I don’t usually watch state budget hearings. They are mostly dry, boring affairs that are more easily digested in a few paragraphs from a news story the following day.
This past week was an exception when State Auditor Shad White got into it with state Sen. John Polk during a budget hearing before an Appropriations subcommittee chaired by Polk.
Both Mississippi Today and Magnolia Tribune, the two online news sites that provide most of the legislative coverage these days, picked up on the clash and provided video of it.
It’s worth watching. There’s a 13-minute segment during White’s 53 minutes before the subcommittee in which the sparks fly between him and Polk.
The underlying story is that White is expected to run for governor in 2027, and so is one of Polk’s leading allies, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. It’s an all-Republican skirmish that reveals the splits developing within the GOP now that it is the overwhelmingly dominant political party in Mississippi.
Polk and some others have recently been throwing cold water on one of White’s bragging points, a study the state auditor commissioned that identified $335 million in supposed state government waste.
Polk has questioned whether White had the authority to spend the $2 million on the study without first seeking legislative approval. An attorney general’s opinion agrees that White overstepped his authority, but that opinion also comes from the agency headed by another potential gubernatorial rival, Lynn Fitch, who has already had several run-ins with White.
The confrontation on Wednesday began when Polk asked about one aspect of the biggest story of White’s time as state auditor: his uncovering of a huge welfare scandal that has resulted in multiple convictions as well as a tarnishing of the reputation of Brett Favre, the Mississippi sports legend. White published a book last year on the case and included Favre’s name in its subtitle. Favre has sued White for defamation about not only the book but also other comments the state auditor has made.
Polk, who is from Hattiesburg, acknowledged that Favre is a constituent before quizzing White about how the state auditor came up with the more than $700,000 that he claims Favre still owes the state in investigative costs and interest. Favre, who has not been charged with a crime, has already paid back $1.1 million he received in welfare funding for speaking and promotion fees that auditors said were dubious. That’s a small example of at least $77 million of wasted or stolen money that should have gone to help the state’s poorest but instead was channeled to those who were well-connected to the administration of former Gov. Phil Bryant or their pet causes.
White chastised Polk for focusing on the math of the remaining financial demand against Favre instead of the bigger picture of how the money was misspent in the first place. He also made a point that Democrats will love, chiding the GOP-controlled Legislature for not holding a single hearing to probe into the scandal in the five years since it broke.
White, who has trouble controlling his temper, lost it when Polk changed subjects and started asking questions about the contract White signed with Boston Consulting to do the study into government waste.
Polk accused White of not putting the contract out for bids, which prompted the state auditor to call the subcommittee chairman a “liar.” Polk later clarified that the allegation was based on information he supposedly received from the Department of Finance and Administration.
White also threatened to sue Polk for defamation for what White construed as the legislator’s attempt to give credence to a rumor that White’s wife had been employed by Boston Consulting before the contract was awarded. Polk never mentioned White’s wife, asking only about family members in general, but it hit a nerve with White, even as he sternly denied the implication.
It had to be one of the more unusual budget hearings ever held. Agency heads usually are deferential when they come before lawmakers to justify their budget requests. Even though White has told lawmakers that he can get by with $1 million less next year, he still needs a state appropriation. It probably wasn’t the smartest move to insult one of the lawmakers with a large grip on those purse strings.
Polk is not, however, the first person within the GOP hierarchy that White has insulted when they’ve had differences. He has called Fitch “Lazy Lynn.” He has said that Mike Hurst, current chair of the state GOP, did a “sloppy” job as a federal prosecutor. He has called Hosemann “DEI Delbert” for not jumping on the anti-diversity bandwagon.
Is it a sign of White’s youth that confrontation seems to be his default response to criticism or tough questioning? Or has he concluded, having watched Donald Trump’s rise to power, that civility is not an advantage to those with political ambitions in today’s GOP?
Assuming White doesn’t lighten up, we should know in a couple of years whether either of these is true.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
