Walz will have to quit his race

[question everything]

All of a sudden with so many opinions and stories Walz will have to attend to them.

The WSJ alone had five different opinion pieces. Yes, the WSJ and the NYT and all of a sudden many are paying attention. I admit, I did not follow the trail of the Feeding our Future; spouse did. But one of the first WSJ op ed - by someone whom I detest, never read - pointed that no one paid any attetnion until the NYT had the story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/fraud-minnesota-somali.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6E8.XD-T.v2n3Pt6sve1Y&smid=url-share

And I have been wondering why this topic did not come when Harris was vetting Walz; how come the topic did not come during the campaign. At least, I don't remember it being discussed.

And now the White House issued a paper "Yes, There’s Something Wrong with Walz” — and it Cost Taxpayers $1 Billion." And the House oversight committee is launching an investigation.

And it does not matter whether Walz said that the Somalis are an important voting block, or whether an attorney commented that “It was like someone was stealing money from the cookie jar and they kept refilling it.”

These events happened under Walz' administration. It will be as it was with Senator Franken: each day there were new "revelations"
and he realized that he could not do his job if he had to attend to these allegations.

Walz will have hard time just governing in this atmosphere, not to mention running a campaign.

By dropping his race, someone else will have time to mount a campaign, not wait until the August primaries.

This is sad, but this is reality and I hope that Walz will do what is best for Minnesota.

(I am not sure about Steve Simon or Keith Ellison or others, but I am sure there are good Democrats who can mount a decent campaign).

[underpants]

1. I don't know the details but Damn.

[Raven123]

2. He needs to quit because the NYT, WaPo and the White House say so?

[question everything]

4. And the House is starting an investigation

[Raven123]

12. Why are the NYT and WaPo spending time on a Minnesota governor?

I have no idea what is going on, but without more information something is just off.

[question everything]

14. Feeding our Future is the largest Covid related fraud in the country

[Raven123]

15. This was being pursued before Trump became president

Why is it getting so much attention NOW?

[question everything]

16. No, did not make it to national media. And since then they were put to trial and sent to jail

and many were found to be involved in additional frauds.

This put safety nets into question - the Rs love it - that a House committee is starting to investigate.

If Walz will have to constantly explain and defend it will take time from him governing and running, just as it was with Franken.

[Raven123]

20. If every Dem that Trump targets steps aside, there will be no Dems

I don’t have all the information on this topic, but I would not jump on the step aside Walz train yet. Doing so is EXACTLY what Trump wants. Omar is his next target, if not targets already by this issue. It’s a three-fer. - Walz, Omar and immigrants.

[Biophilic]

3. What the heck are you talking about?

Everyone is hysterical and no one is making any sense. What are you talking about?

[question everything]

6. Here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/105915140

[Biophilic]

9. Yup, let's go after our own, chew them up and leave them lying in the gutter. We're good at that.

Compared to what trump and the gop are doing, so what. This is not politics as usual time. Dems attacking their own with vigor but being gentle with the other side. We don’t want to appear biased.

[Lovie777]

5. No he does not.......

[Keepthesoulalive]

7. I think the governor and the people of Minnesota should decide

They have investigated others for fraud and it hasn’t worked too well. Don’t follow republican toadies down the rabbit hole. Epstein.

[Lovie777]

8. Yep....

Better yet turn the GQP investigations on them they are far from saints, especially this Republican Party, shithole, comrades, administration, cabinet and the judicial system including the 6 US SC justices.

[IA8IT]

10. I wonder how many billions trump cartel gained in the time it took me to read NYT story

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/fraud-minnesota-somali.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7E8.iGax.ABCTpA9U9LwL&smid=url-share

At first, many in the state saw the case as a one-off abuse during a health emergency. But as new schemes targeting the state’s generous safety net programs came to light, state and federal officials began to grapple with a jarring reality.

Over the last five years, law enforcement officials say, fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social services that were never provided.

Federal prosecutors say that 59 people have been convicted in those schemes so far, and that more than $1 billion in taxpayers’ money has been stolen in three plots they are investigating. That is more than Minnesota spends annually to run its Department of Corrections. Minnesota’s fraud scandal stood out even in the context of rampant theft during the pandemic, when Americans stole tens of billions through unemployment benefits, business loans and other forms of aid, according to federal auditors.



I'm not ready to go the full "George Clooney"

[Raven123]

13. Exactly. Trump is taking payoffs, his cabinet is corrupt, but let's go after Minnesota

There has to be another layer to this story I am missing.

[MichMan]

17. NGO were awarded contracts by Minnesota to feed hungry people

They stole a billion dollars of taxpayer money and still left people hungry. You don't see an issue with that?

It looks like nearly all of the prosecutions were done at the federal level.

