It doesn’t look as though Nancy New will be providing more wardrobe advice to former Mississippi first lady Deborah Bryant anytime soon.
New has apparently decided her friendship with the Bryants isn’t worth taking the rap for many of the financial shenanigans that occurred with the state’s welfare money during Phil Bryant’s final years in office as governor.
New, who has already pleaded guilty to fraud and bribery charges, has claimed in her response to a lawsuit filed by the Department of Human Services, the state’s welfare agency, that a chunk of the money she is being asked to repay was spent at Bryant’s direction.
Bryant, through a spokesman, has denied the allegation, but the scrutiny of the former governor over one of the largest cases of public corruption in state history is intensifying.
Last week, in response to ongoing news reports about the welfare scandal, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the state’s senior congressman, has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Bryant’s possible influence over the misspending of federal block grants awarded to the state that were supposed to help the poorest of the poor.
Among the questionable actions by Bryant are Nancy New’s claim that he directed her to pay former NFL quarterback Brett Favre $1.1 million in fees for speeches and other promotional activities that, according to Mississippi’s state auditor, Favre never performed.
Questions have also been raised about the University of Southern Mississippi connection between the three USM alums, particularly the $5 million in welfare funds that New gave to the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation to help build a women’s volleyball facility, in which Favre was intensely interested.
Then, there are those pesky text messages between Bryant, Favre and Favre’s business partner in a start-up pharmaceutical venture, suggesting that Bryant was receptive to their offer to give him stock in the company as a reward for his supposed help in securing millions in state funding.
When this scandal first broke, Bryant was credited by State Auditor Shad White as being the whistle blower who spurred the investigation that uncovered the massive fraud and misspending within the Department of Human Services. Lately, the whistles have been blowing in the opposite direction.
