Mississippi Today politics editor Geoff Pender and reporter Taylor Vance answered your questions on Reddit about how powerful House Rep. Trey Lamar helped steer millions of taxpayer dollars to improve the private country club neighborhood where he lives and nearby golf course. Taxpayers are also footing the bill for another state-funded project that will improve a quiet, already well-paved Jackson street where Lamar also owns a house. Read their answers below and visit the story summary that will direct you to the full investigation. Some questions have been edited for length and clarity. Q: What can be done to curb Lamar’s power? Will any of the higher-ups in our state government demand that he step down or be removed from his position? Click for Geoff Pender’s answer. Lamar does appear to have unprecedented power over local projects spending. A House Ways and Means chairman, by due course, would have a lot of say over local projects funded with borrowing (Ways and Means is in charge of borrowing and taxes). But Lamar, according to numerous fellow lawmakers, has huge sway over the projects even when using state cash instead of borrowing. House Speaker Jason White is the grantor of this power to Lamar, and would have to be the source of any reduction in that power. I would posit this system is not the best, most efficient or fair way to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars each year or to decide what projects are done. Speaker White and Lt. Gov. Hosemann have expressed desire to increase transparency and efficiency in state government. This is an area where they could have a profound and immediate impact.  Click for Taylor Vance’s answer. This decision is largely left up to voters in Tate County and House Speaker Jason White. Speaker White has the power to remove Rep. Lamar as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and appoint someone else to lead the committee, but that’s incredibly unlikely. It’s extremely rare for House speakers to replace a committee chairman in the middle of a four-year term. Q: What was the moment during this investigation that made each of you say, “I cannot believe what I am hearing/reading?” Click for Geoff Pender’s answer. Has to be when I first ran across the “TateCounty Watchdogs” Facebook page, which was a few weeks into us beginning to look into these issues. It’s not common for state spending/work to cause such a response among the citizenry of an area.  Click for Taylor Vance’s answer. For me, it was when I was driving down Simwood Place in Jackson. I was stunned that our lawmakers voted to spend $400,000 upgrading a road that is already in decent condition (by the city of Jackson’s standards.) There are several major arterial roads in Jackson that are filled with potholes and cracks, yet this is where state lawmakers chose to spend money. Q: Have you ever been threatened or intimidated when doing one of these investigations? Click for Geoff Pender’s answer. I should note we were not threatened or intimidated in working on these articles. I have in the past been threatened over stories I was working on (someone once left a threatening message and fired a gun on my answering machine, for instance) but that was many years ago, and I don’t recall ever being physically threatened over work on any stories related to the Legislature. Intimidation can be a more subjective term and come in far more subtle forms, but I’ve never been easily intimidated.  Click for Taylor Vance’s answer. I’ve only been a professional reporter since 2019, but, no, I’ve not been threatened or intimidated with an investigation such as this. People have tried to gaslight me or tell me that something isn’t a story, but I’ve never been threatened by anyone. Q: What is the wrap up process on an investigation like this like? When you have the final draft, do you all do something to celebrate a job well done? Click for Taylor Vance’s answer. When we’re close to publishing, we have a final run-through with editors to make sure we have documentation to support the reporting. We then discuss what is the best way to package the story online to make it as engaging as possible for readers. After the story publishes, we think of potential follow ups (and may enjoy a libation or two.) Q: Has State Auditor Shad White or AG Fitch shown any interest in your investigation? Click for Geoff Pender’s answer. No. They have not. Q: What other representatives went along with this? He couldn’t have done this without approval of others. Click for Geoff Pender’s answer. Technically, yes, other lawmakers overwhelmingly sign off on such spending. It’s passed as a legislative bill. However, the realpolitik is, the vast majority of lawmakers do not know, and could not easily discern, many of the hundreds of projects and programs funded in such a bill. Plus, it’s designed as a go-along to get-along process. You want project XYZ in your district, so you vote for the bill without much question about other spending in it. Not to mention, it’s done at the last minute, sometimes literally, in a legislative session. Q: Are you able to confirm if there are more stories of this type coming down the pike? Click for Geoff Pender’s answer. We are continuing to work on these and similar issues so, yes, there are likely more stories of this type to come. As always, we solicit any tips on issues involving state government and politics in Mississippi and will follow up on them. Email us at [email protected] and [email protected]  The post Reddit AMA recap: ‘Trey Way’ with Geoff Pender and Taylor Vance appeared first on Mississippi Today.