OPINION:
Federal prosecutors contend that scam artists in Minnesota pocketed as much as $1 out of every $2 spent on Medicaid-backed assistance programs. Gov. Tim Walz, the failed Democratic vice presidential nominee, was dragged before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week to explain his role in the fiasco.
“The buck ultimately stops with me. I do not shy away from that responsibility,” Mr. Walz proclaimed in his opening remarks.
Not long after delivering that cliche, the former high school teacher passed the buck to just about anyone but himself. He insisted that allegations of hanky-panky in the Feeding Our Future program never crossed his desk.
Rep. Byron Donalds, Florida Republican, presented evidence that a pair of state Department of Human Services commissioners had alerted the governor’s chief of staff in person. Mr. Donalds asked whether that top aide ever shared the disturbing material.
“I’m saying I don’t recall whether he did at that time or not,” Mr. Walz said.
Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, was unimpressed by the performance of Mr. Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison, who also testified. “Instead of protecting vulnerable Americans, they handed over billions in taxpayer dollars to fraudsters and threw their own state employees under the bus,” he said.
It’s difficult to come up with a legitimate justification for supporting bloated initiatives after flimflam is exposed, as Minnesota officials did. The motives are obvious. Mr. Ellison and Mr. Walz are terrified that they might offend the Somali community, which provides campaign donations and votes for Democrats. More than 85% of the cheaters are recent arrivals from that East African nation, and 98 have been charged with federal crimes.
Mr. Walz says he didn’t notice the surge in subsidies for housing, transportation and medical services. The state’s autism-related giveaways cost $20 million in 2019 and ballooned to $342 million by 2024.
Federal investigators say the tricksters expanded eligibility by offering kickbacks worth up to $1,500 a month to Somali parents willing to sign up their children. The greater the number of “disadvantaged” children participating, the more the con artists would make from federal and state taxpayers.
Feeding Our Future was supposed to give meals to the needy. Swindlers forged paperwork to qualify for massive government payments, but Uncle Sam eventually caught on, and one of the thieves running an outfit called Partners in Nutrition was nabbed and convicted in 2019.
Once that incident hit the news, Minnesota could have cut off funding to Feeding Our Future, but the state Department of Education refused to turn off the money spigot. In media interviews, Mr. Walz said, “We were forced to continue to pay” by a local court judge. In a stunning rebuke, the state judiciary published a news release correcting the “inaccurate statements by the Governor.”
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