SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Today, the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee held its first public hearing since Rep. Kristin Robbins, the panel’s chair, announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination for Minnesota Governor. Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL-St. Paul) issued the following statement:
"Since the start of the 2025 session, the House Fraud Committee has done next to nothing to prevent fraud. It has received not one bill and has acted on not one policy. This spring, as the Legislature passed a two-year budget, including funding and policy changes for the programs discussed at today’s hearing, the committee played little if any role. Instead, the committee has served almost entirely as a setting for questioning and criticism of the executive branch – again, without any tie to policy change.
“Up until Rep. Robbins’ announcement, the committee was merely a waste of time. But now we can see what it truly has been: an exercise in campaign politics.
“This is especially concerning given the importance of this issue. Public dollars should go toward the public good, and bad actors who defraud government, taxpayers, and vulnerable people should be held accountable. As a prosecutor outside of the Legislature, I’m deeply committed to this work. Strengthening trust in our government institutions that provide critical services, while also getting to the bottom of the business model of fraud across our economy, requires us to work together collaboratively.
“Put simply: Rep. Robbins now seeks both to serve as chair of a committee whose sole use has been to investigate the executive branch AND to run as a candidate against the person who leads that executive branch. The latter role can’t help but undermine the credibility of the former role. For the sake of true progress on fraud prevention and agency oversight, I urge Chair Robbins and the House GOP caucus to take whatever steps are necessary to avoid this conflict.”