(Editor’s Note: The following column was submitted by Mary Kiffmeyer.)

Throughout the pandemic, the Minnesota nonprofit ‘Feeding Our Future’ claimed to carry out its mission of providing meals to children by ensuring “programs are easily able to receive funding to purchase nutritious meals and snacks.” The reality, however, is that this organization was carrying out a massive scheme that defrauded the government of more than $250 million in Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. And recently, the U.S. Dept. of Justice announced federal criminal charges against the director of the Feeding Our Future nonprofit and 47 other people.

These individuals are now facing charges ranging from conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery. This scheme took place by Feeding Our Future employees submitting fraudulent meal count sheets with fabricated names of children and numbers of meals served at each site. Instead of feeding the children of Minnesota, federal prosecutors found that taxpayer dollars were used to purchase luxury items, including coastal resort property, cars, and jewelry. FBI Director Christopher Wray even went as far as calling this horrific exploitation the “largest pandemic relief fraud scheme yet.” 

My Senate Republican colleagues and I have been sounding the alarm on Feeding Our Future for months. In early 2022, I joined several of my colleagues on letters to the Office of the State Auditor and the Dept. of Management and Budget requesting thorough audits of the Feeding Our Future grant. 

The Senate Education and Policy Committee also held three public hearings during the legislative session to determine how this massive fraud scheme took place under the watch of the Minnesota Dept. of Education (MDE) – the state agency assigned to oversee and administer the child nutrition funds in question and whose commissioner was appointed by Governor Tim Walz. This interim, the Committee continued its investigation into MDE’s role, and the report summary showed three takeaways: 1) MDE did not follow state and federal law; 2) the agency lacked accountability; and 3) they continue to deny their deficiencies. This summary notes that the unprecedented times during the pandemic may have made MDE’s administration of the nutrition programs more difficult. However, the agency’s vast lack of oversight greatly amplified the scope of the loss and resulted in the misuse of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Additionally, Feeding Our Future is a harsh reminder of why we need better nonprofit oversight. And that is why Senate Republicans put forward a bill this session to ensure accountability of nonprofits and protect taxpayer dollars from misuse. This legislation contains language that would ensure nonprofits receiving grants from the state of Minnesota have the track record of quality financial management. It would have changed the requirements for grants going to tax exempt nongovernmental organization, including requiring the organization to submit two years of IRS Form 990 and prohibiting the hiring of public employees or elected officials. I strongly believe that legislation such as this is vital to ensuring a massive scheme like Feeding Our Future does not happen again.

The Walz administration and MDE need to be held accountable for their actions, or lack thereof, that lead to the abuse of millions of taxpayer dollars. And it’s clear that this was not the sole instance of tax dollar misuse during the pandemic.

On the same week that the Feeding Our Future criminal charges were announced, Senate Republicans held a hearing on the Office of the Legislative Auditor’s (OLA) performance report on the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ COVID-19 related grants. OLA also released a new report on the Minnesota Department of Health’s COVID-19 related grants. And in both instances, the audits show poor oversight and lack of accountability of grant dollars.

Just as Walz appointed MDE’s commissioners, the governor too appointed commissioners to head these two agencies, and therefore, holds ultimate responsibility. But Walz has remained silent on holding any of his commissioners accountable. And in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, the governor even diverted the blame and asserted the judge who allowed payments to continue to the nonprofit should be investigated. The fault lies with the Walz administration, not the judicial branch.

State officials and agencies need to be the best public stewards of taxpayer dollars. However, Feeding Our Future and these agency performance audits further indicate how the governor has once again failed Minnesota and allowed fraud and abuse of taxpay dollars to flourish.