REVIEW: Mississippi Swindle by Shad White
How America’s youngest state auditor uncovered the largest public corruption scandal in the history of the nation’s poorest state
This riveting exposé details how a small team of auditors and investigators, led by the youngest State Auditor in the country, uncovered a brazen scheme where the powerful stole millions in welfare funds from the poor in a sprawling conspiracy that stretched from Mississippi to Malibu.
Well-connected donors, highly placed officials, and popular public figures diverted tens of millions of dollars from the federal government’s TANF — temporary assistance for needy families — program until a Republican auditor, his small team of dedicated investigators, and a Democratic prosecutor joined forces to hold them accountable in the face of intense obstruction and harassment.
Peopled with unforgettable characters — from the perpetrators; to the impoverished citizens for whom the money was intended; to the investigators, prosecutors, and reporters who held them to account — Mississippi Swindle is a political and true crime drama that highlights larger crises while appealing to a broad nationwide audience.
Review
“Thank God for Mississippi” is a saying in the United States, (moreso in the South), that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states. It is not meant as a compliment.
Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ends up at or near the bottom of such rankings, residents of other states – also ranking near the bottom – sometimes say, “Thank God for Mississippi”, since Mississippi in 50th place spares other states from being ranked last.
“It’s beyond ugly.”
I remember hearing about the famous people involved in this egregious money grab of federal funds intended for the people of Mississippi who are at the bottom of the rung, in the “bottom of the rung” state in the US. For whatever reason, they are in need and they got shafted to the tune of more than 100 million dollars. I’ll let that number sink in.
$100,000,000. Over just three years.
To paraphrase (and per the Internet this is probably an erroneous quote) Senator Everett Dirkson – Yeah, we’re talking real money here.
“It’s one of the hardest, best jobs in state government”
Shad White and his staff are the ones who investigated a tip-off, debated how to proceed, dug deeper, worried about tipping off suspected culprits who might then destroy evidence, swooped in to secure evidence, debated who to take the case to (feds vs state and there are pros and cons for each), got indictments, dealt with a US Attorney who seemed to have his knickers in a twist over who would take the case to court, dealt with the rich and connected friends of the indicted who put the screws on the auditors, saw both the left and the right trash them on social media, dealt with a famous sports hero trying to cover his involvement, and then realized that entrenched bureaucracy could be almost as bad as the actual crooks at stalling any changes.
“If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?”
Luxury cars/trucks, expensive homes, rental property, rents on that property, a Cuban stripper, delux drug detox treatment, investments, paying off a traffic ticket, iPhones, iPads, and donations to politicians were only some of the ways this money was misspent. When all was said and done, some of it was clawed back but, alas, most had “evaporated.”
White goes into detail about how all this was done. He names names. He helps the legal system kick ass. He is threatened. His wife is intimidated. His interracial marriage and biracial child are spoken of publicly in vile terms. White, however, was raised poor (but not dirt poor as some of his classmates were) and had a mission to see justice done for the people of his state. After finishing this book, I’m glad that Mississippi has him on their side, am fearful that this sort of shit goes on in every state, and feel like I need to take a shower after reading what some people will do and what others will condone. B
~Jayne
The words general welfare remind me of the responsibility of elected officials to work on behalf of the quiet masses — the rest of us. It’s the reason I wanted to be state auditor. No other position, in my mind, could do more to lift the fortunes of the public against the strong. The auditor could find corrupt politicians who had rigged an office to benefit themselves personally. He could find wasted taxpayer dollars that did nothing to benefit the men and women who gave the government some of their paychecks each month. He could challenge large corporations that took public money in violation of a law.
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Wow, and not in a good way. I’m thankful for people like Shad White, we just need more of them.
@Darlynne: Yes, wow in a not-good way. The position of State Auditor is an elected position in MS. But in any state, it can be rendered useless if the legislature takes against anyone digging into how money is spent or misspent and passes laws making the job harder. White mentions auditors in other states who faced this or intimidation – by lawmakers.