A new batch of text messages has been released in the ongoing legal battle between Mississippi non-profit employees and state officials who, along with former quarterback Brett Favre, worked to divert millions of dollars in public funds that were meant to be spent on welfare programs. These latest messages show that Favre had some interesting ideas on how some of those funds should be spent on construction costs for the volleyball stadium for which he'd secured $4 million to build at the University of Southern Mississippi.
The text messages were submitted into court filings by attorneys representing former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, who is attempting to prove that he was unaware of the fact that non-profit founder Nancy New and state welfare director John Davis were improperly spending the state's welfare funds. New had previously submitted her own batch of texts that were meant to demonstrate Bryant was aware of how the money was being improperly spent. Bryant and New are locked in a long legal battle, and every time one of them submits evidence against the other, Favre comes out looking like a complete asshole.
Bryant's filing includes messages he received from Favre in 2018, in which Favre suggested that the "prison industry" be used to build the lockers at the volleyball arena. From Mississippi Today:
Later, in May of 2018, Favre reached out again to Gov. Bryant for help constructing lockers for the facility.
“I’m still trying to save money on [the] Vball facility,” Favre texted.
Favre even suggested “the prison industry possibly as a builder.”
Mississippi Today
Bryant also submitted a text conversation he had with Favre in 2019, after the pair had met the state welfare director who replaced Davis, about the volleyball stadium project:
“We are going to get there. This was a great meeting,” Bryant texted Favre in September of 2019, directly after they met with Christopher Freeze, the welfare director who replaced Davis after Davis was suspected of defrauding the agency. “But we have to follow the law. I am to[o] old for Federal Prison. [smiley face, sunglasses emoji].”
Mississippi Today
There's no shortage of arguments to be made that the political and economic systems undergirding this country are only capable of creating misery, but I don't know if I've ever seen one that is grimmer than a state governor throwing the 😊 😎 on a text message to Brett Favre about wanting to avoid federal prison.
