Tag: tim-walz

SOCIAL SERVICES GREED, FRAUD AND CORRUPTION IN MINNESOTA

The contents of this blog are a compendium of multiple media reports supplemented by my personal opinion where noted.

The capacity for greed and corruption of some people never ceases to amaze me. The greed, fraud and corruption recently uncovered in Minnesota is an illustrative example. As I write this, various federal agencies are investigating this colossal theft and misappropriation of public money. Moreover, there are indications that it may extend to other locales besides MN.

MN has the largest Somali population in the U.S. Estimates vary, but a 2023 Pew Research analysis put the number at around 130,000, most of whom live in the Twin Cities. Around 95% of Somalis in Minnesota are U.S. citizens. In my view most of them are law abiding citizens. Unfortunately, the misdeeds of a few will likely cast aspersions on all of them.

MN is virtually drowning in fraud. Federal prosecutors are investigating what they describe as “staggering, industrial-scale” fraud in the state’s social services programs involving numerous individuals and shell companies that allegedly stole and misappropriated federal and state funds intended for vulnerable persons, such as special needs children, disabled adults and the elderly, with potential losses that could exceed $9 billion.

According to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson that would amount to approximately one-half of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that have supported various Minnesota-run programs since 2018. Fraud was found in programs earmarked for child nutrition, housing services and autism, among others. “I’m sure everyone is wondering how much of this $18 billion was fraud,” Thompson said. “That’s the $18 billion question.”

According to federal prosecutors members of the Somali diaspora, a group with growing political power, were largely responsible. More than 90 individuals, approximately 82 of which are Somali Americans have been charged so far, with over 60 convictions. They expect more charges in the ongoing investigations prospectively. MN Department of Human Services has identified 14 state-run programs as “high risk” for fraud because of program vulnerabilities, evidence of fraudulent activity and/or suspicious billing patterns. Thompson reported that they are seeing more red flags than legitimate claims, and many suspects created entities that billed multiple programs at once.

The New York Times was the first media outlet to disclose the shocking and disturbing details. The total [fraud] is more than Minnesota spends annually to run its Department of Corrections,” the Times reported. According to various law enforcement officials the fraud originated in “pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora.” “Scores of these persons made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social services that were never provided.

It appears that the genesis of these frauds was around 2002 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The perpetrators exploited MN’s sanctuary state laws and policies. Typically, they created shell companies that would then bill state agencies for services that were never provided. Instead, the money was used for luxury items such as purchasing real estate (namely properties in Kenya and Dubai), cars, and travel.

One major perpetrator was identified as Feeding Our Future, which is nothing more than a phony charity run by Somali nationals. It was given a $250 million grant under the Federal Child Nutrition Program. It was supposed to use this grant money to provide some 125 million meals to needy children. Federal counterterrorism sources have confirmed that millions of dollars were stolen and diverted to Somalia where it was used by various criminal enterprises including Somali terrorists such as Al-Shabaab. In the words of one confidential source “the largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”

Investigators claim there are many more examples not only of fraud perpetrated by those in the Somali community, but also of a concerted effort by government officials to cover it up. Last Thursday, Peter Schweizer, the President of the Government Accountability Institute, in an interview with The National News Desk characterized the evidence as “overwhelming.” He averred “the corruption went on and on and on for years because there was this climate of fear of wanting to raise these issues they’re concerned about, you know, maybe being called racist or bigoted.”

This week House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. sent written notice to Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison demanding information about why state regulators, especially those in the Democrat-led administration, were “reluctant” to take action in with respect to allegations involving the Somali community.” Some people, including me, suspect that they allowed it to continue so as not to offend the Somali population, which votes overwhelmingly Democrat. Comer has also requested documents and information related to accusations that the MN Department of Human Services “deleted data to cover up the rampant fraud.” In a related matter on Thursday, December 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota disclosed that Abdinajib Hassan Yussuf, the owner of Star Autism Center in St. Cloud, MN was charged with one count of wire fraud.

