ÍáÍáÂþ»­

ST. PAUL — Minnesota House Republicans attacked DFL leadership on Monday for a lack of accountability after hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud was discovered by a government watchdog agency over the course of five years.

Specifically, the GOP has laid the blame at the feet of Gov. Tim Walz's administration for a failure to oversee several state departments properly.

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, also called for an end to the DFL trifecta in state government. All 134 Minnesota House of Representatives seats are open this election season.

"The Legislature has to hold the agencies accountable," Demuth said. "We are the ones that are appropriating funds and why would we continually appropriate funds going forward if there's no accountability for the problems that have been noted in the past?"

On Monday, Demuth focused on fraud found by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA), which recently released a report that the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) failed to properly oversee a food program that led to rampant fraud and dozens of people charged — and five so far convicted — in federal court.

The OLA's report highlighted MDE's lack of oversight over the Twin Cities nonprofit Feeding our Future, saying that the department knew of red flags years before federal charges were brought against 70 people involved in an alleged $250 million fraud.

"We found MDE’s oversight of Feeding Our Future to be inadequate," Legislative Auditor Judy Randall and Special Reviews Director Katherine Theisen wrote in their report. "In fact, we believe MDE’s actions and inactions created opportunities for fraud."

The OLA is a nonpartisan agency that provides oversight over programs enacted by the Legislature.

"Feeding our Future was an appalling abuse of a program intended to feed kids. But those involved have no escaped accountability — dozens of have been charged, and several are now behind bars," a spokesperson for Walz said. "The state has taken strong steps to find and eliminate vulnerabilities in government programs and we are constantly evaluating ways to improve."

In response to OLA's reports, the Legislature and Walz developed additional tools over the last two years to help catch fraud in government programs, according to House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park.

In addition, Hortman said the Legislature has mandated more oversight of government spending which includes more stringent requirements for people who receive taxpayer money.

"When people engaged in fraud steal taxpayer dollars, they deprive Minnesotans of valuable government services. Any misuse of public funds is serious and must be addressed," Hortman said.

During a June hearing before the Legislative Audit Commission, MDE Commissioner Willie Jett declined to place blame for the lack of oversight but Demuth said someone needs to be held accountable.

"This falls squarely on the shoulders of our governor," Demuth said Monday. "He has got to take responsibility if those in his administration and the commissioners that he has hand-selected are not willing to take responsibility then he needs to."

Demuth also took issue with five years of OLA reports that highlighted mismanaged or noncompliant state agencies as it pertains to government spending, including about $205 million in unverified payments to people through a Frontline Worker Pay bonuses program in 2023.

Earlier this summer, the OLA recommended to the Legislature that it either establish criteria in statute or give MDE the authority to conduct rulemaking to establish application criteria for the bonuses.

In addition, the OLA had these recommendations for MDE:

• Take additional steps to verify information sponsors provide.
• Place a greater emphasis on program integrity and risk-based monitoring if oversight requirements are waived again in the future.
• Revise its complaint investigation procedures.
• Prioritize independent fact-finding.
• Limit information it shares with the subject of a complaint.
• Evaluate recent statutory changes related to its investigative authority.