The $billion fraud question
How much fraud is there in Minnesota state government? Many people, mostly taxpayers, including me, want an answer to that question.
Two people who do not want an answer to that question are Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison. No matter the answer, they will look bad for having presided over the whole debacle.
For the first time ever, we have someone with both an incentive to answer the question, and with access to the data and resources to do so.
Joe Thompson currently serves as the Acting United States Attorney for Minnesota, pending the Senate confirmation of his replacement. Before his elevation, Thompson, a career federal prosecutor, served as the lead prosecutor of the Feeding Our Future scandal and is about to record the 50th conviction in the case on Friday, Aug. 1, with the entering of the 43rd guilty plea.
More recently, Thompson has taken on the prosecution/investigation of other massive state fraud scandals, including (but not limited to) autism clinics, Housing Stabilization Services (HSS), adult day cares, etc. etc.
Before he returns to his old job, Thompson seems determined to figure out the scope of what he is up against.
In the past week, Thompson has done a series of media interviews explaining that the total fraud that his office has investigated, so far, exceeds $1 billion (with a “b”) and that number is just the “tip of the iceberg.”
Speaking of the HSS program, Jay Kolls of KSTP-TV asked Thompson specifically about this latest fraud scandal:
Medicaid reimbursements for the federal Housing Stabilization Services program exceed $100 million.
Thompson told KSTP the “vast majority” of that program is fraudulent.
Yes, it’s true. Minnesota’s brand new, first-in-the-nation program is virtually all fraud.
With few exceptions, local media have been slow to catch up with what should be the story of the decade in Minnesota politics. When they do cover the subject of fraud, local media are unable to see the forest for the trees. The larger story gets compartmentalized into a few lazy narratives. All of the following examples are from recent stories in the Minnesota Star Tribune,
The political angle:
Walz administration faces more scrutiny as FBI investigates fraud in another state program
Don’t worry, when it comes to the 2026 election, political scientists reassure Star Tribune readers that “people forget.”
What went wrong with Minnesota’s ‘groundbreaking’ program to fight homelessness?
Most likely culprit: “bad design.”
Bad architecture:
Inside the St. Paul building at the center of a Medicaid fraud investigation
Bad architecture leads to bad results.
Republicans pounce!
Olson: Minnesota Republicans’ waste, fraud and abuse committee gets stuck in the mud
On a daily basis, I’m reminded of the age-old Tweet from David Burge:
Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.