Sorry Rep. Pinto, but Minnesotans care about fraud in government spending
The trials continue in the Feeding Our Future scandal, the biggest fraud in the United States arising from COVID-19, totaling an estimated $250 million. This is only one example of the rampant fraud perpetrated against the taxpayers of Minnesota through government programs. “Minnesota has a fraud problem,” outgoing U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andy Luger said recently. “No other states have had the kinds of problems we’ve had with government fraud.” My colleague, Bill Glahn, has cataloged these frauds and as a result, his ScandalTracker 2025TM is now up over $611 million.
To get to grips with this problem, the Minnesota House established a Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy committee. Bill was invited to present his ScandalTracker to the committee on Monday.
As Bill noted, the response from the DFLers on the committee was disappointing. Rather than attack fraud in government programs, they chose, led by Rep. Dave Pinto, to attack Bill instead for drawing attention to this fraud. While disappointing, Rep. Pinto’s behavior was not unexpected. It of a piece with his colleague’s behavior when I and my colleagues have testified about the vast budget deficit the DFL trifecta left the state with. Instead of engaging with the issue, we got DFL Representatives “waving copies of our organization’s 990 forms around and demanding to know where our donations come from” or “reading something our organization’s president had written in a personal capacity about crime.”
One thinks of what Margaret Thatcher once said:
I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.
But then you catch yourself and ask: What on earth is “political” about stopping fraud in government programs? Surely this is something policymakers of all political stripes should be concerned about, particularly those who favor high government spending but now have a $6.0 billion budget deficit to close.
Minnesotans agree. Reporting recent poll findings, KSTP wrote:
When asked to name what they consider to be the most important issue facing Minnesota lawmakers, 25% said “lowering taxes,” making it the single most mentioned top issue in the survey. It was followed by health care at 21% and stopping fraud in government spending at 20%. Further down the list are education, public safety, legalized sports betting and raising taxes. [Emphasis added]
The House DFLers have tried to scream away the state’s budget deficit and they are trying to scream away the problem of fraud in government programs. Minnesotans deserve better, of course, and will not thank them for this irresponsibility.