Miss. biz incentives & politics

JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi announced financial incentives for the Gulfport-based Gulf Ship shipbuilder to expand operations in 2020, days after the president of its parent company - Louisiana-based ship company Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) - made a $10,000 campaign contribution to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, according to records. 

Gulf Ship LLC, which received the state incentives, is a division of ECO. 

ECO President Gary Chouest has given $66,000 to Reeves’ campaigns since 2016, including $10,000 on Sept. 2, 2020, according to finance documents. 

Fifteen days later, the state economic development agency - the Mississippi Development Authority - announced Gulf Ship would receive state incentives to expand the site it opened in Gulfport in 2006. MDA said the company would build tugboats.

Democrat nominee for governor, Brandon Presley, told The AP in September that Reeves’ acceptance of a $10,000 contribution from ECO, before the state announced the aid, that connected to the campaign donor shows Reeves “is an ethically compromised governor.

MDA said the Gulf Ship expansion would create more than 200 new jobs, and the state would provide assistance for other improvements to the waterfront.

MDA later reported it gave $333,000 to Gulf Ship in exchange for the company’s promise to invest $1M and create 150 jobs. MDA also certified Gulf Ship for the state’s Advantage Jobs Rebate Program, which gives the company a rebate of 90% of its Mississippi payroll taxes for 10 years, as long as the company creates the promised jobs.

MDA awarded incentives to Gulf Ship less than two years after a separate deal involving another Edison Chouest Offshore affiliate, Topship, fell apart. (The AP 10/02/23) Business incentives, campaign cash raise suspicions | The Journal Record 

Reps ask GAO to investigate TANF based on Miss. welfare fraud

The U.S. government should investigate potential fraud in one of its largest anti-poverty programs - the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) - two Republican members of Congress say.

In a Sept. 20 letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodoro, which was made public Oct. 2 by Mississippi state auditor Shad White, U.S. Reps. Jason Smith of Missouri and Darin LaHood of Illinois suggest the Government Accountability Office review non-assistance spending in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. 

TANF provides about $16.5B in federal funding to states for services intended to help families who cannot afford their basic needs.

Smith chairs the House Committee on Ways and Means. LaHood chairs the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare. The duo linked their concerns about fraud to Mississippi's sprawling corruption scandal in which authorities say $77 million in federal welfare funds intended to help some of the nation's poorest people were diverted to the rich and powerful. (The AP 10/03/23) GOP congressmen call for fraud probe into TANF (clarionledger.com)