LEGISLATION HIGHLIGHTS IT’S GETTING OLD: MORE FRAUD IN MINNESOTA A couple of months ago, I wrote a column titled “Another day, another fraud.” Sadly, in this state that’s not even a sarcastic statement. Today’s version of how your tax dollars have been stolen comes to us from KSTP, which tells us Minnesota’s Department of Human Services kept sending state money to a Minnesota nonprofit even after its board chair was charged with fraud. Click here to learn more. How bad can this get? Well, let’s turn to the former nonpartisan legislative auditor for his thoughts, which he recently shared in the StarTribune. Jim Nobles confirms that House DFL Chairs were instructed not to give fraud reports penned by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) any public hearings, and that other officials worked to hide the problem! Click here if you want to get your blood boiling. Among his statements (if you are unable to access the article): “While executive officials were obviously negligent, less obvious is the fact that some key legislators tried to minimize the fraud problem and shield the Department of Human Services and the Walz administration from criticism. For example, when the Office of the Legislative Auditor issued a report on child care fraud, the then-chair of the House Human Services committee dismissed the report and the problem, saying, “there’s always going to be fraud,” and she refused to allow OLA to present its report to the committee. In addition, the chief House supporter of publicly funded child care subsidies criticized the OLA report for referencing prosecutions that had proven fraud in the child care program. The references were unnecessary and harmful, he said. As like-minded House members joined in criticizing OLA for investigating allegations of fraud in human service programs, I met with Speaker Melissa Hortman. As always, she was thoughtful and supportive of OLA’s work but acknowledged that some members of her caucus were upset. They felt that OLA reports were subjecting human service programs to too much criticism, particularly programs administered by Somali community organizations. The speaker said that as a former county prosecutor, she knew the fraud OLA was addressing was real and needed to be investigated. She did, however, acknowledge that House committee chairs had been instructed not to give OLA reports about fraud any public hearings.” In short, everyone knew there was a problem. The OLA had documented evidence of it, and lots of it. But Democrats actively covered it up because it would make the Walz administration look bad. And what do we have to show for this Democrat incompetence? Likely billions of your tax dollars swindled without objection from the former DFL trifecta, and as I share in each update, that total continues to grow by the day.  STOP THE CLIMATE CHANGE MADNESS SAYS…… BILL GATES? You may have heard this week that Bill Gates – author of "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster" - recently changed his doom and gloom outlook on climate change. This week he cautioned against taking a "doomsday view" on the planet's future, and noted that "people will be able to live and thrive on Earth for the foreseeable future." Click here to read more. Given the climate change scare tactics and fear mongering that has taken place over the decades, not to mention the billions of dollars invested in inefficient and expensive "green energy" and the farm land and rare-earth minerals that have been permanently destroyed, will this sudden 180 degree turn from Bill Gates change the direction of our political policies? Good Lord - I pray yes! We all want "clean" energy - but the doomsday approach and the damage this has done is immeasurable. GOOD NEWS FOR FARMERS! Soybean farmers rejoice! This week, President Trump secured an agreement from China to buy 25 metric tons of soybeans each year, including 12 metric tons which will be shipped there immediately. Read more here. While Governor Walz uses farmers as political pawns, it’s good to see President Trump actually fights for them. This agreement can only be viewed as positive news, and will help boost Minnesota’s ag economy. Thank you, President Trump! |