Happy New Year - Rep. Zeleznikar UpdateDear Northlanders, Happy New Year! As we begin 2026, I hope each of you enjoyed a season of reflection, renewal, and restoration. I certainly did. Becoming a new grandma brought tremendous joy, along with baking 75 dozen cookies, decorating our home, enjoying family time, walking in the woods, and pulling our grandson in the sled I bought at the Knife River Norwegian Julebyen festival. What an incredible Christmas village celebrating the Norwegian heritage so many of us share. I loved the fresh lefse, the strolling accordion player, and even debarking a massive tree with a drawknife with two goats standing nearby as enthusiastic supervisors. HOPE This year begins with renewed hope. I was honored to be selected for the Minnesota Legislative Exchange Program with Rep. Ned Carroll of Plymouth. Our time together-touring District 3B, meeting local employers, and discussing shared challenges, reinforced my belief that when people listen, learn, and lead together...bipartisan progress is possible. Rep. Carroll and I both serve on the House Health Committee, where we worked together to advance a long-awaited bill allowing optometrists to practice to the full scope of their licensure. After 17 years of effort, this bill finally passed, a victory for expanding access to eye care across Minnesota. We also appeared on two episodes of the Let the Sawdust Fly podcast to highlight Minnesota’s timber industry. Spending time together at a human level, sharing meals, meeting in each other’s communities, and talking about real issues, reminded me that hope grows when the focus is people, not politics. OPTIMISM As a former cheerleader, I’ve always believed in cheering for our Minnesota communities. And while there is much to celebrate, we cannot ignore the deeply troubling levels of fraud in state-run programs. Fraud that has been projected to exceed $9 billion since 2018, which is nearly $1 billion per year. This fraud steals resources from legitimate childcare providers, rural clinics, disability services, seniors, and honest Minnesotans working multiple jobs to pay rising costs. Instead, taxpayer dollars have been diverted to luxury homes, international properties, vacations, expensive jewelry, and vehicles, while the people who truly need help are shortchanged. The Fraud Committee, established only after the legislature reached a 67–67 tie in 2025, has uncovered retaliation against state employees who reported concerns, widespread lack of oversight, missing documentation, and basic system failures across multiple medical assistance programs. Meanwhile, federal investigators, including U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, continue to uncover major fraud schemes such as the Feeding Our Future case, which now includes 98 charged individuals, with more likely to come. For the first time, Minnesota is truly under the microscope. I am optimistic this scrutiny will finally uplift honest providers and shut down organized fraud so Minnesotans are not forced to choose between cutting vital services or raising taxes even further. OPPORTUNITIES As we move into the new legislative session, several opportunities stand before us: 1. Restore accountability in state agencies. After years of documented failures, Acting Commissioner Shereen Gandhi should be replaced. The culture of “the fox guarding the henhouse” must end so Minnesotans can trust their tax dollars are being safeguarded. 2. Establish an independent Office of Inspector General. Minnesota needs an OIG that operates independently, regardless of which party holds the Governor’s office, to ensure oversight and accountability rather than self-policing within the executive branch. Legislation is ready and awaiting passage. 3. Ensure timely investigation and permanent removal of fraudulent providers. Bad actors must be barred from operating under any new name or program. Too many providers shut down for fraud have simply reopened under a different business name to continue billing taxpayers. 4. Responsibly develop Minnesota’s natural resources. Northern Minnesota holds world-class helium and critical minerals needed for electric vehicles and national security. Developing these resources at home, under strong environmental standards, union labor, OSHA protections, and no child labor makes far more sense than relying on countries with poor environmental or human-rights practices. 5. Modernize Minnesota’s outdated IT systems. Many county and state systems are 30 years old. While Minnesota had an $18.5 billion surplus, upgrades were not prioritized. Instead, state government grew by 40%, adding roughly 6,000 new positions while local governments were left with more responsibilities and fewer resources. Secure, modern systems are essential to preventing fraud and ensuring efficient delivery of services. Better days ahead, Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar Community Update  Spoke at the grand opening of the vehicle inspection site in Duluth. I have been working for the past three years with MN departments to ensure Northlanders have an inspection site without traveling 2-5 hours.  Time at Raleigh Charter Edison school Christmas concert.  Spent time at Bentlyville.  Spoke at ribbon cutting for new Hermantown hockey rink.  A new arena for the next generation of players!  Spoke at the Lake County sex trafficking awareness vigil.   Visited Vitacare assisted living in Proctor and Spirit Valley. Time with Family    Enjoyed getting to spend the holidays with family. Fraud UpdateThis week Governor Tim Walz announced he will not seek re-election. Under his watch, Minnesota has seen an estimated $9 billion in fraud. These are not isolated mistakes, they are the predictable results of years of mismanagement, weak accountability, and one-party control. House Republicans are focused on cleaning up the mess. While it may take days or weeks for Democrats to sort out their replacement candidate, our focus remains unchanged. This next legislative session and all of 2026, will be about fraud and accountability, no matter who Democrats put at the top of the ticket. Swapping out Governor Walz for another Democrat, even one arriving from Washington, D.C., does nothing to change the reality that Minnesota Democrats enabled and perpetuated billions of dollars in fraud, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. This week The Office of the Legislative Auditor's Financial Audit Division (OLA) released the performance audit for the Department of Human Services: Behavioral Health Administration Grants. DHS didn’t comply with normal required procedures for grant oversite, or have adequate internal controls over grant funds, it falsified documentation. Another four years later under Walz, four of the same findings were still not addressed. There were multiple personnel that falsified, back dated, and generated faked documents for the audit. These latest revelations make one thing unmistakably clear: Minnesota’s fraud crisis goes far beyond any single government official. This is a systemic failure years in the making. It’s also important to remember what these numbers actually mean for families. Nine billion dollars in fraud doesn’t feel real until you break it down. That’s roughly $3,840 per Minnesota household, money families could have used for groceries, rent, heating bills, child care, or gas as costs keep rising. Instead, that money was stolen while Democrats looked the other way. This was not a one-time mistake. Fraud went on for years, with repeated warnings ignored and basic oversight missing. And these are not victimless crimes. Every dollar lost to fraud is a dollar not helping hungry kids, families in crisis, the homeless, or children with autism who rely on these programs. Minnesotans deserve a government that protects taxpayers not one that enables fraudsters and then sends the bill to working families. That is the standard House Republicans are fighting to restore. |