[progree]

11. I have been hearing/reading Feeding Our Future Scandal for at least 3 years on MPR and on the other local

news sites I read every day - KSTP and Kare, so this is not suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

Anyone can do a Google search and set the dates to back whenever like from 2021 to 2023 to see what comes up -- plenty

https://www.google.com/search?q=feeding+our+future&num=10&sca_esv=8df951587e50b476&sxsrf=AE3TifMB0_l-22zkNuwIAeUTnd6sJnRcBQ%3A1765156169873&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F2021%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F2023&tbm=

Edited to change the link above. For some reason I was getting a lot of results outside the date range, and a huge number from Sahan Journal, so I closed my browser and tried again /End Edit
.
As just one example, this from 2022 which I posted a few days ago here in the Minnesota group --
Editor's note: Why Sahan Journal is reporting on alleged fraud in the federal meals program, 2/21/22
https://www.democraticunderground.com/105915140#post8

But I don't recall back then being so focused on Walz until recently. (It was then considered more a system failure at a time of the Covid crisis where keeping people from going hungry was the ultimate priority). Thankfully it didn't come up much during the 2024 campaign, but I guess it didn't matter much anyway. Just my recollections/impressions.

[dflprincess]

18. There seems to be a concerted effort to attack Walz coming from the administration

and it's allies. I have to wonder why he scares them so much.

I'm a little concerned that if they manage to really taint him with stuff it may not just hurt him but our chances in the other races as well (Ellison seems especially vulnerable as the media keeps ignoring that he did try to bring the fraud to the feds attention).

Though, the only way I can see a real disaster is 1) if Democrats don't show up to vote or 2) if the Republicans come to their senses and nominate an Arnie Carlson type - and we all know that won't happen

[question everything]

22. Why is Tim Walz Running? - Tom Honer, Minneapolis Times

Last fall Horner explained why this R was voting for Harris/Walz.

========================

Worry among DFLers over Gov. Tim Walz’s candidacy for an unprecedented third consecutive term has gone from whispers to persistent chatter. The level of angst hasn’t yet reached the intensity provoked by President Biden’s candidacy after his dismal 2024 debate with Donald Trump, but concern is growing.

DFL anxiety ratcheted up several notches in recent days when Minnesota’s fraud scandals became national news and included unsubstantiated allegations that some of the stolen public funds have gone to finance the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab. President Donald Trump, increasingly eager to deflect from his own mountain of bad news, lashed out at Walz, Minnesota and the Somali community in especially strident and offensive language.

The scope of fraud under Walz’s watch is serious, having reached several hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen taxpayer funds. Adding to public outrage is the sheer audacity of the perpetrators and what seems to be willful blindness by government managers to what was happening in plain sight. A housing program, for example, was launched in 2020 with an annual cost projected to be $2.6 million. Within four years, annual costs soared past $100 million. How is it that one program grows to 40 times initial cost estimates before anyone either questions the competency of those making the original budget projections or raises suspicions of fraud?

Through all this, Walz often has seemed disengaged, and sometimes even dismissive of the fraud. “The programs are set up to improve people’s lives, and in many cases, the criminals find the loopholes,” Walz told the New York Times, almost suggesting rampant theft is just a fact of life in government programs.

https://minneapolistimes.com/why-is-tim-walz-running/

[Buddyzbuddy]

19. Did Gov. Walz commit the fraud? No.

Did he lie or try to undermine the investigation, no. To paraphrase, he said we have to do better.
There is no need to Al Franken the Gov. It makes me wonder what the real agenda here is.
Yes, this fraud occurred under Gov. Walz. But the investigations and charges against the con artists began 3 years ago under the Biden Administration and Garland's Justice Dept. not this administration as some people would have you believe. The intent of the program was to help those in need at a time of dire straits in America. We have politicians currently in office that took direct advantage of these programs. Where are those articles. Senator Tim Scott is on the the worst fraudsters currently in office having ripped off the American taxpayers through Medicare. The current President is the biggest perpetrator of fraud in the history of the United States.
But, oh yeah, let's go after the well intentioned Gov. whose administration was taken advantage of.

The statements by the Felon and this administration serve two purposes
1. They trash a man who is a possible contender for higher office whom is liked by voters and 2. The Felon gets to discriminate and trash Somalians as a whole.

If Gov. Walz is guilty of criminality, it will come out and the Republicans will make sure of it. But we as Democrats are doing a great disservice by tearing down a man because it serves their agenda.

DO BETTER.

[question everything]

23. Using whataboutism?

He is not “guilty of criminality.” but it happened white he was the boss.

[iemanja]

25. If you don't like him, don't vote for him

You don’t get to decide for the rest of us.

[Buddyzbuddy]

26. They're called facts. If the best you can do is to trash a man's character to eliminate him from contention

in IMHO you have failed. I think his greatest strength just might be his character which you seem to have targeted with a weak story of managerial failure. I get it, you have taken it upon yourself to help eliminate him from the contenders by running with the Republican strategy to attack him early in the race even if it's only a slim possibility he might run. His character is what stands out the most in this slimy, dirty life of politics.
I for one don't know whom I will vote for in the primary but I know I won't eliminate Gov. Walz over this weak crap.
It will be interesting to see if I'm correct about a certain agenda. Only time will tell and I'll definitely be watching.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

21. I wouldn't say he has to quit the race, but he's got to tighten up what his message about this is, because it's going to

take up a lot of oxygen in the coming months.

[iemanja]

24. Yeah, let the right choose out next governor

Makes sense for right-wingers.