There are many types of fraud: theft of government property, theft of government services, fraudulent applications for government funds. Some are small… a few hundred dollars here or there. Some are larger… thousands received under false pretenses. Some are massive… millions or billions stolen right in front of our eyes.
I served as the mayor of a small town. I’ve been employed by government. My husband was foreman of a grand jury dealing with political corruption. We’ve seen and experienced a lot.
The fraud in Minnesota comes as no surprise. The scope of it does. Where was someone in government questioning the millions of tax dollars flowing who knows where? Watching all 43 minutes of this video is shocking and eye-opening.
Investigating fraud has nothing to do with skin color or countries of origin. It has to do with character or lack thereof.
I was in office 6 days when one of the largest snowstorms ever hit the northeast. A few weeks later, after thawing and freezing, many homeowners had significant water damage caused by ice thawing and backing up under eaves. An employee was in my office and we were chatting about this. Without blinking an eye, he suggested that to avoid the issue I head over to Public Works and grab a couple of buckets of “ice ban” (used to prevent icing on streets). If I threw it up on my roof, problem solved. He so casually suggested that I steal publicly purchased materials that it was evident to me he saw nothing wrong with it. The minute he left my office, I shared the conversation with his manager and said “If I ever catch that SOB or anyone else stealing from the taxpayers, I’ll fire them on the spot.” That was in 1996. I reported one employee to the county prosecutor with proof of what should have been considered “theft of services”: doing work for a private company on town time. I was informed, in writing, that this “didn’t rise to the level of a crime”.
This is how it goes in government. A little theft here, a little work for a private company there, repairs on a private home in return for help with getting a development approved… blind eyes turned to it all.
Elgin: $6 million taxpayer dollars missing. Bastrop: $25,000 taxpayer funds handed to an alleged non-profit with no subsequent reconciliation.
This is just what we know about. Tip of the iceberg? Likely yes.
I’ve been teaching a “Data & Research” class to teach those who are interested how to obtain, research, parse, and evaluate government data. There are many ways to circumvent transparency. If you’re interested in attending these classes, email me. These are your tax dollars being “inappropriately used”.