State Auditor Shad White has taken the unusual tack for a leader of an investigative and enforcement agency of writing a book about an ongoing case — the Mississippi welfare fraud scandal.
“Mississippi Swindle: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America” hit bookshelves on Aug. 6 even as feds continue to probe and prosecute and the state tries to recoup tens of millions of federal dollars meant for the poor.
White is already drawing some fire for his tell-all from fellow officials he cast in less-than-flattering light. They question whether it’s appropriate for him to write about and profit from a case he investigated, and whether it could hinder ongoing criminal and civil investigation and prosecution.
Much of White’s new tome appears to be his defense of questions he has faced about his own role in the initial probe, his close relationship with a key figure and early decisions he made.
He also heaps criticism on Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch and state GOP Chairman Mike Hurst, who was a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney during the time on which the book focuses. White paints Hurst as too political and egotistical, Fitch as inept and uninterested in going after the misspending.
Hurst and Fitch accuse White of writing a self-aggrandizing work of fiction rather than a documentation of the welfare fraud case.
Hurst in a statement said: “It’s sad and disappointing that our state auditor would stoop to these levels of lies, rumors and innuendo in order to bolster himself politically and enrich himself financially during an ongoing criminal investigation. While fantasy and fiction may sell books, and maybe in his mind bolster his chances for higher office, it is not in the best interest of, or the right way forward for, our state.”
Hurst has also questioned whether White not involving the feds — with their wiretapping, surveillance, statutory and other capabilities — in the case until after the initial state arrests were made public hindered wrapping up all the bad actors in the fraud scheme.
A Fitch spokeswoman said of the book: “There is no question that publishing a book while a case is still active makes a complicated case that much more complicated. It remains to be seen what impact the Auditor’s recollection of events will have on the serious work that is being done on behalf of Mississippians.
“We can’t speak for others, but as far as its account of the Attorney General’s role, we consider the book fiction.”
White, an ambitious politician with eyes on the governor’s office, in his book praises himself and his staff for uncovering massive fraud after a tip from White’s majordomo, then-Gov. Phil Bryant. White in the book also praises Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, to whom White took the case for prosecution.
White initially eschewed federal prosecutors and the FBI, who had much more investigative and prosecutorial might and experience in tracking down misspending of federal money. In the book he explains that he worried the feds would not move quickly enough to staunch the misspending of millions of federal dollars by state actors. So he took the case to the newly elected Democratic Hinds DA Owens, with whom White says he already had a relationship from the two going through conversion to Catholicism together.
Criminal and civil defendants in the case, and the public, have for years questioned then-Gov. Bryant’s role in the frittering of potentially $100 million meant for the poorest of the poor in the poorest state. Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Backchannel” series by reporter Anna Wolfe showed Bryant using private texts to influence his welfare director and try to broker a deal with a pharmaceutical startup that enticed him with an offer of stock in the company.
White served as policy director when Bryant was lieutenant governor and was his gubernatorial campaign manager in 2015. Bryant in 2018 appointed White as state auditor, a job that has been a launching pad for runs to higher office, and supported White in his subsequent election.
Former state auditors have said that, had they had similar connections to the governor overseeing the agency that spends welfare money, they would have recused themselves or limited their involvement in the auditor’s investigation.
READ MORE: Former auditors question whether Shad White was too close to investigate Phil Bryant
White throughout the book rails against any questions of whether he feathered or sandbagged any investigation for his former boss, who has not been charged with any crime or been included in the state’s civil prosecution.
“Show some proof of this crazy conspiracy,” White writes. “If the feds can find proof on more people, then good. Everyone who did something wrong should go down. If the feds suspect Bryant of telling (a key defendant) to get rich off this money, or if they think Bryant benefitted, then tell them to do the work we’ve been doing. Investigate! Reach their own conclusions! Tell them to do their jobs!”
READ MORE: Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre
White, who is critical of Mississippi Today, Wolfe and “The Backchannel” — and never mentions the Pulitzer Prize — shrugs off texts involving Bryant, including one between Bryant and the head of a pharmaceutical company that received welfare money. The drug CEO recently pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges in the welfare case, after White’s book had already been written.
The pharmaceutical CEO texted Bryant two days after the governor left office: “Now that you’re unemployed, I’d like to give you a company package for all your help.”
Bryant responded: “Sounds good. Where would be the best place to meet. I am now going to get on it hard.”
White in his book explains: “Bryant sent these controversial texts after my office took our findings to Jody Owens, so they were not central to the opening salvo of the case. They hadn’t even been sent when we went to Jody. But the message would go on to be a focal point for every prosecutor who looked at the matter from then on. How federal and state prosecutors interpreted his messages — had Bryant agreed to accept something of value in exchange for an official act? — would determine Bryant’s future.”
White further defends Bryant, “the most salient fact … was that Bryant had never actually accepted anything of value” and says Bryant hired a new welfare agency head to get to the bottom of misspending.
READ MORE: Brett Favre says welfare probe has ignored Gov. Bryant’s role
Some of White’s knocks on others, particularly Hurst, appear thinly sourced, such as, “I was still hearing rumors that Mike Hurst was telling people I’d handed the DHS case to state prosecutors instead of the feds to protect Governor Bryant.” And, “The rumors were that Mike had been directing FBI agents as if they worked for him, creating animosity with FBI bosses.”
