Did Governor Walz Attempt to Stop the Fraud in Minnesota?

Families are stronger when individuals are honest, law-abiding citizens, and stronger families strengthen their communities, states, and nations. Governor Tim Walz and the fraud that is linked to the Somali community in Minnesota is one example of how dishonesty harms families, communities, states, and nations. Walz had a terrible downfall from where he was last year as a vice presidential candidate.

Things got so bad last week in Minnesota that Governor Tim Walz announced that he would not seek reelection. On Monday, he said that he had fired people for not stopping the fraud, but he refuses to – or cannot – name any names. Tyler O’Neil at The Daily Signal reported the following on Walz. 

State Rep. Patti Anderson, a Republican and vice chair of the Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, told The Daily Signal she is “unaware of anyone who has been fired in regard to the ongoing fraud.”

Of Walz, she said, “I think he’s assuming that people are going to take his statement at face value and not look and see the fact that he hasn’t terminated a single person that allowed the fraud to happen.”

Anderson served as state auditor from 2003 to 2007, and then as commissioner of employee relations under the state’s last Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty. She told The Daily Signal, “It’s impossible that Walz himself wasn’t aware” of the fraud and alleged attempts to enable it.

“These things don’t just happen,” she said.

Walz’s tenure has been tainted with several fraud scandals, most notably a $250 million fraud scheme where the Minneapolis nonprofit Feeding Our Future reported fake food distribution sites while collecting federal child nutrition assistance. The office of U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen has charged at least 78 defendants connected to the scheme, and 56 of them have pleaded guilty.

Authorities have also filed charges in a $14 million fraud case involving an autism program and a multi-million-dollar fraud case involving housing stabilization services.

One federal prosecutor has estimated Medicaid fraud in the state to have exceeded $9 billion.

Anderson said that whistleblowers, who have spoken with her committee, approached bureaucrats at many levels of Walz’s administration but were rebuffed. In a previous statement to The Daily Signal, the state’s Department of Human Services denied claims of retaliation against whistleblowers.

Bill Glahn, a policy fellow with the conservative-leaning Center of the American Experiment, noted that many staff have left Walz’s administration since the first indictments in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal in 2022, but added that Walz did not fire them; he instead allowed their appointments to expire.

“The governor now claims credit, well after the fact, for holding his appointees accountable for not stopping the fraud,” Glahn told The Daily Signal. “However, that’s not how these events were portrayed at the time.”

With Glahn’s help, The Daily Signal identified three bureaucrats who left Walz’s administration after the first indictments in the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal were issued in September 2022. Walz did not state that fraud had anything to do with their departures.

Numerous commentators believe that Walz made “his decision” about reelection because the Democrat machine forced him out of the race. They obviously think that he is a liability and cannot win reelection. In addition, there are rumors that Walz's wife is distancing herself from him.  Honesty is always the best policy for individuals, families, communities, states, and nations.