Nearly twenty years ago I covered Keith Ellison’s first campaign for Congress extremely closely. I talked to sources all around the United States in the course of the campaign. I have an Ellison file six inches thick deriving from my work on that campaign.
Star Tribune reporter Rochelle Olson covered that campaign for the Star Tribune. Her coverage essentially performed public relations on its behalf. Her motto was not there’s no cheering in the press box. That much I can tell you. To take just one example of her malicious and misleading work, see my October 2006 post “Errors and omissions.”
A day or two after Ellison defeated his Republican opponent in that campaign I appeared on a panel with Olson to discuss the election results. She went ballistic when I undiplomatically described the nature of her reporting on the campaign. She thought she did a good job, or was at any rate was doing her best.
The Star Tribune has now rewarded Olson with a position on the editorial board and with a column focused on politics and governance. The editorial board recently interviewed Acting United States Attorney Joe Thompson about the cases we have followed on Power Line.
The first Feeding Our Future cases were charged by United States Attorney Andy Luger in 2022. From the outset one could see that the fraud involved was gross and massive. A large cast of almost entirely Somali participants took part in the fraud and others since.
Olson takes a leap into the void of the Star Tribune consciousness in her column “U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson: Fraud is stealing Minnesota’s way of life.” Olson confesses near the top: “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.”
As Tonto said to the Lone Ranger, “What you mean ‘we,’ white man?”
Olson somehow fails to mention the large cast of Somali defendants in the cases Joe Thompson discussed with the board. “Our smugness” haven’t been rousted to that extent.
Olson mentions the possible nonfeasance of Tim Walz in the massive frauds that have occurred under his nose. She doesn’t mention his attribution of blame to Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann’s and Judge Guthman’s unprecedented statement of September 2022 calling out Walz and the Star Tribune as liars. “Our smugness” has not gone so far as apology or humility.
Olson’s column includes some classic quotes from Mr. Thompson. It is worth reading for the quotes.
“Our state is far and away the leader in fraud now and everyone sees it.”
Olson adds in her own voice: “Thompson’s not — at the moment — running for office…” Olson doesn’t want her readers to think that she has let her guard down.
She adds: “…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.”
Back to Thompson: “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.”
“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.”
“It’s proven right now that folks can find the loopholes [for fraud in the government programs],” he said.
Olson comments: “That message should have landed a few years ago with the initial Feeding our Future indictments.”
Well, there was that “smugness” that might have prevented it from “landing.”
Back to Thompson: “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?”
“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.
In keeping with her performance as a reporter on the Ellison campaign nearly 20 years, the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota goes entirely unmentioned in Olson’s column.
One more thing. Here is a photo of Olson on her way to cover the 2024 Democratic convention as a Star Tribune reporter. That’s Olson at the right flashing her Team DNC badge or cookie (?).
