MS Today: “A defendant in the state’s welfare scandal lawsuit sued Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday, claiming the governor is illegally controlling the lawsuit to protect himself and political allies including former Gov. Phil Bryant and Republican-leaning SuperTalk radio.
The lawsuit calls for an injunction removing Reeves from control of the state’s lawsuit regarding the welfare scandal and for the governor to repay the state millions of dollars for money spent on a private audit and private law firm.
The lawsuit also includes previously unreleased text messages about Reeves from officials with a drug company, Prevacus, championed by former NFL star Brett Favre. Authorities say the company illegally received welfare money. The lawsuit says the messages show Bryant — whom “Defendant Reeves refuses to sue” — persuaded Prevacus to support Reeves to continue the flow of welfare funds to the company.
As Reeves was running for governor and Bryant was preparing to leave office, the head of the drug company, Jake Vanlandingham, texted, “Tate Reeves is our new guy,” to his company’s board members, and that he was going to meet with Bryant and Reeves, “Hoping to keep that non-dilute (funding) running our way!!” Non-dilutive is funding for a company where the company loses no equity.”