CORRECTION: Legislative Update from Rep. Mary Franson

Legislative Update

I hope your summer is off to a great start! This week has been a wild one, with the release of not one, but TWO new reports on how state agencies have blatantly disregarded fraud happening under their noses, each totaling more than $200 million. This week was also the funeral for Officer Jamal Mitchell, who was killed in the line of duty. News also broke that the head of the Star Tribune, a former Walz appointee, had ongoing contact with the Administration in at least the first few months of his position heading the state’s largest newspaper.

Frontline Worker Pay Fraud

On Tuesday, the Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report on fraud in the Minnesota Frontline Worker Pay Program. You can find that audit here along with local news stories here and here.

The Legislative Auditor found that the Walz Administration approved payments to people who were not eligible or whose eligibility could not be determined. These fraudulent payments added up to $200 million and accounted for 41% of the total program funding.

This program, which was passed in 2022, appropriated $500 million for 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. Instead, there were over 1 million applicants (including the fraudsters and ineligible applicants) approved, which meant legitimate frontline workers received significantly smaller checks than they were entitled to due to fraudsters also splitting those funds.

All the Walz Administration had to do was the very basics of their jobs - ensure that payments aren't going to dead people, for one, and they couldn't even do that.

This level of fraud is inexcusable, and the Administration needs to be held accountable for the blatant disregard for fraud in this program.

Feeding Our Future Fraud

Yesterday, the Legislative Auditor published the audit of the Minnesota Department of Education's (MDE) Oversight of Feeding Our Future. You’ve probably heard the news stories about Feeding Our Future, where 70 people were indicted for stealing $250 million in funds that were meant for hungry kids. Five of those people were recently convicted, with more to come.

This audit is even worse than the Frontline Worker Pay fraud and shows multiple instances of incompetence within the Walz Administration's Department of Education.

MDE was supposed to oversee the program to feed hungry children during the pandemic. They were supposed to approve and verify applicants, review their operations, make payments for services that met guidelines, and ensure the program was adequately monitored and correctly administered.

Instead, the Legislative Auditor discovered that MDE's “actions and inactions facilitated opportunities for fraud.”

According to the Legislative Auditor, MDE:

Failed to act on warning signs known to the department before the covid pandemic and before the alleged fraud.
Did not effectively use its authority to hold Feeding Our Future accountable to program requirements.
Was unprepared to address the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future.

During this time, MDE received over 30 complaints from various individuals and entities. Instead of investigating these complaints, MDE either ignored them or asked Feeding Our Future to investigate itself. Insane! Even when MDE found Feeding Our Future "seriously delinquent" on two separate occasions, they took no action and continued making payments to fraudsters.

Minnesota once had a reputation for competent and clean government. Those days are gone, and we are all worse off because of it. We need to change the way we do business here – it’s time to be vigilant and crack down on fraud.

Funeral for Fallen Officer Jamal Mitchell

This week a funeral was held for fallen officer Jamal Mitchell, a hero on the Minneapolis Police Department who was tragically killed in the line of duty earlier this month. Officer Mitchell was working a mandatory overtime shift and showed up to the scene of a shooting alone when he was shot and killed by the very individual who he was trying to help. My condolences go out to his family.

I sincerely hope that we can stop the DFL's war on cops and begin supporting our police 365 days out of the year, not just on the tragic ones. It's my goal in the Legislature to work to reverse the devastating impacts of the DFL's defund the police rhetoric to ensure that we can stop future tragedies.

Former Walz Appointee Running State's Largest Newspaper

This week there was a great article in the Reformer that exposed Steve Grove, former Walz appointee, for maintaining communication with the administration while running that state's largest newspaper. This is a clear conflict of interest and just goes to show how deep the swamp runs in Minnesota - I encourage you to read the article!

Legislative Update

Frontline Worker Pay Fraud

Feeding Our Future Fraud

Funeral for Fallen Officer Jamal Mitchell

Former Walz Appointee Running State's Largest Newspaper

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