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Minnesota State Representative Marj Fogelman has been sounding the alarm for weeks, demanding transparency and accountability after shocking reports that state-administered programs have been riddled with fraud. She told conservative outlets that Minnesotans deserve to see the books and know exactly where billions in taxpayer dollars went.
This is not small-time theft; nonpartisan audits and federal prosecutors have documented hundreds of millions — and possibly billions — siphoned from programs like Feeding Our Future and frontline worker pay, with the Feeding Our Future scandal alone costing more than $250 million. The scope laid out by auditors and prosecutors makes clear this is systemic, not a few bad apples.
Conservatives are right to ask who in the Walz administration was asleep at the wheel or actively looking the other way. Fogelman and other Republican lawmakers are calling for resignations and wide-ranging investigations because failure to act is failure of leadership, plain and simple. The public has a right to demand consequences when oversight collapses.
Some senior Democrats and public officials have suggested sensitivity to racial or cultural accusations played into an unwillingness to pursue fraud aggressively, a charge former Gov. Tim Pawlenty has called “appalling.” We can and must protect communities from unfair targeting while also insisting that no group be allowed to exploit taxpayer-funded programs with impunity.
Federal authorities are now involved, with prosecutors describing staggering schemes that created shell companies and billed for services never rendered, and the U.S. House scheduling oversight hearings to get answers. When federal prosecutors and congressional committees step in, that should be a red flag to every state capitol that lax oversight will not be tolerated.
This moment calls for decisive action: thorough audits, swift prosecutions for anyone who bilked American taxpayers, and real reforms to prevent repeat disasters. Lawmakers like Fogelman are right to press for accountability and for leadership to stop covering up failures with excuses or politicized defenses.
If Minnesota’s scandal is indeed the tip of an iceberg, as former administration officials warn, then conservatives across the country must demand the same scrutiny in blue states where federal funds flow unchecked. America’s hardworking families deserve honest stewardship of their money — and any official who allowed this betrayal to happen should pay the political and legal price.
