Democrats' knives come out for Walz

run away!

After studiously ignoring the scandal up to now, the NYT has finally “discovered” that there’s trouble in River City, and published a front page story this week on the Somalian scandal in Minneapolis. Not, as Powerline points out, because it’s suddenly news — Minnesota-based PowerLine and HotAir’s David Strom have been separately reporting on the fraud for several years —but because the Democrats want rid of the fat buffoon who’s dragging down the party’s prospects.

Sending a message

Scott and John have already covered the amazing piece today in the New York Times, under the headline,

How Fraud Swamped Minnesota’s Social Services System on Tim Walz’s Watch.

See the best quotes here. There is nothing truly goundbreaking in the story. You, dear reader, have heard it all before: first on this site, then later in the New York Post and the Daily Mail.

What’s different this time is that it’s in the New York Times. So people (Democrats, Independents) who have been in denial, or haven’t been paying attention, are now paying attention.

You are not the intended audience. The New York Times report has an intended audience of one: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The feckless two-term governor was a catastrophe as a Vice Presidential candidate, and his bid for a third-term is dragging down the whole enterprise.

Walz heading the Democratic ticket in November 2026 could lead to a loss of the state and threaten the state’s electoral vores in 2028.

Democrats are telling Walz that he needs to go. Will he listen?

Mind you, there’s plenty to blame on Walz, as these (presumably Democrat) state workers will, now, happily attest. Interesting that they’re only coming forward at this time — did their party bosses prod them?

Minnesota government workers blame Walz for 'massive fraud' amid allegations against Somali community

More than 400 current staff members say governor 'systematically retaliated' against whistleblowers

More than 400 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) accused Gov. Tim Walz of failing to act on widespread fraud warnings and retaliating against whistleblowers.

The Minnesota Department of Human Service Employees account, which says it consists of more than 480 current staff members at the Minnesota DHS, wrote on X that Walz is "100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota."

"We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response. Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports," the group claimed. "In addition to retaliating against whistleblower[s], Tim Walz disempowered the Office of the Legislative Auditor, allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and guidance."

Excerpt fron the Times story — as noted , this will come s news onky to NYT readers, but there are (atill) a lot of them out there.

The fraud scandal that rattled Minnesota was staggering in its scale and brazenness.

Federal prosecutors charged dozens of people with felonies, accusing them of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from a government program meant to keep children fed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At first, many in the state saw the case as a one-off abuse during a health emergency. But as new schemes targeting the state’s generous safety net programs came to light, state and federal officials began to grapple with a jarring reality.

Over the last five years, law enforcement officials say, fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social services that were never provided.

Federal prosecutors say that 59 people have been convicted in those schemes so far, and that more than $1 billion in taxpayers’ money has been stolen in three plots they are investigating. That is more than Minnesota spends annually to run its Department of Corrections. Minnesota’s fraud scandal stood out even in the context of rampant theft during the pandemic, when Americans stole tens of billions through unemployment benefits, business loans and other forms of aid, according to federal auditors.

Outrage has swelled among Minnesotans, and fraud has turned into a potent political issue in a competitive campaign season. Gov. Tim Walz and fellow Democrats are being asked to explain how so much money was stolen on their watch, providing Republicans, who hope to take back the governor’s office in 2026, with a powerful line of attack.