Lynn Walton presided over the meeting. Jerome Brown provided the opening prayer and Richard Topp led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Lynn led the club in the Four Way Test. The meeting was held at the Holiday Inn in Hattiesburg and via Zoom.
Lynn reminded members of the February 3, 2022, wine tasting. It is scheduled for the Canebrake Country Club. She also reminded members of the need to secure silent auction items. She reported to members that each one has been invoiced $80 for four tickets to the event. Those tickets should be mailed within the next few days.
Lynn presented Bill McLeod with a Rotary lapel pin for his membership recruitment efforts. She also read a letter of resignation from Gene Owens.
Bill McLeod then introduced today’s guest speaker, MS State Auditor Shad White. Mr. White was appointed as the 42nd Auditor for Mississippi in July 2018. The then ran unopposed for a four-year term in 2019, Shad is from Sandersville, Mississippi.
Shad talked about a recent case involving an individual in Tunica County. That county received an additional billion dollars in revenue when the casinos arrived. The county decided it would take some of that money and improve housing conditions throughout the county. A person in the county created a non-profit organization and was awarded a contract to make those housing improvements. The Auditor’s investigation of the organization discovered that only 20% of the allocated funds were used to help residents. The non-profit charged 40% in fees to run the program and another 40% of the money was embezzled. Efforts to recover the embezzled funds were unsuccessful because the embezzler had a gambling problem and spent the money.
The Auditor’s office is required to conduct an annual Medicaid audit. By comparing state income tax returns to Medicaid applications, they discovered that between 5 and 7% of approved applicants lied about how much income they made. Many of them made much more than they could to qualify for benefits. Shad estimates that between $60 and $140 million is stolen from Medicaid each year.
His office conducted an audit of a local elected official in Jones County. This individual was organizing field trips for young men in school. He would then present his receipts to the school for reimbursement and then present the same receipts to the county for reimbursement. He also developed a scheme to take an old county truck and have it scrapped in another county. He pocketed the money. This individual was the President of the Jones County Board of Supervisors, the county Shad grew up in.
Shad says that his office will hold everyone, regardless of political affiliation or status, accountable to the letter of the law. Most of the cases investigated by the State Auditor’s office begin with a whistleblower tip. His office is very public with the cases they resolve. The publicity often generates more whistleblower tips. It also discourages elected officials from participating in criminal affairs. The office is recovering about 18% of the money that is being stolen.
Lynn thanked Shad02 for his presentation. There being no further business to come before the club, she adjourned the meeting with our motto: “Service Above Self.”