Readers Write: Walz’s fraud response

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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The Feeding Our Future $250 million fraud case is not unique ... nor is it necessarily an indication of governmental mismanagement.

Estimates for the total amount of money lost to fraud across all COVID-19 relief programs launched during the Trump presidency range from hundreds of billions of dollars to over $1 trillion, with a significant portion of this fraud originating in the first nine months of the programs’ existence.

Annual U.S. fire losses are estimated to total tens of billions of dollars; losses due to fraud are in the hundreds of billions. If our government spent a proportionate amount of taxpayers’ dollars defending against fraud that it does preventing fires, there would be significant public backlash.

Large losses that I personally experienced, during my five-decade insurance career, often involved community banks. The fraudsters were pillars of their communities. Despite auditors’ scrutiny and intense standards and practices, ingenious fraudsters overwhelmed competent prevention methods.

The Government Accountability Office estimates the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud. That’s about a billion a day.

American bank robber Willie Sutton was once asked why he stole from banks. He answered, “Because that’s where the money is.” People steal billions from government for the same reason ... every day, of every week, of every year ... in every state in the union.

Jim Holm, St. Paul

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There is an old idiom that instructs that shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted is too little, too late. Gov. Tim Walz’s appointment of a new director of program integrity to address the rampant fraud that occurred during the past four years reminds me of that idiom (“Walz taps point man on fraud issue,” Dec. 13). The governor’s lame excuse for the fraud that claimed $1 billion taxpayer dollars is equally laughable: “We are a state that chooses not to let people go hungry or homeless or uneducated,“ he says, blaming the generosity of Minnesotans as the reason why so much money went out the door to the fraudsters. Baloney. The people for whom the money was intended will now go hungry, homeless and uneducated because the money they needed is gone, stolen under the very noses of the governor and his administration, including Attorney General Keith Ellison.

The governor has even written a commentary in the same edition of the Star Tribune, headlined, “We take fraud seriously. Here’s what we’re doing to stop it.” Governor, look around you: The fraud has stopped. Not because of anything you did or plan to do but because of the tireless efforts of Minnesota’s last two U.S. district attorneys. The fraudsters have been found, convicted and are now in prison. That is good news, but alas, the money is also gone.

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Walz’s commentary in the Saturday paper was an attempt to shift blame on a “group of fraudsters,” and the Trump administration, making him sound like President Donald Trump, consistently shifting blame on the Biden administration. He goes on to say, “We have turned the dial from prioritizing generous services toward greater skepticism.”

Generosity is not a mission of government. Please leave that to philanthropy and charitable organizations. Government should be the prudent steward of our tax money. His administration has shown it has failed in this role. Blaming the problem on COVID-era issues neglects the lack of policies and guardrails that should have been present prior to COVID. His argument does not explain how this ex post facto action is going to affect the many dedicated providers of services, like residential and rehabilitation services, who now are having to scramble under the moratorium and threat of sanctions simply because the administration had been incapable of rooting out some bad apples. Providers have difficulties finding staff to provide services. These far-reaching claims by the administration do nothing to encourage individuals to seek a job where they can do meaningful work to help people.

His plans of hiring more auditors and investigators is akin to putting more cops on the street, rather than providing education, shelter and food, to avoid criminal behavior. Walz, thank you for doing something, but please consider that in the effort to resolve one problem you are creating another for the many agencies and individuals who daily work to make Minnesota “a great place to live.”

Manfred Tatzmann, Brooklyn Center

I read Walz’s opinion piece in the Dec. 13 Star Tribune. I’m very disappointed in him for not taking responsibility for this massive fraud taking place on his watch as governor of our state. Like the captain of a ship, or similar to leaders of other large organizations, Walz has the responsibility, authority and accountability to take action — especially in times of distress, righting the ship when it goes off course. Though not directly responsible for preventing fraud, Walz completely failed in his duties to own and acknowledge that this massive fraud occurred during in his administration.

Having said that, Walz is finally taking action as a leader should. He says he is appointing a former superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to “work across state government to root out fraud and protect taxpayer dollars.”

I say it’s about time. The cynic in me says Walz is only interested in getting re-elected.

Bob Doyle, Savage

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With national Republicans proposing to privatize the federal social funding programs (Medicare, Social Security, etc.) and even the Post Office, I can see the likelihood of a great amount of fraud to occur if they succeed. The main goal of a private company is not to serve the best interest of the public but to make as much money as possible.

George Calebaugh, Brooklyn Park

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Contributing columnist Andy Brehm’s recent opinion piece about why Walz should not be given a third term was right on — and I voted for Walz in the past (“Amid mounting fraud, it’s clear Walz doesn’t deserve a third term,” Dec. 5). As a centrist thinker on many things, I am not sure who should be our next leader and would love to see a some healthy competition for the next term for governor between two or more moderate candidates. The recent fiasco where $1 billion was stolen from Minnesota taxpayers is a clear reason for wanting change. Even if we do not have an absolutely clear picture of all that went wrong, responsibility flows to the top, and Walz did not did not fulfill his duties with a high grade. It took way to long to understand that something was amiss and to take action.

There are also other reasons for a change. Unfettered loyalty to party and incumbents (as George Washington warned about 250 years ago) is becoming a sickness and abuse that we as a country need to understand and do something about. No better time than now, in both Minnesota and Washington.