JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s Republican attorney general sued the Republican state auditor Thursday, trying to block the auditor’s effort to recover misspent welfare money from retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre—money that was supposed to help some of the poorest people in the U.S.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s lawsuit says that filing litigation to recover improperly spent money is the responsibility of the attorney general’s office, not the auditor’s.
Both the attorney general and the auditor are elected statewide, and the lawsuit is the latest rift between them.
Weeks ago, Fitch’s office said it would no longer represent White in a defamation lawsuit that Favre filed last year against the auditor. That change in representation came after an announcement that White is writing a book, to be published later this year, about his investigation into improper spending of welfare funds.
“The Attorney General’s withdrawal of discretionary representation of Auditor White in the Defamation Suit does not permit Auditor White to encroach upon the authority otherwise vested in the attorney general,” Gerald Kucia, a special assistant attorney general, wrote on behalf of Fitch in the lawsuit filed Thursday in state court.
In a response to Favre’s defamation suit, White filed court papers Feb. 5 demanding that Favre repay the state nearly $730,000. The Football Hall of Fame member lives in Mississippi. White says Favre improperly received $1.1 million in welfare money for speaking engagements and Favre has repaid only part of it.
In a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday, White criticized Fitch’s lawsuit against him and said he will fight in court for the right to recover as much public money as possible.
“Fitch failed to sue Favre for everything he owes—and then sued to stop me from trying to get the money back, too,” White said. “Just let me do the job, even if you won’t.”
White said in 2020 that Favre received speaking fees from a nonprofit organization that spent welfare money with approval from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was to go toward a volleyball
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