With each passing day, the firestorm only builds over fraud that has pilfered hundreds of millions of dollars, and perhaps even more, from the state of Minnesota.
While investigations have gone on for years, the heat has grown in recent months and went viral just this week, when a 23-year-old YouTuber appeared to find numerous and egregious examples on a journey through Minneapolis.
Millions have seen the 42-minute video and raises legitimate questions about what exactly is being done, or not done, with public money.
Nick Shirley visited numerous “child care” facilities that received millions of dollars in public funds, yet the video showed no evidence that these were actual, active childcare facilities and the responses from some that Shirley confronted had all of the appearance of folks caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.
Same for a visit to a facility that had 14 “health care” businesses in one building, yet no evidence that any sort of health care was taking place.
The reaction early this week was both viral and at times comical, with numerous mainstream media outlets latching on to the story and some folks seemingly running for cover.
As a Walz Administration commissioner was telling media outlets that one of the childcare centers under the spotlight had actually gone out of business, there was video of children being dropped off at the same facility, to the surprise of neighbors who said they had never seen previous activity there.
Amid the handwringing and political posturing, and, sadly, even fraud at this level has become a political rather than a right-or-wrong issue, these things should not be that hard to figure out.
We’ll use a local example. Not long ago, the old Revenue Building in Ely was remodeled and repurposed as the Ely Community Hub.
Happy Days Learning Center is one of the prime tenants, and grant funds were allocated to help convert part of that facility to serve a prominent community need: childcare.
Not long after Happy Days opened on Miners Drive, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith came to town to tour the facility, get a look at the childcare operation and even take some photos with many of the kids.
We tagged along with some local elected officials and documented what truly was a feelgood story on many levels.
Thanks to a public-private partnership, Ely filled some of its childcare void and the project was truly one to be celebrated.
Happy Days continues to operate and is making good use of the facility, and there are no questions about whether childcare is taking place on Miners Drive.
You can bet if millions of dollars in state funds were going to an Ely business that didn’t appear to be operating, or to a childcare facility that was hard to determine if it even existed, there would and should be legitimate questions.
It really should not be hard to ascertain if the same is occurring at the many businesses highlighted in the Shirley video, or any other business licensed or receiving public funds.
That applies to childcare, health care or any other service, or to any business receiving millions in public dollars.
It’s disappointing to say the least that fraud of this magnitude has all the appearance of turning political, and no doubt it is tarnishing and will continue to tarnish the legacy of Governor Tim Walz and his administration. The attempts to spin doctor the story or even lash out at the reports have an embarrassing “shoot the messenger” feel.
Instead, all parties, be they Democrat or Republican, the Walz Administration and our local lawmakers, have an obligation to ask questions and repair public trust that has been seriously broken by this scandal.
Get to the bottom of it. Make it right. No matter who is on the receiving end of the checks.
