying to sweep it under the rug in the good ole boys club.
Welfare in all forms = votes for dems.
The former governor isn't wrong. I previously worked with Anna before she was at Mississippi Today, and she *is* a raving liberal. And it does influence her work. Pro-liberal, anti-conservative advocacy and gotcha journalism is what she does. There's no objectivity or balance in her approach.
That said, regardless of the reason she stumbled across the current Bryant story, it's accurate and pretty damning. The fact that she went digging for dirt in a conservative doesn't make that dirt any less true or any less problematic.
Even a broken clock is wrong twice a day.
It was only a matter of time before Anna got a story right.
Phil and his bible thumping minions seem about as smart as turnips.
Seems like there are more than a few audit findings now.
Imagine what the feds will find if they started sniffing around.
What happened to my Saturday Clarion Ledger? How much is Lumumba getting in blowbacks from Dicks Garbaaage. We all wanna know.
$77 million disappears and we reluctantly concede that it's "problematic" and "pretty damning." At least we aren't as bad as Texas, where $1 billion (that's $1,000 million) went missing from the Department of transportation a few years ago, and it was chalked up to an "accounting error."
Apparently, we are so against giving money to people who need it and qualify for it that we'd sooner steal it, just so it won't go to them.
BTW, intentional and willful ignorance may be adequate in politics, but it can raise a presumption of knowledge in a court of law.
You can’t avoid responsibility for being a crook by calling the people who expose you “liberal.” We’re not all so cheap.
God, I hope they lock you up and throw away the key, Phil.
By the way, only a s*** bag like yourself would shit on your own flesh and blood like you do your openly gay son.
TANF funds, "welfare money" those kinds of funds are like prison money. The people it's meant for have no clout whatsoever and no ability to demand accountability for it's spending. It is therefore ripe for graft and corrupt political maneuvering. Money like that is easily rerouted and nobody "who matters" is going to complain. It happens all the time.
12:53
Are you sure?
Attn 12:53 A broken clock is only right twice a day. It is wrong virtually all day long with 2 brief exceptions.
all you need to know about phil bryant is that 5 minutes after her left the governors office he began a racket as a stinking lobbyist , peddling his political clout to anyone who could pay.
lobbyists are engaged in special interest, legalize bribery. simple as that. just like that fat toad frog haley barbour.
tell me mr average joe...........who is out there lobbying for you?..........make no mistake about it , it aint phil bryant or the toad frog .
So where were all the small government conservative investigative reporters on this story? Seems right up their alley. Makes you wonder.
+1, 12:49
+1, 12:53
+1, 3:32
Phil's attire and life style improves considerably while holding office.
Y'all need to learn how to tell the difference between designer clothes and shoes and off the rack or see if their property improves and more is acquired and how much State busines or employments is steered to friends and relatives.
And, no...political corruption hasn't been this blatant in decades.
I gave Anna an interview once. I regretted I did. I didn't owe her anything. She pushed her own narrative and disregarded everything I told her. My education and 25 years of experience meant nothing compared to her opinion. I don't expect you to print this because it might not fit your narrative for this story but that's the truth.
The best way to deal with Anna Wolfe is ignore her. She eventually gets bored and finds someone else to target. Governor Harley popped off and made himself a juicy target.
I gave Anna an interview once. I regretted I did. I didn't owe her anything. She pushed her own narrative and disregarded everything I told her. My education and 25 years of experience meant nothing compared to her opinion. I don't expect you to print this because it might not fit your narrative for this story but that's the truth.
So that's another solid Mississippi vote for:
Pheel and friends dindunuffin because mean liberal lady did not buy what you were selling.
Why did Shad sit on these details for over 2 years? I’ll patiently wait for his self-promoting social media explanation.
Anna Wolfe is a raving liberal? Phil isn’t wrong.
She’s more like a raging liberal.
Underneath that thin veneer of “journalism” is an unhinged person in the same vein as Donna Ladd. She writes hatchet pieces and always has a leftist agenda.
We are giving her too much attention and credit.
Never Trust the following 1: a Reporter 2: a communist 3: a liberal 4: a politician 5: a preacher That pretty much covers it
Deputy Doo Dah really stepped in it with this reporter.
He appears to have tried his best top explain his way out of things..
Bless his heart.
Will he take the latest frAuditor down with him?
She wrote that Bryant "tattled on Davis for sending $48,000 meant for a professional wrestler to his own P.O. Box."
So much for Phil being the whistleblower in this $77 million scandal.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Anna Wolfe doesn’t give a damn about some poor family’s power bill or who needs a cash handout in order to buy diapers. She cares about herself, and getting her ideology and story out there to the masses. Her ego and narcissism is evident in her writing and social media presence. And that’s fine.
