Legislative Update
Friends and Neighbors,
I hope you've had a great summer so far! The Legislative Session may be over, but there are still a lot of important stories from the past week that I want to bring to your attention.
This week the Office of the Legislative Auditor, a nonpartisan legislative watchdog, released two new reports on two separate instances of fraud in Minnesota. Both instances of fraud saw at least $200 million lost to fraudsters.
I'll also be attending an event with the Chamber of Commerce and Senator Julia Coleman on Monday! Details below.
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Frontline Worker Pay Fraud
On Tuesday, the Minnesota Frontline Worker Pay Program review was released. You can find that audit here along with numerous local news stories here and here.
The Legislative Auditor found that the Department of Labor and Industry approved payments to people who were not eligible or whose eligibility could not be determined. This included fraudulent duplicate applications including many from people who were deceased long before this program opened. In addition, the Department of Revenue did not verify all applicants met the adjusted gross income requirements.
This program was passed in 2022 (before I was in the legislature) and set aside a $500 million pool of money for our frontline workers who worked in-person during the pandemic. The expectation was that there would be under 500,000 eligible applicants who would split that pool of money. Ultimately, there were over 1 million applicants approved which meant our legitimate frontline workers received significantly smaller checks than they were likely entitled to due to fraudulent applicants also splitting those funds. This could have all been avoided if our agencies were doing the basics of their jobs.
If you or someone you know was a frontline worker, I am truly sorry and angry that this happened. It’s inexcusable. Our appointed state agency leadership who made these decisions, should be fired.
Feeding Our Future Fraud
This morning, the Legislative Auditor released the audit of the Minnesota Department of Education Oversight of Feeding our Future. You can find that full audit here. Frankly, this one is even worse and shows the incompetence of the Minnesota Department of Education. The MDE was responsible for overseeing this program including approving and verifying applicants, reviewing their operations, making payments when services were actually performed that met the guidelines, and ensuring the meals program was adequately monitored and being correctly administered.
Instead, the Legislative Auditor found MDE’s actions and inactions created opportunities for fraud.
MDE:
- Failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and prior to the alleged fraud
- Did not effectively exercise it’s authority to hold Feeding Our Future accountable to program requirements
- Was ill-prepared to respond to the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future
The MN Department of Education received over 30 complaints from outside people and entities over this timeframe. Rather than investigating them, the MDE either ignored them or ASKED FEEDING OUR FUTURE TO INVESTIGATE COMPLAINTS ABOUT ITSELF. Huh??? Even the two times the MDE found Feeding Our Future “seriously delinquent," they did nothing about it and continued making payments.
It is clear that this $250 million+ fraud would have never occurred if the MN Department of Education would have done the very basics of their job. They let it happen even knowing there was a significant issue but instead turned a blind eye and continued to allow it to grow to unimaginable proportions. We have to ask ourselves, WHY?
As most of you are aware, I previously served in MN government including as the MN State Auditor (not the same position as this appointed Legislative Auditor who did these audits) and as a Commissioner under Governor Pawlenty’s second term. During my recent two years as a State Legislator, it has been shocking to me how much has changed for the worse. We have had numerous fraudulent situations like these and they seem to be the norm. Furthermore, the DFL trifecta who governs our state doesn’t seem to care that much and is even encouraging it. In fact, there was legislation this year (that ultimately didn’t pass) that appropriated well over a million dollars in state taxpayer funded grants to these same non-profits. Absolutely infuriating!
The simplest explanation for why the MN Department of Education failed to put an end to the fraud is that they did not want to end the fraud. This is not to suggest that the MDE invited or encouraged the fraud but that they were either too incompetent or were afraid of challenging their generally DFL constituents who run these programs..
Minnesota used to have a reputation for competent and clean government. Those days seem to be gone and we are all much worse off because of it.
Upcoming Event
Please join Senator Coleman and myself at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's "Costs Matter" Statewide Policy Tour on Monday, June 17 at J. Carver Distillery! Here's a link to sign up for the event!
WHO: Rep. Jim Nash, Sen. Julia Coleman, and the MN Chamber of Commerce
WHAT: "Costs Matter" Statewide Policy tour
WHEN: Monday, June 17 from 3:00 - 4:30 PM
WHERE: J. Carver Distillery
SIGN UP: HERE
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