Addressing Fraud Failure in Minnesota
By Senator Nathan Wesenberg

Minnesota government has been ridden with fraud for far too long. It’s made national headlines and frankly, our state has become a national embarrassment. Governor Walz has been at the helm for over $500 million in repeated fraud cases, and that’s only the fraud we know about. I would also assume that number is a conservative estimate. Despite the numbers and being able to pinpoint where the instances of fraud occurred, no one has been held accountable. That’s wrong. It’s time for this to end.

Senate Republicans have been working on a package of bills that not only address the fraud that has already occurred, but would also stop future waste, fraud, and abuse in its tracks before it even goes anywhere. Because of Democrats’ total mismanagement of the budget, we’re looking at a $5.1 billion deficit in the near future – literally no remorse on Democrats’ part over the ongoing fraud that has contributed to this number. Minnesotans have taken notice, and they’re unhappy because they feel the government should be doing more. After all, this is taxpayer money that has been mismanaged and wasted away. This year, Republicans are focusing on oversight, transparency, and grant reforms.

The most important part of getting our arms around this issue is establishing oversight mechanisms to prevent any instance of future fraud. That means doing things like increasing protections for state employee whistleblowers who report signs of waste and fraud, while also increasing penalties on employees who see fraud happening and fail to report it. It’s also obvious that there should be an entity within the government that provides independent oversight and investigation of these issues – it hasn’t done a lot of good allowing agencies to regulate themselves. Minnesotans are fed up with the fraud that keeps occurring, and if we’re being honest, oversight mechanisms would’ve helped if Democrats were interested in implementing them.

We also have to promote transparency. It sounds like a broken record, but it’s true – this fraud has cost taxpayers millions, and Minnesotans deserve to know what’s going on with their money. One big step would be having better transparency in the Attorney General’s office. Another would be following up on the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) findings that come out. Usually, when there are signs of potential fraud, waste, and abuse, the OLA will do some research, publish their findings, and will then offer suggestions on how to fix the issues. The problem is that there is never any follow-up – we never know if agencies are implementing the fixes suggested to them, or if it all was brushed under the rug. House and Senate Committees should hold follow-up hearings where we ask agencies if they are complying with OLA recommendations. They should be able to provide proof that they took the findings seriously and are actively working to address problem areas. Frankly, this should just be a commonsense practice already, but since it’s not, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be going forward.

Lastly, we need grant reforms. Minnesota funds so many grants – it seems like millions go to these every single year. There’s no reason we don’t have a single database of that data, so we can track exactly what has been funded. We should also be auditing organizations that rely on state dollars. Again, if they’re using taxpayer money, they should be held to high standards – that’s what the public expects and that’s exactly what should be happening. Overall, we just need better oversight, transparency, and compliance for all grants.

Minnesotans are tired of the fraud. They’re tired of hearing about millions of dollars blown on useless projects that go nowhere, and they’re tired of feeling like state leaders have done nothing to address these issues. Governor Walz has taken too passive of an approach for too long, and Democrats have fallen in line. We need to listen to the concerns of Minnesotans who fund our budgets, and we need get this under control before our deficit gets any worse.