Brett Favre’s latest effort to get his civil charges dismissed in the welfare fraud case takes dead aim at former Gov. Phil Bryant, current State Auditor Shad White and the University of Southern Mississippi.
While the Hall of Fame quarterback may have some legitimate complaints, in the end he’s not helping himself at all by trying to drag down everyone else who’s involved.
According to the Mississippi Today website, “Favre now says he’s receiving all the blame while officials are letting Bryant off the hook.” His dismissal motion claims the state Department of Human Services is neglecting the roles played by Bryant and White in the massive misdirection of public money.
Favre has been widely criticized for his involvement to get $5 million from the state, through a fund intended to help low-income people, to build a volleyball stadium at USM. The state’s civil suit also alleges Favre supported the idea of DHS director John Davis and non-profit operator Nancy New to transfer $2 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to a private pharmaceutical company in which Favre was invested.
Favre denies both allegations and claims the focus on the volleyball stadium and the pharmaceutical company is designed to blame him for the entire mess.
At the national level, it is certainly true that Favre has received the most attention of the people involved in the misspending of welfare money. Nobody in Green Bay or anywhere else outside Mississippi would recognize anyone’s name but Favre’s.
As for Mississippi, Favre and the former governor certainly are the two best-known members of this cast, so it should be no surprise when they get a lot of attention in the state. But others are paying a price, too. At least three of them have pleaded guilty to crimes.
There’s an abundance of blame to go around in the welfare scandal, where up to $77 million may have been misspent.
Bryant was the governor when the worst of it occurred, and thus bears some responsibility.
White, the auditor, clearly decided to keep Bryant’s name out of the case at first.
Nancy New, the non-profit operator, agreed to funnel the money through her organization, apparently to keep the funding out of the public domain.
Favre, for his part, says plenty of high-level people were involved in the agreement to describe the volleyball stadium as a “wellness center” for poor people — which is not even part of the state’s civil suit to recover money. He lays the blame for this with Bryant, the attorney general’s office, the Institutions for Higher Learning, USM and its athletic foundation.
In filing the motion to dismiss civil charges, Favre’s attorney is just doing his job. Ultimately, though, there are plenty of text messages and other evidence that make Favre’s involvement in this operation clear.
He is not facing criminal charges, so it’s hard to see how blaming everyone else for everything that happened is going to help him.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
