Thread by @ashtonpittman

MS Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has denied putting pressure on MDOT for a $2 million road paving project outside his private community.

But in a 2016 email, an MDOT employee writes that Reeves' staff asked for an update on the project & "access to the two gated neighborhoods..." #MSelex

From the report: "Willie Simmons, Chairman of the Senate
Transportation Committee, said that Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves wanted to do something about the traffic on Lakeland Drive because it was bad and that it takes a long time to get from the interstate to his home." 2/

But "MDOT Executive Director Melinda McGrath’s staff were reluctant to pursue the project because there were more critical needs throughout the state due to safety, and those projects would be bumped down the list." 3/

MDOT Executive Director Melinda McGrath’s staff were reluctant to pursue the project because there were more critical needs throughout the state due to safety, and those projects would be bumped down the list. 4/

A note in one witnesses' phone from 2014 (four years before the investigation) claims a Reeves aide was "trying to minimize political exposure for the lt. Gov. With [sic] Lakeland (paving) project and its reprioritization." 5/

The witness claims Reeves was "not satisfied with the pace of the project" and that his staff contacted the witness and pressured MDOT to speed the project up--and got results. 6/

The witness claims Reeves lies when he said he knew nothing about the project (as the messages in the report seem to confirm), and that his staff succeeded in getting the project "pushed up the list." 7/

According to the report, Tate Reeves Mayor Rhodes said that the Lieutenant Governor called him and cursed him out after reports of the frontage road project outside his private community first got reported in the media.