In addition:

  1. Dems are playing the racism card claiming that federal investigators are targeting Somalis unfairly. I stipulate that the overwhelming majority of Somalis are honest, hardworking people, but at the same time I would like to denote that most of the perpetrators are Somalis.
  2. Republicans have been criticizing Governor Tim Walz’s administration as well as other MN state officials for a lack of oversight and slow response.
  3. Far left Democrat House Representative Ilhan Omar, who represents the district in Congress and who derives much of her political support from the Somali community, was asked by CNN how the fraud got so out of control. She deflected responsibility claiming, “when you have these kind[s] of new programs that are designed to help people, you’re oftentimes relying on third parties to be able to facilitate.” Given her position and pro-Somali/anti-American history it strains credulity that she would not be cognizant of the scheme or perhaps approved it. I believe she was involved “up to her eyeballs.”
  4. Of course, most of the mainstream media has been downplaying the scandal.
  5. In response to the investigations, in October MN Governor Tim Walz ordered a third-party audit and paused payments to some 14 programs for 90 days. One program has since been shut down entirely.
  6. Walz says the state aggressively increased resources for fraud detection and prevention and recently appointed a statewide director of program integrity to oversee those efforts. This was a classic case of “locking the barn door after the horse has escaped.” Regarding the fraud, he maintained “I am the one that will fix it.” I doubt that.
  7. Republicans have blamed Walz’s administration, with Trump calling MN under the Democratic governor a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
  8. Stephen Miller, in his typical combative manner, opined, we shouldn’t be shocked by the MN fraud case considering Somalia’s primary occupation is ‘pirate.’
  9. According to Linda Miller, president and co-founder of the Program Integrity Alliance, a nonprofit focused on fraud prevention in the public sector and a former assistant director with the GAO, attempts to scam government programs have been rare but are likely becoming more common nationwide. Fraudsters have seen how easy it was during the pandemic “to just submit these fake invoices and get paid millions of dollars.” She added, the risk of fraud increases when programs expand quickly without sufficient staffing, modern technology or robust data verification systems. There are very likely people attempting to defraud these programs all over the country.” We should all take heed.

Conclusion

This scandal has become a major political and criminal issue. Under this administration it will not be swept under the rug. People are being prosecuted with more to come. MN state politicians and other officials responsible may very well see their careers ended. It is unconscionable that criminal elements were basically able to steal billions of dollars meant for Americans and funnel it to themselves and terrorist organizations.

Everyone is claiming they were unaware. I don’t know what’s worse, that or that they were complicit. I believe that the person in charge has the ultimate responsibility for any wrongdoing. As governor, Waltz, in the words of the late Desi Arnaz, has some ‘splaining’ to do. And to think, this buffoon was almost elected VP.

The blame game is already in full force, and it could get ugly when all is said and done particularly with the all-important midterm elections looming. In the meantime, politicians are doing what they do best, deflecting blame from themselves and onto others.

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VANCE-WALZ DEBATE

Last Tuesday, October 1, the first, and probably only, debate between VP nominees J. D. Vance and Tim Walz was telecast on CBS. The network reported that an estimated 43 million persons watched it. This sounds like a lot, but it was a sizeable decrease from the estimated 58 million who watched the 2020 VP nominee debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris.

For the most part, as one might expect, the post-debate analysis of who won followed along party lines. As I said after the Trump-Harris debate the key is not who “won,” but the post-debate effect on the polls. Often, they are not synchronized. So far, the post-debate polls have moved slightly in favor of Trump, but the race remains extremely close, and an unforeseen external event could be decisive. More on this below.