Anna’s problem is that she’s not patient and mature enough to wait and tell the entire story with all facts represented. She, like many young “reporters”, want to race to social media with the scoop, completely accurate or not. She did that 2 years ago when this case started and has done it time and time again since then. She was shuffled information from the Auditor that was intended to tell a very specific, inaccurate story. She was led down a rabbit trail and away from certain very pertinent facts. She’s hopefully asking herself why. I’m glad she’s exposing Bryant for who and what he is, but she needs to dig further into Shad and why he seemingly tried to cover Phil’s ass.
to 7;46....in your first paragraph you libel anna wolfe.
in your second paragraph you talk about how ''im glad she is exposing bryant''
what's the matter big mouth tough guy?
can't you make up your mind?
She may be a liberal but Phil is a crook. He will not be held accountable for this but hopefully this will kill his lobbying plans Nobody will want him representing them after this. Funny how Debra got on the Community Bank Board after he was elected. Wonder what her qualifications were other than the wife of the Governor?What a joke. Just a way to pay her Director fees. Can't pass 9th grade math but serving on a Bank Board. Phil trying to milk his time as Governor for all its worth.
You are wrong @4:43. Anna disregarded every fact and proceeded to push her agenda and opinion. She completely got egg on her face as it turned out she was proven wrong. Most young reporters do that these days. They are looking to win a Pulitzer by throwing Hail Mary's and throwing anything at a wall hoping something sticks.
Anna Wolfe publishes a fact based story with text messages and she is Satan? What world are we living in?
So what if she is a “raving liberal”? She has exposed a story that needs telling. Anna basically rolled PB up and smoked him in the interview. That’s all I got to say about it, and I’m a conservative R.
Going after Anna'a political ideology = ad hominem fallacy.
Don't get distracted by this. Follow the money.
People like 8:03….
You do know it’s entirely possible that both the former governor AND this reporter can be douchebags? In fact it’s also possible that they are both generally not too bad as people go - they may pet the dog and not kick him, be mostly nice to their friends and family, put money in the offering plate, etc, yet also have participated in something illegal (in Bryant’s case) or be a left wing, BLM-bs buying Marxist (in Wolfe’s case). There generally are not THAT many all bad people out there. This doesn’t mean some folks may not deserve prosecution if all this is true or that I want someone with Wolfe’s apparent ideological underpinnings teaching my children.
This demonization of people in comment sections and social media is ridiculous.
@8:03, I’m not @7:46, but I share his/her sentiments. It is entirely possible to believe Anna is everything wrong with reporting today, and be glad that Bryant and the whole crew are being exposed and hopefully will be prosecuted. This isn’t binary (unlike gender, which is. Enjoy being triggered.)
Anyone calling anyone else out on this forum for libel needs to pump the brakes. That’s pretty much all JJ is, minus the healthy hypocritical church sermon we’ll have provided for us today.
The number of posters attacking Anna because her political beliefs are different from yours is amazing considering she was the only one paying attention to what was happening at DHS. You are attacking the messenger and ignoring the message.
It appears you are content to have millions of dollars stolen, just so long as it is conservatives committing the thievery.
When no one is able to be held accountable then people like Phil are emboldened to make decisions which just a few years ago would have landed him in jail.
Today? Nothing.
The powers that be are shielded by use of political hatred for “the other side.”
So look for more such behavior from those currently in charge and watch them say their (illegal) actions are justified to save you from the real evil boogie man.
You bought it…you own it
Don't worry, g/f, it will be posted today.
Libel? What libel have I posted? Cite some specific examples.
If I am understanding this whole mess correctly, then welfare monies were used to basically place a bet on a startup pharmaceutical company.
Why does this kind of shit happen every day in MS? We constantly hear of public monies being stolen, misspent, missing, or simply disappearing?
Why, why. why does this keep happening and no one is held accountable?
We need to put a tight lid on the cookie jar in this state and completely revamp ALL spending.
Well isn't she a Liberal?? Raving or not?
Come on y'all know................
I might be in the minority here, but I don't see the exchange that puts Bryant in any kind of trouble. I'm not a lawyer, and I'm sure folks here can set me straight on this, but I was expecting to see an exchange along the lines of:
Bryant: We need this money to go to Favre/New/DiBiase/USM.
Davis: We can't do that, sir. It's illegal.
Bryant: Dammit Davis, make it happen! I'm the Governor!
Instead, I see a lot of:
Bryant: Sure would be nice if that facility/person could get funded.
Davis: I'm on it sir!
Bryant: You're the best!
