Brett Favre And Former MS Gov Phil Bryant Never Heard Of The Stringer Bell Rule, And It Shows!

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(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

Turns out Brett Favre’s questionable judgment extends beyond his position as the NFL’s all-time interception leader! The former quarterback plays a starring role in a blockbuster story by the non-profit news site Mississippi Today kicking off a series on Phil Bryant, the state’s former governor, who “used the governor’s office to exploit a dysfunctional welfare system for personal interests.”

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Come for Brett Favre scamming $5 million of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) money to build a volleyball stadium at the school where his daughter plays. Stay for the worst excuse you’ve ever heard for thousands and thousands of damning texts documenting Bryant’s extensive relationship with people implicated in skimming $70 million of welfare money from the state Department of Human Services.

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“I just simply did not carefully look at those texts and realize the intent in them,” Bryant told MT. “And I know that’s hard to believe and I know people read it and say, ‘Well, of course he knew,’ but I’m telling you, I just did not realize the details within those texts.”

That’s right, he just responded to those texts without reading them. That’s his story, and he’s sticking to it.

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So when Favre texted the governor in 2018 “It’s 3rd and long and we need you to make it happen!!” and Bryant responded “I will open a hole,” the sitting governor wasn’t promising help to secure FDA approval for a concussion treatment drug Favre had invested in. He was just, you know, talking sports. The fact that Favre’s company got $1.7 million from state welfare officials a week later was entirely coincidental.

Beginning in 2014, Favre invested close to a million of his own money in a company called Prevacus which hoped to develop a nasal spray to prevent concussions. So in 2018, Favre connected Prevacus founder Jake Vanlandingham with the governor, who was a personal friend. 

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Pretty sure these two lightbulb geniuses never watched “The Wire.”

“Great call with the Governor,” Vanlandingham texted in late November 2018. “He’s going to make some key connections for us to start with FDA. Good job!!!”

“Don’t know if legal or not but we need cut him in,” Favre responded, followed three days later by another idea: “Also if legal I’ll give some of my shares to the Governor.”

It’s not clear how Favre and Vanlandingham got hooked up with Nancy New, who is currently under indictment but was at the time running Families First for Mississippi, a non-profit funded by the state Department of Human Services using federal welfare money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. It’s clear from the messages that Bryant at least knew about it, though.

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None of that money was supposed to go toward drug development, much less to the Southern Miss Athletic Foundation to build a volleyball stadium at the university. Nonetheless, New and John Davis, the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, who is also under indictment, were happy to hand $2.15 million to Prevacus and even discussed letting the company test the drug on National Guard troops.

“This all works out we need to buy her and John Davis surprise him with a vehicle I thought maybe John Davis we could get him a raptor,” Favre texted Vanlandingham after an auspicious meeting with the pair in January 2019.

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The problems arose in mid-2019 when state investigators started sniffing around New and Davis and they suddenly turned off the money spigot.

“Hey Governor we are in a little bit of a crunch,” Favre texted Bryant in July. “Nancy New who is wonderful and has helped me many times was gonna fund this pregame cream that we can be selling really soon. Well she can only do a small portion now. Jake can explain more but bottom line we need investors and need your direction.”

“Will get with Jake, will help all I can,” Bryant assured him.

But then things went from bad to worse, with Davis being replaced by former FBI Special Agent Christopher Freeze.

“Nancy said he ain’t our type,” Favre texted to Vanlandingham.

And indeed he was not, since Freeze started to put projects out for competitive bid, rather than just cutting seven-figure checks to people he liked. Ugh!

Favre and Vanlandingham still had hope, though, since Bryant’s connections were good, and he was heading directly from the governor’s mansion to a lobbying firm.

“Now that you’re unemployed I’d like to give you a company package for all your help,” Vanlandingham texted Bryant on Jan. 16, 2020, the day after he left office,“…We want and need you on our team!!!”

“Sounds good,” Bryant gushed, adding later, “I am now going to get on it hard.”

But alas, it was not meant to be. Once Prevacus appeared in the paper connected with the New/Davis indictments, Bryant didn’t want to know them any more.

“I can have no further contact with your company. It is unfortunate to find ourselves at this point,” he texted on February 10. “I was hoping we could have somehow helped those who suffer from Brain Injuries. This has put that that hope on the sidelines.”

As for the text promising him cash and stock for his help with the deal, Bryant concedes to MT that it “doesn’t look good.”

“I should’ve caught that and I just simply didn’t,” he said.

Ya think?

Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre [Mississippi Today]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

Topics

Brett Favre, Government, Phil Bryant