LEGISLATION HIGHLIGHTSSIGNIFICANT FRAUD PREVENTION MEASURE APPROVED IN MINNESOTA HOUSE After years of runaway fraud and zero accountability, Minnesotans are demanding action, and the Minnesota House is finally responding. Lawmakers have approved legislation to create an independent Office of the Inspector General (OIG), a long-overdue step toward restoring oversight, enforcing the law, and protecting hardworking taxpayers from government waste and abuse. This isn’t window dressing. The proposal gives the OIG serious authority. It would be empowered to investigate state agencies, grant recipients, and contractors, backed by subpoena power and the ability to shut off the flow of taxpayer funds when fraud is suspected. That’s the kind of oversight needed to stop the bleeding. The mission is clear: expose fraud, crack down on abuse, and protect public dollars. The OIG would handle investigations and build cases, referring criminal conduct to law enforcement so that bad actors are not just exposed, but prosecuted. This reform is long overdue. At least $9 billion has been lost while the Walz administration has deflected responsibility and insisted the problem isn’t as bad as it seems. That kind of neglect cannot continue. Establishing a strong, independent OIG is essential to restoring fiscal discipline, recovering stolen funds, enforcing real accountability, and finally protecting Minnesota taxpayers. Learn more here. HOUSE DEMOCRATS UNANIMOUSLY OPPOSE VERIFYING ALL MINNESOTA VOTERS ARE U.S. CITIZENS This week on the House floor, I brought forward an amendment that would verify the citizenship and eligibility of registered Minnesota voters. The goal was simple: to ensure that no out of state residents or illegal aliens could participate in future elections. EVERY MINNESOTA HOUSE DEMOCRAT VOTED NO, and the proposal failed by exactly one vote because of it. Again, ask yourself why? And then think to yourself how bad voter fraud must be in this state if the Democrats are so adamantly opposed to verifying that residents must prove they are a legal citizen of this state. Click the video below to watch my attempt to bring some election integrity to this state.  WALZ ADMINISTRATION CONTINUES TO DUCK FRAUD ACCOUNTABILITY BY DEMOTING DHS COMMISSIONER In a shameless display of political cover-up, Governor Walz pulled his Department of Human Services commissioner nominee at the last possible moment to dodge a public grilling over fraud, failure, and mismanagement. Shireen Gandhi was set to face Senate confirmation. Instead, just 24 hours before she would have been forced to answer for her record, Walz yanked her nomination and quietly installed John Connolly in her place, protecting a loyal insider from scrutiny. And rather than being held accountable, Gandhi was rewarded with a powerful deputy commissioner role, where she will now oversee Medicaid programs already notorious for waste, fraud, and abuse. Her track record raised serious red flags. Gandhi spent years inside DHS, including as Chief Compliance Officer, while an estimated $9 billion in taxpayer dollars vanished to fraud. She also served as interim commissioner during a damning review by the Legislative Auditor that uncovered major misconduct in the Behavioral Health Administration—exposing gross mismanagement and a deliberate cover-up involving falsified and backdated records. This is exactly how broken systems protect themselves. Time and again, the Walz administration has chosen to shield insiders rather than clean house. Even as fraud has exploded across state programs, not one person has been fired or held meaningfully accountable. Minnesotans are left footing the bill while the same failed leadership gets reshuffled and rewarded. LOCAL VISITS 6th graders from Goodhue Schools were visiting the Capitol this week!  Tanner from Red Wing was also in St. Paul this week, taking part in the Minnesota High School Page program and getting hands-on experience of how the legislative process works in the Minnesota House! Great job this week, Tanner!  |