Mississippi Development Authority director Gray Swoope said he sees nothing wrong with the agency's former chief financial officer going to work for a German company that's receiving millions of dollars in state incentives.
Swoope said Joey Deason got a state Ethics Commission opinion before leaving MDA last month to work for Schulz Xtruded Products in Tunica County.
"Joey is the most ethical person you'll find," Swoope said in an interview this week.
Schulz Xtruded Products is the Mississippi division of Wilh. Schulz GMBH, based in Krefeld, Germany. The company is building a plant in Tunica County that will manufacture stainless-steel pipes for the oil and gas industry. The plant is about 20 miles south of Memphis, Tenn., and could open in early 2011.
During state budget hearings this week, Rep. Diane Peranich, D-Pass Christian, questioned Swoope about Deason's move from state government into a job for a company that MDA recruited.
MDA officials said Deason traveled to Germany three times at state expense.
Swoope said the first trip was before MDA started working on the Schulz project. MDA spokeswoman Melissa Medley said Deason's second trip was to meet with Schulz officials last fall and verify financial information, months before an incentive package went to legislators for approval.
Deason's third trip to Germany was this April to attend a steel pipe trade show that featured Schulz and the Mississippi project, Medley said.
Deason said in a statement to the state Ethics Commission that he received a job offer from Schulz on March 10. That's the same day the company broke ground in Tunica County.
An employee who answered the phone Friday at the Schulz office in Tunica County said Deason was out of town. He did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press.
The plant is Schulz's first facility in North America. Tunica was chosen from about 300 U.S. counties that had sought the project.
In January, during the opening hours of their 2010 session, legislators approved a package for Schulz that included $15 million in bonds to help build the $300 million factory. The package also allows the state to guarantee a $20 million loan to help the company buy $60 million of heavy equipment.
Deason was CFO and deputy director of MDA from 2006 until the end of this August. The agency said his state salary was $138,000.
Swoope said Deason was not involved in recruiting Schulz, only in verifying the company's financial information. Deason came to MDA from a financial job at Delphi Automotive, and Swoope said he wasn't surprised to see Deason get another offer from the private sector.
"My rule of thumb is if you don't have people on your team that people are seeking, then you may want to re-evaluate your team," Swoope said.
Deason said in his written statement to the Ethics Commission that he participated in an initial meeting with Swoope about the Schulz project. Deason said he did a financial analysis of the company Aug. 5, 2009. He said he helped the attorney general's office prepare a memorandum of understanding for the incentive package that was presented to the Legislature.
"I do hereby swear that I provided no quid pro quo with regards to the manufacturer," Deason said in his statement. "I do hereby swear that no mention of any job or potential job occurred from the manufacturer and myself during the recruitment process."
The Ethics Commission issued an advisory opinion June 11 saying it would not be a conflict for Deason to take a job with a company MDA had helped. The commission said a former public servant may take a job with a private company if the person "was not directly concerned with and did not personally participate in" the state's dealings with the company.
