U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson: Fraud is stealing Minnesota’s way of life

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Waste, fraud and abuse.

They’re more than just talking points for Republican candidates.

Minnesota is becoming, if it hasn’t already, a national poster child for public corruption, with fraud now approaching $1 billion.

“Our state is far and away the leader in fraud now and everyone sees it,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in a recent interview with the Editorial Board of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Thompson’s not — at the moment — running for office, so he’s not trying to make us feel bad to boost his career prospects. He’s a Twin Cities native who spent a decade as a federal prosecutor in Chicago, a place known for entrenched corruption.

In 1973, Time magazine put then-Gov. Wendell Anderson on the cover and declared Minnesotans to be living the “good life” in a “state that works.”

No more.

I’ve finally been persuaded that this is more than a pandemic-era blip. After listening to Thompson, I’m convinced we need to roust ourselves from our smugness. If there’s a special legislative session this fall, fighting fraud should join gun safety on the agenda.

As Thompson explains, corruption goes beyond the traditional kickbacks, pay-to-play bribes and a cartoon villain twirling a mustache.

“I view unchecked fraud in our state government program as a version of corruption,” he said. “Or it’s a government that has been corrupted to not operate the way it’s supposed to, to enrich people instead of providing services, to enrich bad actors instead of helping the good citizens of Minnesota.”

Thompson has previously described the state as having been ransacked by fraud. He says we are at risk of losing everything, the Minnesota we’ve known.

“It’s our way of life,” he said in the interview. “Do we like to live in a state that has good parks? Good roads, good schools? Not every state has that. Do we like to have this image of ourselves as a state that’s full of good-natured civic-minded people, or not? Chicago doesn’t have that. They’re somewhat ashamed of their government.”

Feeding our Future wasn’t an aberration. In late July, the state stopped payment to 50 Housing Stabilization Services providers amid allegations of fraud in the fast-growing program that uses Medicaid to find homes for disabled and older adults.

Last summer, Gov. Tim Walz explained that since the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudsters have taken advantage of programs aimed at quickly delivering money to those in need.

“It’s proven right now that folks can find the loopholes,” he said.

That message should have landed a few years ago with the initial Feeding our Future indictments.

Next week, Walz is expected to announce that he’s seeking a third term. Although Thompson didn’t single out Walz for blame, the governor needs to show us he’s willing to take this on full bore.

Immediately after the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, Walz said he wants to call a special legislative session on guns. Republicans, however, still show no interest in the banning of assault-style rifles or high-capacity magazines.

So if Walz calls the Legislature back before February 2026, why not get serious with something Republicans are interested in? Why not try to pass a bipartisan bill to establish an independent Office of Inspector General?

There’s a bill waiting that passed the Senate in 2025 with bipartisan support. It would establish an independent Office of Inspector General in the executive branch to search out fraud in agencies, programs and funding recipients.

The main sponsor, Sen. Heather Gustafson, DFL-Vadnais Heights, is frustrated but eager to stem the flow of money out the door. “It’s evident we don’t have a handle on it,” she said.

An independent inspector general would focus on vendors and recipients in public programs, the pressure point where money is currently leaking at a torrent, Gustafson said.

Walz should be interested. His opponents are eager to make fraud the centerpiece of their efforts to oust him in 2026. State Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, is running for governor as a fraud fighter, claiming Walz has utterly failed on the issue.

She is the chairwoman of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee. The committee meets Wednesday. She plans to talk then about the failure of the state Department of Human Services (DHS) to oversee the Housing Stabilization fund.

Robbins noted last week that DHS had “credible allegations of fraud, bribery, and even billing for the dead,” but kept money flowing.

Talk and recognition of the problem are important, but the Legislature needs to act.

Thompson alone cannot fix the problem. He’s all but begging the Legislature to lock the front door before more money flows out for bad actors who then pay cash for luxury vehicles and homes.

Minnesota has long offered a Scandinavian model of high taxes and generous social safety net, but it’s done a poor job of minding the store even as the problem was evident, Thompson said.

“Let’s be honest, you can see it,” he said. “You see all the types of health care companies all over the place. Why are there adult day cares all over the city? What the hell is an adult day care?”

The era of denial needs to end. “I think people didn’t want it to be true, seeing this level of fraud. It was an uncomfortable truth,” Thompson said, adding that it “didn’t match our self-image” of good government.

What’s not yet clear is whether there’s a will or ability to act in the necessary bipartisan manner to pass anything at the Capitol right now.

“We’ll see if people are wanting to actually do it. It’s easy to find a reason not to,” Thompson said.

To our own peril we ignore Thompson’s repeated and dire predictions about where we’re headed as a state.