JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Financial documents show no sign that Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves kept his promise to give campaign donations to those accused of wrongfully spending welfare on the biggest corruption case. state public.
Reeves, a Republican, became governor in January 2020 after serving two terms as lieutenant governor.
On February 5, 2020, the State Auditor announced that former Mississippi Department of Human Services Executive Director John Davis and five others had been arrested on charges related to welfare spending to help some of the poorest people in the United States.
“Some of the people we now believe were involved in the former director’s apparent criminal schemes donated money to our campaign,” Reeves told a news conference the next day. “I can tell you right now – everything they’ve given to the campaign is going to be transferred to a separate, untouched bank account. … Everything they’ve given to the campaign will be there waiting to come back. to taxpayers and to help the people it was intended for. If that doesn’t happen, that money will go to a deserving charity.”
Reeves said people are “innocent until proven guilty”.
“But I don’t want to campaign to hold that money for a second longer than necessary,” he said.
Two of those arrested with Davis were Nancy New, owner and director of the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center and New Learning Inc., and her son Zach New, deputy executive director of the Mississippi Community Education Center.
In April 2020, Nancy New and Zach New both pleaded guilty to charges in the welfare expense case. They have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, and they are both awaiting sentencing.
Campaign finance documents show Reeves received donations totaling $2,500 from Nancy New from 2017 to 2019 and $6,000 from Zach New in 2019.
Reeves’ campaign manager Elliott Husbands did not respond to multiple messages from The Associated Press last week or Tuesday about what Reeves did with donations from Nancy New and Zach New.
A new advertising campaign by Reeves uses video footage of him speaking at a private school operated by Nancy New. The school is now closed and the footage is recycled from the 2019 campaign. WJTV reported that when asked for comment on this, the Reeves campaign replied, “Political donations from anyone connected to the TANF scandal will be donated. to a noble cause at the end of the legal proceedings. These cases are ongoing.
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said the welfare spending case shows the need for stronger ethics rules for state officials. Presley’s campaign communications director Michael Beyer criticized Reeves for withholding donations from people who pleaded guilty in the case.
“This confirms once again that Tate Reeves is the most corrupt governor in Mississippi history,” Beyer said.
Reeves said he has more than $9 million in his campaign funds through the end of April, and the Presley campaign has brought in $1.6 million.