Republican Speaker of the House, and gubernatorial candidate, Lisa Demuth is calling for the administration to fire those who knew directly about the fraud inside state government, after more details emerged in a recent story in the Minnesota Star Tribune.
There are still a lot of questions even after the federal government released its findings of fraud in Minnesota. The article alleged that Governor Tim Walz's administration officials failed to connect red flags across multiple separate state social programs.
Demuth demanded immediate dismissals for two specific state administrators.
"Of Assistant Commissioner Corte, who was aware of major problems with defeating our Future as far back as 2020 but failed to stop the massive fraud scandal," Demuth says of Daron Korte, the Assistant Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Education.
"I am also calling for the firing in the Department of Children, Youth and Families Deputy Commissioner Leah Montgomery," added Demuth.
She says these would just be the start of several firings that would take place if she becomes governor, including every current state commissioner currently heading Minnesota state executive agencies.
Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for Gov. Walz's office provided the following statement to WCCO Radio:
"As with any issue, hindsight is 20/20—and there are many things we would do differently knowing what we know now. Updating antiquated government systems to stop modern criminals from committing fraud is akin to turning an oil tanker. Agencies were too trusting, and their policies and state laws prevented them from moving quickly. We should’ve made changes in agency leadership sooner to shake things up and get to the root of the problem faster. And we needed federal, local, and legislative partners to be equally committed to solving problems."
"In the aftermath of the pandemic—when the nation saw a surge in emergency public funding to support Americans and businesses facing unprecedented hardship—Governor Walz directed his office and agency leaders to work across state government to weed out fraud. The Walz Administration established new processes to coordinate between agencies, and the Governor proposed legislation year after year to get ahead of the criminals."
This timeline was provided to WCCO Radio by the office of Governor Tim Walz.
(Office of Governor Tim Walz)
Star Tribune political reporter Ryan Faircloth read through thousands of pages of a June report from the federal government, and says he still wants to know more.
"I would like to know how much of this really reached the governor," Faircloth told WCCO Political Analyst Blois Olson. "That wasn't always clear either, and I would like to know more about whether the governor's office, whether they were ordering DHS to look into this stuff or not."
Faircloth says the real question is who knew what and when.
"Fraud was on their radar, but it seems like for years here, what they were missing was like how bad was it? They didn't know that," he explains.
As far as who to blame?
"It's obviously the administration, but you know, is it more the governor's office? Is it more DHS? What we later found out from what federal prosecutors uncovered of widespread fraud," Faircloth adds.
Demuth has also been quick to cast blame for the fraud on on U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, her opponent in the race, as well.
“As this story again makes clear, Minnesotans are right to be angry about the fraud," reads a statement from Klobuchar's office. "It should never have happened in the first place, and when it did it should have been caught much earlier and taken much more seriously. That’s why I have made clear that on Day One, I will launch a top-to-bottom audit of state government to root out fraud, replace decades-old technology to stop fraud before it happens, and strengthen criminal penalties to make sure people who commit fraud go to jail. I will not wait to take action, and that includes firing people who were in charge and failed to stop the fraud and replacing them with new leadership that will deliver results. That’s why my plan has been endorsed by former U.S. Attorney Andy Luger, who prosecuted the Feeding Our Future fraud and knows what it takes to clean this up.”
Olson said this will continue to be an issue in the governor's race.
"The idea that a governor wouldn't answer questions about a story this serious is not the Minnesota way," Olson says of the lack of a response from the governor's office. "This will definitely continue to be an issue in the governor's race."
In response, Walz's spokesperson agreed that the fraud is a serious issue, and added it’s incumbent on all public officials to be factual and honest about it.
"For years, politicians have made up numbers without evidence," Walz's office said in a written statement. "No state has been more scrutinized and politicized than Minnesota. And no state has moved faster to fix the problem. The fact is, since Feeding our Future was uncovered and prosecuted, states across the country have fallen victim to fraud schemes much larger than anything in Minnesota. And now they’re looking to Minnesota as a model for how to stop it."
