"This historic fraud happened under her watch, and suddenly, she’s looking out for Medicaid and SNAP? Sell it to someone else, Peggy."With this debate response to Minnesota Democratic Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan’s protestations of concern over access to benefits for the very poor, Republican nominee for Senate Michele Tafoya sealed her status as "rookie of the year" in American politics.A longtime NFL broadcast professional, Tafoya demonstrated decades of quick on-camera thinking in her debate last week with Flanagan and combined it with a deft slash at Flanagan’s greatest vulnerability: Flanagan’s apprenticeship as lieutenant governor to Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz during the tidal wave of fraud that swept across Minnesota after Covid-era "look-the-other-way" policies became a feature, not a bug, in Minnesota’s vast system of "safety net" programs.‘BUCK’ STOPS AT WALZ: FLANAGAN DUCKS MINNESOTA FRAUD BLAME AS GOP RIVAL EXPOSES GLARING CONTRADICTIONA federal prosecutor estimated the amount of fraud in Minnesota’s spending at as much as $9 billion — that’s a "b" as in "billion." That is a remarkable sum given the Gopher State’s population of fewer than 6 million souls and an annual budget of about $67 billion.
To squander an amount equal to close to 15% of a state’s budget on thieves and con artists is staggering.That level of corruption forced Walz to drop his planned campaign for re-election and now dogs Flanagan in her head-to-head campaign with Tafoya for the Senate.WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGESAs does the rising fear of gangs of Somali-American youths and the sort of violence that recently stunned suburban Twin Cities voters when a shootout occurred at an Eden Prairie high school homecoming game.Eden Prairie is a standard-issue affluent suburban town of about 65,000 people.Fewer than 3,000 Somali-Americans live in Eden Prairie, but the gang shootout on October 2 at Aerie Stad...