Minnesota Fraud Committee Chair Accuses Tim Walz of ‘Turning a Blind Eye’ to Her Repeated Warnings

(Screengrab via YouTube) (Julia Nikhinson | Credit: AP)

The Republican chair of the Minnesota Fraud Committee, state representative Kristin Robbins, accused Governor Tim Walz of ignoring her repeated warnings about widespread fraud in the state’s taxpayer-funded daycare system.

Robbins, a declared GOP candidate for governor seeking to challenge Walz next year, says she alerted his administration last year to serious concerns that some daycare providers were siphoning off public funds despite extensive compliance violations. According to Robbins, those warnings were met with inaction.

Renewed scrutiny, however, came following a viral investigation last week by independent journalist Nick Shirley, showing visits to several state-funded daycare facilities that appeared to be operating without children.

Standing outside one location featured in Shirley’s investigation, Robbins said: “I gave the Department of Human Services a list of day care providers getting over $1 million in the previous year from the state who had numerous violations, and this day care was one of them on the list.”

“They can’t say they didn’t know. We had a hearing on it. We gave them a list, and nothing has happened,” she continued. “I find it shocking that this is still happening when we flagged something over and over again.”

She added: “In Minnesota, we’ve been ground zero for fraud, unfortunately. This is a pattern across multiple programs, and despite numerous red flags, we keep seeing it.”

Robbins went on to claim that only in recent weeks, after public scrutiny intensified, did the Walz administration begin halting payments and pausing new providers.

“They’ve started saying they are stopping payments to different programs and pausing new providers, which is welcome, but until this firestorm erupted, they’ve done nothing,” she said. “He has turned a blind eye for so long that he cannot deny there were so many whistleblower reports, so many media reports. For them to say we did not know is just not true.”

The Republican lawmaker said that Walz “absolutely shouldn’t be re-elected” and that it would “help” if he “resigned now.”

“What we need is a new governor who is going to clean house and have a no fraud, no excuses culture,” she concluded.