Gov. Walz’ political career lies in ruins and he isn’t taking it well. Yesterday, in a bizarre rant, he took aim at U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson:
In fact, Thompson has skilfully used the findings of the FBI’s diligent investigations to bring criminal charges against suspected fraudsters in Minnesota, securing no fewer than 57 convictions. This is 57 more convictions than Gov. Walz’ incompetent and indifferent administration has secured, despite their lies to the contrary. As U.S. Attorney Dan Rosen puts it:
Gov. Walz’s comments about First Assistant US Attorney Thompson constitute a contemptible attack on a federal prosecutor and a betrayal of the governor’s oath of office. Joe Thompson is an outstanding public servant who has my full confidence and that of the people of Minnesota.
The timing of this tantrum was particularly significant. It came on the same day that the Office of the Legislative Auditor released a scathing audit of the grant making process at yet another Minnesota Human Services program, the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA). As my colleague Bill Walsh noted yesterday, besides the usual incompoetence and indifference to taxpayer’s money which we have come to expect from this administration, some of what is going on is corruption, plain and simple:
First, an employee of BHA approved a grant for $672,647.78 to a grantee and then immediately started working for them after approving the payment! From the audit:
“The BHA grant manager who approved the $672,647.78 payment left DHS a few days after approving it and later started to provide consulting services to the grantee. We asked BHA management whether they questioned such a large reimbursement request for just one month of work. BHA management said that due to limited information in the grant”
Second, the auditor said BHA staff were manipulating documentation during the audit, even backdating forms to fool the auditors!
There are rumors that the party knew this shoe was about to drop and that it was the straw that broke the governor’s backers. The governor is in office for another year. Let us hope he can conduct himself with a little more dignity.
