EDITORIAL: Food program Fraud prosecution more important than blame game

Sep. 30—The expected political fallout and finger pointing from the alleged $250 million fraud case in a pandemic child feeding program managed by the Minnesota Department of Education can be spread wide and far, it seems, and taxpayers deserve to know who made mistakes and who made egregious mistakes.

Gov. Tim Walz and his Department of Education, as well as Attorney General Keith Ellison, in hindsight could have taken stronger action to stop the alleged fraud considered the biggest involving federal pandemic money. But Ramsey County Judge John Guthmann also issued statements and orders in the dispute between the state and the feeding program that were contradictory and, if challenged, carried legal risk for the state and threatened to undermine the FBI's investigation.

Former Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, who was not involved in the case, told the Star Tribune how it was understandable given Guthmann's statements that the state decided it needed to continue the payments to the group.

The mixed messages caused the state to back off denying Feeding Our Future applications for funding. It was taking the department considerable time to investigate if Feeding was meeting the rules for funding. The nonprofit took an aggressive posture, challenging the department at every turn legally, filing suit and alleging racism.

Guthmann correctly states that he never "ordered" the state to continue paying Feeding, but a transcript of a three-hour long meeting had the judge repeatedly telling the state they had no grounds, according to federal rules, to stop payments. And therein lies another problem: federal rules that are so complicated and convoluted they're a heyday for lawyers and thwart decisive action by watchdog agencies.

When U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger charged 48 people of fraud, including a case of a Mankato man, it's clear the FBI and the U.S. Attorney had done an impressive thorough investigation and completed it relatively quickly.

Walz and education department officials point to their need to keep that investigation quiet as to reasons they didn't challenge Guthmann's orders or statements. They cooperated fully with the FBI, and the FBI did its job.

Still, it's important to get to the bottom of what could have been done better. It would be good to hear from the FBI just how important the Walz administration's plan to not challenge the judge's statements or orders played into the success of their investigation.

When asked about the culpability of the Minnesota Department of Education, Lugar told the Star Tribune: ""That is not for me to say. We are pleased by the thorough cooperation we got from MDE throughout this investigation."

In the end, that's the most important thing here. Taxpayers wouldn't be better off if the Walz administration had challenged the payments, having to investigate the group, thereby blowing the FBI's investigation or cover. They're better off because alleged criminals have been caught. The system worked.