With the epidemic of fraud perpetrated against Minnesota’s taxpayers making national news and prominent DFLers like Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison under fire for their roles in it, the Star Tribune — which is published by a former member of Gov. Walz’ cabinet — has rushed to their aid.
If at first you don’t succeed…
Last weekend, the paper ran an article titled “Trump claims Minnesota lost billions to fraud. The evidence to date isn’t close.” [Emphasis added] President Trump was, in fact, only quoting former Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson, who said in September:
“To be clear, this is not an isolated scheme. From Feeding Our Future to Housing Stabilization Services and now Autism Services, these massive fraud schemes form a web that has stolen billions of dollars in taxpayer money,” acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in a statement. “Each case we bring exposes another strand of this network. The challenge is immense, but our work continues.” [Emphasis added]
This quote comes from the contemporary Star Tribune report.
Last weekend’s article claimed that “the alleged fraud uncovered to date is closer to $152 million.” This was utterly preposterous and was swiftly demolished by my colleague Bill Glahn and Kare 11’s Lou Raguse.
…try…
The article was so bad that, in what was turning into the most disastrous rescue mission since Operation Eagle Claw, the Star Tribune was forced to issue a correction to its story:
Correction: An earlier version of this story did not include two significant fraud cases involving a separate sponsor in the meals program. Federal prosecutors obtained convictions against five people involved with Empire Cuisine & Market and a guilty plea from the owner of Haji’s Kitchen. Prosecutors said those two entities defrauded the government of $66 million, bringing the total amount of alleged fraud involving state-run social services programs in Minnesota to $217.7 million to date. Partners in Nutrition, the nonprofit sponsor of those two entities, has not been charged.
The article now reads “A review of court records shows the alleged fraud uncovered to date is closer to $218 million.” One wonders why the authors insist on referring to “alleged” fraud when talking about schemes where “prosecutors obtained convictions;” we do not call Ted Bundy an “alleged” serial killer. One doesn’t wonder for very long.
…try again
This estimate is little more credible than the previous, now retracted one. Still feeling the heat, however, the Star Tribune has had another go with an article titled “How the Minnesota Star Tribune analyzed alleged fraud totals in Minnesota.”
But if you start reading the article under the impression that you will learn how the Minnesota Star Tribune analyzed “alleged” fraud totals in Minnesota and generated its new estimate of $218 million, you will be disappointed. It doesn’t actually tell you. The article explains that:
To answer that question we conducted our own accounting based on court records, criminal charges and convictions across dozens of cases that have dominated headlines in the state for years.
But, as my colleague Bill Glahn explains:
They do not specify which of the dozens of food fraud cases they did include. They also do not explain why a dozen or so other frauds are omitted entirely from their analysis.
Given that the Star Tribune‘s first estimate was off by 43% even on its own bogus terms, we might be forgiven for demanding more transparency before taking its latest attempt at an estimate at all seriously. In the meantime, Bill Glahn shows all the working behind his estimate on his famous ScandalTrackerTM.
Next year is an election year. The Star Tribune may, at some point, offer “Fact Checks.” If they do, bear this embarrassing episode in mind.