WELFARE QUEEN: Brett Favre tried to dip into aid money again, this time to build football facility
Brett Favre, the football star who just wouldn’t quit, took a page from his own playbook and kept digging into Mississippi’s welfare funds to build not one, but two sports facilities with monies used to help the state’s neediest.
That’s right, after it was discovered that the football fave Favre, said to be worth at least $100 million, received over $1 million from the Mississippi’s low-income welfare funds for talks he never gave, and $5 million for the construction of a volleyball stadium at his daughter’s college, evidence shows that the ex-Green Bay Packer was texting in 2019 with then-governor, Republican Phil Bryant, about building an indoor practice facility for the University of Southern Mississippi’s football team.
And, yup, Favre, who retired from football for good in 2011, wanted Bryant to use welfare funds again.
According to the Clarion Ledger, “Bryant told him federal money for children and low-income adults is “tightly controlled” and “improper use could result in violation of Federal Law.”
That’s apparently the only reason that Favre’s welfare money-funded football facility was stymied.
“Favre’s request for money from the Mississippi Department of Humans Services to fund the football facility went nowhere. Favre made the request July 28, 2019, as he was unsuccessfully trying to recruit the son of another retired NFL player, Deion Sanders, to the university in Hattiesburg,” The Ledger reported.
For a guy who made $20 million a year at the height of his balling, Favre was a cheapskate. Instead of using his own money to build the volleyball stadium, he had the balls to text Bryant, saying, “If we can find a contractor that would say hey rather than give you money I’ll build for free!! Maybe you know of someone.”
As excited as Bryant may have been back then, his lawyers are retreating from that one, saying, “It is important to note that, in these early text messages, Favre never mentioned the use of public funds, much less the use of TANF funds for the construction of the facility,” adding that, “At this time, the discussions between Favre and Governor Bryant were focused on private donations and corporate sponsorships.”
Sure, Jan. That’s why, during the whole volleyball hustle, Bryant texted to Favre, “We are going to get there. This was a great meeting. But we have to follow the law. I am [sic] to old for Federal Prison.”
In a world of Brett Favres, be a Colin Kapernick.
Lesley Abravanel is a former entertainment columnist who realized that fighting fascism is more important than keeping up with the Kardashians.
Follow her on Twitter@LesleyAbravanel.
This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.
