Mississippi State Auditor Shad White told state senators that they should have asked him to testify about the Mississippi welfare scandal long ago during a heated exchange at the Mississippi Capitol this week.
The Republican auditor’s office investigated the misspending of at least $77 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds that should have gone to the poorest families in the poorest state. Between 2016 and 2019, former Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis directed millions in TANF money to improper uses, including to wealthy sports figures like Brett Favre, who lives in Lamar County, Miss.
Though seven people, including Davis, have faced federal and state charges, Favre has denied any wrongdoing and prosecutors have not charged him with any crimes.
During the Mississippi Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Jan. 22, Vice Chairman Sen. John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, brought up the TANF scandal, noting that Favre is one of his constituents in his district. Several months after news of the welfare scandal broke in 2020, Favre vowed to return $1.1 million he had received in welfare funds to record ads and give speeches, initially giving back $500,000 that May. In October 2021, White demanded Favre return the remaining $600,000 plus $228,000 in interest; Favre returned $600,000, but did not pay the interest the auditor had demanded.
During the hearing Wednesday, Polk challenged White’s figures, saying that “several numbers people” reviewed the figures and did not find that Favre owed the same amount as the auditor’s office found. The remark incensed White.
“You should have been asking tough questions about why this amount of money was misspent in the first place,” White replied. “You should have been holding hearings on why this money went missing. I’ve never been asked a single question about the seven people who pleaded guilty to state or federal charges, and the first question I get is, ‘Hey, what’s up with the Brett Favre thing?’ That, to me, defies common sense right there.”
Mississippi Sen. Daniel Sparks, R-Belmont, said he would “love to ask questions” of White and others about the welfare scandal, but he did not want the Legislature to interfere with a state investigation and prosecution.
“It all goes back to ‘When is it the role of the Legislature to ask questions that can’t be answered?’” he said.
The senator also asked whether Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens should continue to be involved in the state welfare scandal prosecutions considering that he is now among several Jackson officials charged in a bribery scandal.
White said Owens’ charges are unrelated to him prosecuting people involved in the TANF scandal
White to Polk: ‘You Are A Liar’
Auditor Shad White opened the hearing by asking lawmakers to decrease his office’s budget by $1 million. Later in their discussion, Sen. Polk mentioned that the auditor previously asked the Legislature to give his office additional funds to help hire more auditors in 2023. That same year, the auditor increased his office’s budget by $2 million to pay for an audit that identified $335 million in what he called wasteful spending in 13 state agencies.
White said on Wednesday that previous state auditors have conducted similar studies in the past. The auditor said he issued a request-for-proposal to choose a private consulting firm for the job, ultimately hiring Boston Consulting Group from Massachusetts because it was the most cost-effective firm with experience consulting in several states.
Last year, Polk asked Republican Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch for an official opinion about whether the state auditor’s office is “limited to financial audits only” or if the auditor could conduct managerial studies without the governor’s or legislature’s approval.
Fitch issued an opinion in December 2024 saying that the Mississippi state auditor does not have the authority to conduct studies that make managerial recommendations unless the Legislature or the governor gives approval. Polk claimed on Wednesday that White had conducted a managerial study and he did not use a request-for-proposal process to hire the consulting group.
“You are a liar. You are making this up right now. We had an RFP process. You are not going to sit here and lie about the state agency,” White told Polk.
On Friday, the state auditor’s office sent the Mississippi Free Press a copy of the RFP document, which called for proposals to be submitted by Sept. 7, 2023.
During the hearing, Polk asked White if he had any possible personal connections to the Boston Consulting Group.
“Did you know any of the principals or employees or anyone connected with Boston Consulting Group before they were employed?” Polk asked.
“No, none on that team that applied,” the auditor said.
Polk pressed White specifically on whether any of his family members had connections to the company. The auditor said no.
“And by the way, if you assert that, I’m going to sue you for defamation,” White added.
“I’m not asserting anything. I’m only asking,” Polk said.
“You are. Multiple people have asserted that my wife works for Boston Consulting Group, which is not true, has never happened,” White said.
“I have not mentioned your wife,” Polk said.
“Yeah, and that’s a really good thing for you that you have not mentioned her. Don’t assert that somebody in my family worked for that company. You have no evidence to even ask the question,” White said.
“I hate your answer that you just gave because I did not mention a family member. You brought that up.” Polk said
“Keep going, next question,” White said.
The auditor’s wife, Rina White, previously owned a laundry equipment business in Jackson, Miss. She is currently a partner at Twain Capital in Ridgeland, Miss. Twain Capital’s team page says that Founding Partner David Davis previously worked at Boston Consulting Group, but there is no evidence that Rina White worked for the company.
Polk Rejects White’s Accusation of Political Motives
In his office’s request-for-proposal for the wasteful spending consult, Auditor Shad White set a target for Boston Consulting Group to find at least $250 million in wasteful government spending. He said he set a goal amount because it was the industry standard to compare waste amounts with similar states and because he did not want the consulting group to find less waste than what existed.
The auditor claimed that the Wednesday budgeting hearing was “less about policy” and “more about politics,” accusing Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann of “underpinning” the discussion because he thinks White is “standing in the way of him and the governor’s office.” Many in Mississippi political circles expect both White and Hosemann to run for governor in 2027.
Sen. John Polk rebuked White’s claim.
“The way that you will get your funds comes through the appropriations committee, so that’s my only thing here is to make sure that the citizens of Mississippi and the taxpayers of Mississippi get their money’s worth from you or anyone else in state government,” the senator said.
White’s communications director, Jacob Walters, criticized Polk’s line of questioning in a statement to the Mississippi Free Press on Friday.
“John ‘Pork’ attacked Auditor White for trying to get misspent money back from the welfare scandal. John Pork attacked Auditor White for identifying wasteful spending in state government. It seems like John Pork just has a problem whenever Auditor White does his job at all. The reality is John Pork is more interested in being the Lt. Governor’s political minion than he is about delivering results for taxpayers,” Walters said.
In an interview after this story published, Polk said he pushed the line of questioning because he “was the subcommittee chair who oversaw the budget” in 2023.
“I’m not sure I got an answer to any of the questions I asked,” he added.
The Mississippi Free Press contacted Lt. Gov. Hosemann’s office for a comment on Friday morning but did not hear back by press time.
This story has been updated to include comments from Sen. Polk.
You can read our archive of reporting on the Mississippi welfare scandal here.