Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, left, answers a question from Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg in the Senate Chamber, as lawmakers consider bills on their calendar, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
- The debate over a consultant’s report continues to rage in the Mississippi Senate. State Auditor White blames Lt. Gov. Hosemann “and his lackeys.”
During Tuesday’s Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, one senator offered an amendment to cut the State Auditor’s Office special funds budget by $2 million following the payment for a report the agency said was targeting “waste, fraud and abuse” in state government.
The bill, SB 3047, intends to set the total appropriation for the Department of Audit at about $14 million, Senator John Polk (R) explained during the meeting. Of that total, roughly $5.2 million was from special funds, according to the bill.
State Senator Brice Wiggins (R) took issue with the Auditor’s office contracting with Boston Consulting Group for $2 million. Auditor Shad White (R) has defended the contract as necessary to identity questionable spending practices in state government.
According to Senator Polk, the invoice for the consulting work “has already been paid.” Polk noted that the Auditor “escalated his own budget to do that.”
“The agency took upon themselves to escalate the special fund authority?” Wiggins asked, to which Polk replied, “That’s correct.”
“Well, have we done anything in this bill to reimburse the taxpayers of Mississippi?” Wiggins continued in his inquiry. Polk responded by saying, “We have not.”
Wiggins then submitted an amendment to take $2 million from the State Auditor special funds “to reimburse the taxpayers of the State of Mississippi.”
“That’s two million dollars that has already been paid of taxpayer dollars that was not authorized by the appropriations bill, and so the taxpayers are out $2 million and their taxpayer money went to a private company,” Wiggins said.
The report in question has been a hotly debated topic in the Senate so far this session. At a heated budget hearing earlier this year, Auditor White said the consultant had identified $335 million in government waste. He pointed to a list of what he represented as 400 similar studies performed by other state auditors in the last 30 years.
Then, Senator David Parker (R), chairman of the Senate Accountability Efficiency and Transparency Committee, introduced a bill, SB 2847, that would have prevented the Auditor’s office from filing lawsuits to recoup money on behalf of the state without prior approval from the governor or the Legislature. Additionally, it would have eliminated the power of the auditor’s office to hire consulting firms for “managerial studies.”
In Tuesday’s Appropriations meeting, Parker said he did not think Wiggins’ amendment was prudent at this time, noting the work on the issue in his committee.
“I introduced a bill that was trying to find that solution and it was ridiculed, you know, pretty harshly in social media as being an attack on the Auditor,” Parker explained. “But I continue through work that I’m taking this session to try to find a solution to that problem if we can find one.”
Auditor White termed Parker’s legislation “The Mississippi Corruption Act” and took to social media to rally support for his work. When it was brought to the floor on the Senate for consideration, Parker chose to kill his own bill. White has said it was “bad politics.”
READ MORE: Senator kills own bill that would have limited State Auditor’s power
Senator Wiggins’ amendment to the Auditor’s budget ultimately died after a lengthy discussion.
Auditor White has repeatedly claimed that the actions in the Senate are politically motivated. Both he and Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann (R) are said to be considering runs for Governor in 2027. White has also suggested that various senators are carrying Hosemann’s water in taking up these actions.
When reached for comment on the Wiggins amendment, White’s office issued the following statement, again pointing to what he sees as Hosemann’s influence among the senators.
“Delbert Hosemann and his lackeys will stop at nothing to destroy the Auditor’s office, all because we have found so much waste (DEI, etc.) in the government he has been funding. First, they tried the ‘Mississippi Corruption Act’ to cut our legal authority and now they want to slash our budget. Our office volunteered a $1 million cut to our budget from state taxpayers, which almost never happens in government, but Delbert would cut us so deep we would be forced to fire auditors. What is this man hiding?”
As to the reduced budget request by the Auditor, when questioned on Tuesday, Senator Polk said that what the agency is asking for is “a bit confusing,” noting that White is asking for a $1 million less in his general fund budget but over $1 million more in spending from special funds.
The Department of Audit’s appropriation legislation passed the committee and will be taken up on the Senate floor in the days ahead.