As for Fitch, White says she appeared disinterested in prosecuting the largest fraud case in state history, forcing those who misspent it to pay it back or seizing millions of dollars in property bought with ill begotten money. He questioned her relationship with famed former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, whom the state has sued to recoup welfare money paid to him.
White writes that Fitch failed to help freeze a bank account holding welfare money but, “Instead Fitch filmed a video around that time with Brett Favre (where he called her ‘Lynn Finch with an n in her last name) discussing COVID and promoting her office — all after the public knew Favre was enmeshed in the scandal … perhaps Fitch was wagering it was better for her long-term political future to align with Favre.”
Favre is suing White claiming defamation, and Fitch has refused to have the AG’s office represent White in the case in part because his book criticizes her office creating a conflict of interest. Fitch’s office has also warned White that any legal matters involving his book would be outside the scope of his job and he would be on his own legally.
In the book White writes: “Attorney General Lynn Fitch has been quiet throughout the DHS debacle, failing to even register a meaningful comment on the largest public fraud scheme in the state’s history. Whereas Jody (Owens) and I faced criticism for moving too slowly — despite being the ones to uncover and serve the first indictments in the scheme — Fitch had escaped controversy by doing nothing at all.”
White’s book has been the talk of Mississippi’s political class for months, with many questioning whether it’s proper for him to profit from a case in which he was involved as state auditor. A recent promotional video of White put out by the publisher appeared to be shot from a state office, with White sitting beneath a large state of Mississippi seal, further prompting the questions.
Tom Hood, director of the Mississippi Ethics Commission, said that generally, an elected official can write such a book.
“The Ethics Commission has advised in numerous opinions that public servants are not prohibited from taking general knowledge or experience gained through the course of their government service and using it in the private sector.”
But professor John Pelissero, director of Government Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, said, “I can understand why people would question his motivations here.”
“To be directly involved in investigating the welfare scandal and then, if you will, limiting how much information his office was sharing with the public before coming out with a book, one has to look at the release of this book and ask how is the public interest served by the state auditor using his position … then benefitting personally and perhaps politically,” Pelissero said. “… Maybe in terms of the letter of the law the auditor hasn’t violated anything, but the book is based upon information he acquired in his official capacity. The ethical problem is if the public looks at it and they perceive the auditor is seeking to benefit financially and politically … That undermines the public’s confidence.”
As this article was being reported and written, State Auditor’s Office Communications Director Jacob Walters messaged saying, “I’ve heard around the grapevine” that an article was forthcoming and that he assumed “you would give us a chance to respond.” The state employee, who did not answer whether he was doing the book public relations as a state employee, then sent lengthy written statements from White blasting Hurst and Fitch. (Note: Read the full comments here.)
“The truth, unfortunately, is that Mike was not a particularly good U.S. Attorney,” White’s statement said. And for Fitch, “… she failed to prosecute a soul, failed to seize any property bought with stolen welfare money and forced the state to hire private attorneys … That decision by Lazy Lynn has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars…”
Asked at the recent Neshoba County Fair by Mississippi Today why he wrote the book, White said the writing, which he started a couple of years ago, was partially cathartic.
“I really started writing at a time when the state auditor’s office and the Hinds DA were the only entities doing anything about the welfare scandal in Mississippi, and frankly I was a little frustrated,” White said. “One of the things I do when I’m frustrated is pour my thoughts onto a page … and by the end, I thought this is a story that taxpayers need to know. This is a complicated case as y’all know at Mississippi Today, and I thought I needed to put this all in one place and explain to the people not only what happened but why I made the decisions I made throughout the course of the case.”
And while the feds appear to still be active on the case, White said, “the FBI has not asked us any questions about how to dig into any more facts any time in the last year” and he believes “prosecutors have all the facts and now they’re debating whether to charge anybody else.”
White’s 236-page book, published by New Hampshire-based Steerforth Press, flows fairly well even as it gets into the weeds at times about audit details with lots of numbers. White lists no co-author.
Some of the color in the book can be off-putting, such as what appears to be an almost formulaic — and sometimes harsh — quick description of main characters as they are introduced.
White describes Phil Bryant as having “rugged looks … a thick head of perfectly coiffed gray hair.” Gov. Tate Reeves is, “rosy-cheeked with a full head of blond hair.” DHS Director John Davis is described as, “now a paunchy, balding man with a penchant for flashy ties and decor.” A younger defendant Nancy New had “big hair and a Cheshire cat grin.” Defendant Zach New “still looked like a Southern Miss frat boy … a permanent five o’clock shadow and wore some beer weight around his face.” Mississippi Today reporter Anna Wolfe was “wearing big, horn-rimmed glasses and hair that occasionally changed colors.” An aide to Davis “was callow, still sporting his college haircut.”
White, 38, is himself a small, slender elfish looking fellow with large ears and a receding hair line.
White’s book appears to be written in the vein of c’est fini, but the feds got a guilty plea from the pharmaceutical CEO about one week before White’s book hit the shelves.
A couple of other themes in the book perhaps also didn’t age well.
After White penned his criticism of Hurst and the book was put to bed, Hurst was elected chairman of the state Republican Party. With his ambition for occupying the governor’s mansion, White would probably need the help and support of his party.
Also after the book was put to bed, Hinds County District Attorney Owens’ office and a cigar bar and lounge he owns were in May raided by FBI agents. The purpose of the raids remain unexplained, but Owens said he is cooperating with federal authorities.
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