More malfeasance by Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R)

Last edited Thu May 18, 2023, 05:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Adam Ganucheau (GanucheauAdam):

Kent Nicaud, a major donor to Gov. Tate Reeves, wrote Reeves a $25K check. Three weeks later, Reeves appointed him to a significant government job. Reeves appointed Nicaud's wife to a $120K/year post two years ago. There are several others, too.

Link to tweet

https://mississippitoday.org/2023/05/18/tate-reeves-campaign-donors-kent-nicaud/

He wrote Tate Reeves a $25,000 check. Three weeks later, Reeves appointed him to the Gaming Commission.

Gulfport Memorial Hospital CEO Kent Nicaud wrote Gov. Tate Reeves a $25,000 campaign check about three weeks before the governor appointed him to a significant government job. Nicaud, who has long been among Reeves’ top campaign donors, landed the governor’s Gaming Commission appointment on March 8, 2023. A little more than three weeks before the appointment, on Feb. 13, 2023, Nicaud wrote Reeves’ campaign the $25,000 check, according to a campaign finance report released last week.

Gaming commissioners receive a modest salary from taxpayers — $40 per day — and are reimbursed by the state for travel and meals. The commission is tasked with regulating the casino gaming industry, which brings the state hundreds of millions in tax revenue each year. That revenue has become necessary to fund basic public services across Mississippi, and because gaming commissioners wield great influence over changes to the industry, they are broadly considered critical figures to one of the state’s most powerful and wealthiest lobbies.

The hospital executive is the latest Nicaud to receive a government appointment from Reeves. Kent’s wife Jenny Field Nicaud, an attorney, scored a Reeves appointment in 2021 as an administrative law judge for the Mississippi Workers Compensation Commission. In that role, Jenny earns an annual salary of $120,768.98, according to Mississippi State Personnel Board records.

The couple’s son Jourdan Nicaud, a well-known Gulf Coast restaurateur, is also a major campaign donor to Reeves. According to last week’s finance report, Jourdan wrote Reeves a separate $25,000 check, which was dated about two weeks after his father was confirmed to the Gaming Commission by the Senate. All told, the Nicaud family has given close to $200,000 in campaign donations to Reeves over the past few years, according to the governor’s finance reports.