In September then-Acting United States Attorney Joe Thompson sent up one of his red flags about Minnesota’s massive public-programs fraud committed by an almost exclusively Somali cast of perpetrators, The Star Tribune reported Thompson’s shout-out to the state powers-that-be:
“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.
Two months later Minnesota Department of Human Service Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi has “issue[d] a temporay adult day care licensing moratorium” (letter here). She’s temporary. The moratorium is temporary. It’s a sort of bombing pause in one of Minnesota’s 14 “waivered” Medicaid programs that Thompson has called it.
As Operation Walz conintues, the Star Tribune quotes the governor: “The announcement was the first in series of state updates on fraud-fighting efforts. Gov. Tim Walz said last week his administration should be doing more to keep people informed on such efforts.”
Gee, if only Walz were in a position to do something about it.
“We are shifting resources to stop accepting and reviewing new applications for businesses and focusing our resources on oversight of existing businesses,” DHS Inspector General James Clark said. “It’s one of many actions we’re taking to tighten oversight and prevent and detect fraud.”
Woo hoo!
It makes you wonder if Star Tribune reporters and editors read their own paper. The nonfeasance of Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison in the monumental fraud that has drained our pockets and enriched some of their grateful constituents remains a story waiting to be written.