My analysis and opinion of the debate is as follows:

  1. Both candidates were unusually cordial to one another. There was some animosity but not nearly to the level of other debates. It was almost as if the two of them were going out for a beer after the debate.
  2. In general, Vance seemed more polished, more professional, more presidential and in better command of the facts and issues. On the other hand, Walz came across as uncomfortable, nervous and jittery. A few times he exhibited a “deer in the headlights” look.
  3. Once again, the moderators were biased in favor of the Dem. For example, even though all parties had agreed that the moderators would remain neutral and refrain from fact-checking they did so to Vance on a few occasions. Finally, he had to remind them that it had been agreed beforehand they wouldn’t do so.
  4. I objected to the selection of questions. For example, there was no question regarding the violent protests in 2020 that wreaked destruction on many cities, including Minneapolis. As you may recall, Walz had resisted requesting assistance from the MN National Guard for several days. Moreover, he and his wife kept the windows in their home open the better to see, hear and smell the protests and fires in Minneapolis. How weird was that? There was no mention of Walz’ “stolen valor.” He retired from his Guard unit (essentially quit) when he heard it was going to deploy overseas, which has drawn much rancor from other members of his unit. Finally, there was no question on fracking, which is one of, if not the, key issues in the key swing state of PA. These were all issues on which Harris-Walz was vulnerable. I would have loved to hear Walz’s explanation regarding them.
  5. Walz had two particularly bad moments. He uttered two sound bites that people will remember, even those who did not watch the debate. They will likely be repeated over and over again on social media and in political advertisements. (1) He confused a trip to China with one to Hong Kong. That was when he uttered his soon to be famous “knucklehead” comment. The second one was when he stated he had become “friendly” with “school shooters.”
  6. Walz’s best moment occurred with respect to the 2020 election. Vance was reluctant to acknowledge that Trump had lost, but he did denote that Trump had asked demonstrators going to the capitol to protest “peacefully and patriotically” and that Trump had repeatedly requested additional security, which was denied.
  7. The Dems continue to bring up two issues about which they lie – the 2025 Project and abortion. Trump has repeatedly denied any knowledge of or involvement with Project 2025, and he has reiterated time and again that pursuant to SCOTUS’ recent ruling the issue of abortion has been relegated to each state where the voters will decide that state’s policy. Give it up, already!
  8. Walz was weak regarding the ME conflict. He refused to state that Harris’ support for Israel was “iron clad.” Vance pointed out that there had been no conflicts during Trump’s presidency.
  9. The analyses of most commentators fell along party lines, although the NY Times opined that “Vance dominated the debate,” and some members of CNN’s post-debate round table said they were “disappointed” with Walz’s performance. Full disclosure: CNN disclosed that according to its post-debate instant poll there was no “clear-cut” winner.
  10. On the GOP side, Newt Gingrich was particularly effusive in rating Vance’s performance. He commented that he (Vance) showed “exactly how to do it (the debate).” He added that Vance “handled the [biased] moderators [well] and vindicated Trump’s judgment in picking him [as his running mate.”
  11. The implication was that Harris exhibited poor judgement in selecting Walz. That renewed speculation that PA Governor Josh Shapiro would have been the better choice, but he was passed over to appease the antisemitic leftwing of the party.
  12. Initial post-debate polls have shown a slight movement in favor of Trump, but the race remains extremely close with any advantages in the swing states still within the margin for error. Matt Towery, pollster and Fox News political analyst, declared that Vance had the better performance, and that Trump should receive a “bump” (in the polls).
  13. Robert Cahaly, chief pollster for the Trafalgar Group, was particularly impressed with the manner in which Vance handled the issue of climate change. Vance had pointed out that if Harris and her allies truly cared about the effect of fossil fuels on the environment, they would seek to use American-produced energy as it is much cleaner and more environment-friendly than energy produced elsewhere.

CONCLUSION

I wouldn’t place too much emphasis on the VP debate. All the polls say the election remains a virtual dead heat. There is still a month to go before ED, although early voting has already commenced in some states.

History tells us that a lot can happen between now and ED to influence the election. For example, there are four current events – the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene, the war in the ME, the war in Ukraine, and the dockworkers’ strike – any one of which could have a decisive effect. Harris has the chance to boost her candidacy or doom it depending on how she handles them.

Also, there could be some unforeseen event such as a 9/11-style terror attack, another deadly natural disaster or some other unforeseen event. For example, some of you may recall Superstorm Sandy, which occurred on October 29, 2012 and had a significant impact on the 2012 election.

This is a most critical election, and all indications are that it will be historically close and go down to the wire. Stay tuned.

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