Favre says White is “prioritizing sensational headlines over seeking truth.” White says Favre’s comments are lies.
On Friday morning, former Southern Miss quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre took to Facebook to share his views on recent comments by Mississippi State Auditor Shad White.
“As I have said before, I would never accept money for no-show appearances, as the state of Mississippi auditor, Shad White, claims,” Favre wrote, adding, “I am doing all that I can to support this investigation to make things right for the people of Mississippi and I have shared all that I know, which is that I was paid for three years of commercials that I did, and I paid taxes on the money, as I should.”
White’s office has demanded Favre repay over $800,000 to the state for services the Auditor says was not rendered. Earlier this week, Favre repaid some $600,000 of the funds, leaving over $200,000 left on the demand.
“Of course the money was returned because I would never knowingly take funds meant to help our neighbors in need, but for Shad White to continue to push out this lie that the money was for no-show events is something I cannot stay silent about,” Favre posted to Facebook on Friday. “Despite all efforts to seek clarification with the auditor, he has never granted a call back or a meeting with me, but has instead only repeatedly run to the media.”
Favre went on to say that Auditor White is “prioritizing sensational headlines over seeking truth.”
White’s recent demand to Favre is part of the Auditor’s investigation into misspending by the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The audit found that two nonprofits, the Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC) and the Family Resource Center (FRC), either misspent or improperly dispersed portions of $77 million from the state’s TANF welfare program.
Auditor White did not take kindly to Favre’s social media post, sharing Favre’s comments and calling them lies.
“These are lies. I am not going to hide how much you were paid, why you were paid, or conduct back room meetings to make this go away,” White wrote to Favre.
White posted on Facebook that the contract that justified the payment of $1.1 million in welfare money to Favre said he was to “speak at three (3) total speaking engagements,” “provide one (1) radio spot during the contract period,” and “provide one (1) keynote speaking engagement.”
Auditor White says the CPA for Favre Enterprises confirmed this was the contract.
“You did not give the speeches. You have acknowledged this in statements to my agents,” White told Favre. “To suggest my office has not met with you is a lie as well. You have met with agents who work for me. They showed you the contract. They showed you the emails confirming the contract quoted above is how you were paid. To suggest I have only communicated this to you via the media is wrong.”
White ended his reply to Favre by saying he was doing his job.
“You can continue to use your megaphone as a celebrity to drown out the facts, but it will not change the facts,” White posted.
The remainder of the funds not returned to the state of Mississippi per the Auditor’s demand letter to Favre can be pursued by the Attorney General’s office.
Frank Corder
