Since 2022, Minnesota has experienced a stunning scale of fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars directly tied to failures of Gov. Tim Walz’s administration. Feeding Our Future, a non-profit that promised to feed hungry children, engaged in one of the nation’s largest cases of fraud under the guise of using COVID relief funds. More than $250 million was taken away from hungry children to line the pockets of dozens of fraudsters.  

Pelican Rapids, a community that I represent in the Minnesota Senate, was victimized in this case. One fraudster claimed that she was feeding 2,560 daily meals to children in a city of 2,600 residents; a simple Google search should have raised some questions. The story was repeated across the state with fantastical numbers of children being fed and clearly fake names on sign-in registers from locations without kitchens. 

State leaders failed to provide basic oversight of taxpayer dollars to ensure those who needed the help the most received it. The federal government has since begun prosecuting those who stole the money and who spent it on luxury items for themselves. 

Minnesota’s nonpartisan Legislative Auditor found Walz’s agency staff failed to act on warning signs, were ill-prepared to respond to the issue, and refused to exercise their authority to hold the nonprofit accountable. Despite the enormity of the fraud, the Walz administration has failed to identify any agency employees who have faced termination or disciplinary actions for this glaring abuse of taxpayer funds — and this wasn’t the first time Walz’s administration faced such criticisms.

For instance, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has been a regular source of waste, fraud, and abuse. DHS’s Child Care Assistance Program was criticized in a report which found that fraud was “pervasive.” DHS also faced rightful criticism after $29 million in illegal overpayments were discovered through the state’s tribal self-administered opioid treatment program. 

The list continues with fraud or mismanagement being found within the state’s rental aid program, light rail construction, as well as a Frontline Worker Pay program intended to support those who put their lives at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Frontline Worker case, the Legislative Auditor could only verify that 58.9 percent of the payments went to people who deserved them. Auditors found clear cases of fraud, including paid applications for individuals who had died before the application window even opened. 

The failures are systemic, racking up over hundreds of millions of dollars worth of wasted resources. They are reflective of an environment in which accountability is neglected at the highest level of government. Instead of holding his administration accountable, Walz focused on maintaining his personable public image through performative politics. 

Some might see him at one of his many photo ops surrounded by school children or dressed in casual clothes or buffalo plaid. Those pictures ignore how students are struggling under his watch with new state-wide testing results showing half of Minnesota students are not reading or doing math at grade level. Walz would prefer to discuss his pork chop-on-a-stick at the state fair, rather than actually answer tough questions about why his administration has failed Minnesotans.

This lack of accountability isn’t isolated to Minnesota – we see it in our nation’s capital. In Washington D.C., our federal budget deficit continues to balloon closing in on nearly $2 trillion. In Minnesota and in Washington, our leaders spend more of our hard-earned dollars while families are getting less. The crisis at our border is out of control with little being done to rein it in while our leaders dodge responsibility and point fingers. 

With his record of evading responsibility and dodging questions when it comes to the real issues that impact Minnesotans and Americans, Tim Walz would fit right in with the same culture we find in the Biden-Harris administration. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris prioritize optics over outcomes, and Walz’s record in Minnesota shows he is ready to join their ranks. 

Americans want a smaller government that works instead of a bigger government that fails. Walz and Harris have both made government bigger and less accountable to the people it serves. As the national debt grows beyond $35 trillion, younger Americans face increasing obstacles to a prosperous future: an expensive housing market, a growing tax burden, and the prospect of elevated interest rates and inflation. We shouldn’t promote the people who have failed us in their previous jobs and expect to see any different results for our country. 

Senator Jordan Rasmusson represents five counties in west central Minnesota in the Minnesota Senate. He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives and works as a business consultant. Senator Rasmusson and his wife, Emma, reside in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.