The results might be the same, but the trail matters. Reporter does a lot of "coloring" in the article with references to "disgraced people" and "we have the text messages" but Phil has been State Auditor and knows everything on his phone is potentially public.
I'm willing to believe the worst about anyone - it's why I read this blog! Just don't see any smoking guns - yet.
Anyone calling anyone else out on this forum for libel needs to pump the brakes. That’s pretty much all JJ is, ...
Funny comment since you demonstrably lacked the stones yourself. Scurry back over to one of the garbage 'free press' venues where your bath of righteous indignation is filled and waiting.
Is there a such thing as a raving conservative?
An underlying assumption in this conversations seems to be that "liberal" is inherently band and wrong, and anything coming from a "liberal" is fruit from a poisonous tree.
We seem to automatically equate "liberal" with bad character. It also seems that some of us do the same with "conservative." Maybe we should take a look at that.
It is quite clear to any observer that most modern Republican elected officials do not really want to be accountable for their misgovernance and crimes. Nor do they want their government schemes forced to be accountable. We are all paying for it and will continue to pay for their waste and graft in the future.
11:27, "Smoking gun" may the standard for guilt in politics, but in the criminal justice system it's "beyond a reasonable doubt." People get convicted every day without having been caught with a smoking gun in their hand.
2:06, Perhaps you just happen to live in a state that has been dominated by Republicans for a long time, so that's who's been cheating. Check out some of the scandals in some Dem-dominated cities and states. I'm not saying both parties are equally bad and everybody's terrible, just that everyone needs accountability.
12:41 -
You think Favre’s a Democrat?
@11:27 - Phil seems to have used his influence to direct funding and support to a pharmaceutical company of which he was promised stock, and seems to have accepted that stock. If the reporting is correct, he was setting up meetings the day before arrests were made in order to lay claim to the stock. Plus, for several years he was directing additional funding and support to a development in south MS in which he had a vested interest. All the while Shad is covering his ass and concealing evidence and failing to tell the entire story. What more do you need to see?
7:42 : Pharma stock I imagine resides in every elected in this state...and appointed. It's the only thing that makes sense ...how the last 2.5 years have gone. Pure greed.
"Perhaps you just happen to live in a state that has been dominated by Republicans for a long time, so that's who's been cheating"
Do you even realize how long Democrats ruled all branches of government in this state as opposed to the relatively short period of the converse?
BTW, name the Republicans 'who've been cheating' in this state for what you consider a long time. Epps was a Democrat and so were all the people who went to jail on his coat-tails. All of the corruption in municipal and county government offices in this state lies at the feet of Democrats, not republicans.
It's been Democrats all the way back to Sam Waggoner and Thurston Little who went to jail for corruption and none of the convicted county supervisors have been Republicans.
@7:42 am
Phil never accepted the stock. That is made clear in the article from April 4. I don't blame you for missing that salient fact, as it was buried in the last few paragraphs. That's exactly what the author intended.
@10:04, seems kind of clear to me:
From the April 4th, 2022 article……
Then, two days after he left office, Bryant agreed by text to accept stock in the company.
“Now that you’re unemployed I’d like to give you a company package for all your help,” Prevacus founder Jake Vanlandingham wrote in a Jan. 16, 2020, text. “…We want and need you on our team!!!”
“Sounds good,” responded the former governor, who was getting ready to take over a private sector lobbying firm. “Where would be the best place to meet. I am now going to get on it hard…”
It appears that Phil certainly accepted the offer, but consummation of the offer was tripped up by the subsequent arrests. Phil was clearly abusing his office, and Shad has tried to cover it up.
@10:59
“The governor was always straight up. There was never any stock exchanged. There was never any money exchanged. He just wanted to help,” Vanlandingham said.
Bryant: "Would I trade a future with this firm, would I give up 30 years of integrity over some paper? Over some stock of a company that barely existed? Why would I do that? I’d have to be out of my mind to do that.”
After he left office, Bryant spoke with Prevacus, as he said he would, but he told Mississippi Today that his instincts told him not to move forward. “At the end of the conversation, I said, ‘No. Nope. This would not be the right thing to do, and I’m not going to be a part of it.’”
“I was unaware your company had ever received any TANIF funds,” Bryant texted at 8:37 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2020. “If some received anything of benefit personally then Legal issues certainly exists. I can have no further contact with your company. It is unfortunate to find ourselves at this point. I was hoping we could have somehow helped those who suffer from Brain Injuries. This has put that that hope on the sidelines.”
You don’t have to follow through with an actual criminal act to be guilty of the crime of conspiracy.
Either way, it looks like Phil has some serious problems.
But...The governor 'got on it hard'.
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