Fox News: Tate Reeves’ Family Has Business That Received Nearly $800k in Taxpayer-Funded Contracts

Fox News: Tate Reeves’ Family Has Business That Received Nearly $800k in Taxpayer-Funded Contracts 

“The governor’s constituents have a right to know that their governor is acting in the public’s best interest, not in the best interest of his family’s wallet. This situation raises real questions as to whether that’s actually the case”

A bombshell new Fox News investigation has uncovered that a business owned by Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves’ family received nearly $1 million in taxpayer and campaign funds since Reeves was elected Lieutenant Governor in 2012 — a revelation that an independent expert at the Campaign Legal Center warned “raises real questions” over whether the “governor is acting in the public’s best interest, not in the best interest of his family’s wallet.

The investigation found that Snapshot Publishing, a printing business owned by Reeves’ sister-in-law, was administratively dissolved in December 2011, only to apply for reinstatement within days of Reeves being sworn in as lieutenant governor. Since then, the company has received nearly $800,000 from the State of Mississippi for “advertising and public information.”

Reeves also named his sister-in-law the executive director of the now-dissolved inaugural nonprofit “For All Mississippi,” which paid Snapshot Publishing $150,000 for “marketing materials, gifts, printing and designs,” and his campaign has continued to use Snapshot as a vendor.

“No one has fared better under Tate Reeves’ governorship than the Reeves family businesses,” said DGA spokesperson Izzi Levy. “While Reeves and his family continue to turn a profit from taxpayer funds and campaign contributions, hardworking Mississippians are paying the price for his corruption as families are denied health care and hospitals struggle to keep their doors open.”

Read more about how Reeves has used the governorship to boost his family’s business on the taxpayer dime:

• Leigh Reeve’s company, Snapshot Publishing, LLC, was founded in 2004, but submitted no annual reports to the Mississippi Secretary of State’soffice until 2012, despite being required to do so by state law, according to data from the Secretary of State’s office. The company was likely inactive during those years, part of which Leigh was working as the general manager of local magazine VIP Jackson.
• According to the Secretary of State’s office, Snapshot Publishing was administratively dissolved in December 2011 after failing to file an annual report that year. However, the business applied to be reinstated on Jan. 26, 2012, just days after Reeves was sworn in as Mississippi’s lieutenant governor.
• Snapshot Publishing began receiving state contracts in 2014, and between that year and 2023 – during Reeves’ time holding statewide office as lieutenant governor from January 2012 to January 2020, and as governor from January 2020 – it received $799,930 from the state of Mississippi with $84,075 in 2023 alone as of August.
• The work the business did for the state included various government agencies, and was largely labeled as “advertising and public information,” according to statewide budget expenditure data. With the contracts, Snapshot Publishing jumped to one of the top 15 firms receiving public advertising funds in Mississippi, and has maintained that status since 2015, according to Mississippi Today.
• After his election as governor in 2019, Reeves made Leigh the executive director of the now-dissolved inaugural nonprofit “For All Mississippi,” which paid Snapshot Publishing $150,000 for work related to the inauguration, including for “marketing materials, gifts, printing and designs,” according to a January 2021 report by the Mississippi Business Journal.
• As recently as August 2023, Snapshot Publishing has continued to receive money from Reeves’ campaign committee, which amounts to nearly $10,000 since 2020.
• Fox spoke with legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a nonpartisan government watchdog group, which reviewed the data referenced in Presley’s allegations and determined it was cause for real concern over the use of taxpayer and campaign dollars.
• “The governor’s constituents have a right to know that their governor is acting in the public’s best interest, not in the best interest of his family’s wallet. This situation raises real questions as to whether that’s actually the case,” CLC legal counsel Danielle Caputo told Fox.

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