Jensen calls for investigation, school board resignation
Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen on Monday called for a special investigation into the administration of Governor Tim Waltz’s administration’s handling of the Feeding Our Future fraud case and the resignation of the Minnesota Department of Education commissioner.
“So I’m going to have the Special Agents come in and report back by October 17th so that the people of Minnesota can chew it up, and I’m going to have the debates on October 18th and 28th to talk about that topic. I’m going to ask you to be able to have a conversation that includes,” Jensen said at a press conference at the State Capitol. Jensen then added: no one is telling the truth ”
Jensen and Lt. Gov. Matt Burke also called for the resignation of Minnesota Board of Education Heather Mueller.
“If $250 million goes missing in the private world, this is a fireable crime,” Burke said at a news conference. sought the resignation of
In the most recent flare-up of the Feeding Our Future case, Walz said on Thursday that a Ramsey County judge has ordered the Department of Education to reinstate payments to Feeding Our Future despite evidence that fraud may have occurred. It started when I claimed to have ordered.
“We have taken steps to stop payments,” the governor said. “My commissioner was threatened with imprisonment if he didn’t pay…the judge ruled in contempt of court. We accepted the sentence.”
At a separate press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked, “Do you think the judge who ordered your education department to resume payments should resign?” The governor said, “Frankly, I hope there will be an inquiry into it because I understand my position and separation of powers here. We respected the judge’s decision.” Moments later, he added of the ruling he believed the judge had handed down: I can’t believe this verdict has been handed down. I really didn’t know what to say. Obviously we had to respect that. ”
RELATED: Judge denounces Walz’s claim that he ordered MDE to resume payments to Feeding Our Future
The next day, in an unusual move, Justice John Guzman issued a rare reprimand from the Justice Department, saying, “For inaccurate remarks by the governor, the school board, and the media…”
Guthmann said Walz had said since at least February that his administration had been ordered to resume payments to Feeding Our Future. In a news release on Friday, Guthmann said, “I have never ordered the Ministry of Education to resume payments to FOF…” The judge has never publicly stated that Waltz’ statements and media reports were inaccurate.
The Waltz administration and the Ministry of Education responded Friday with a 73-page court record that alleges the judge threatened to downplay court sanctions if he stopped paying.
Earlier in the day, Republican Attorney General candidate Jim Schultz and Republican Auditor candidate Ryan Wilson warned their respective opponents, Democrats Keith Ellison and Julie Braha, about not stopping fraud. Ellison’s office issued a release Monday about its two-year effort on the Feeding Our Future case.