Walz must be held accountable after years of failures: Howe

Election day is coming, and voting is the best thing we can do to hold our leaders accountable. As for me, I hope I’ve earned your support with my consistent voting record to give the surplus money back, support our law enforcement and get our kids back on track with historic investments for students and literacy teaching resources for teachers.

There is a lot at stake this election. Perhaps nothing is more important than just having competent government that does its job well. Under Walz and DFL leadership at the Capitol, there lies a legacy of failure. The bottom line is that the people of Minnesota deserve better. Walz has failed time and time again in his tenure, all at the expense of taxpayers safety and their hard-earned money. It is inconceivable that someone who has been the source of so many blunders should be re-elected. Walz has failed to provide oversight of his commissioners, failed to hold perpetrators accountable and he has failed Minnesotans.

The first circumstance of failure happened in 2019 when Walz was faced with $100 million in childcare fraud through the Child Care Assistance Program. Even with these findings, Walz not only wanted to increase subsidies to the program but expand its scope. No one has been held accountable for the daycare fraud.Later in 2019, the legislative auditor found “troubling dysfunction” at the Department of Human Services, which led to $29 million in overpayment to two Minnesota tribes. The report stated that the department “did not have legal authority to make the payments,” nor did they document why the payments were made. Payments continued for several years before being investigated and was paid back from our budget to the federal government. No one was held accountable for the overpayment.In 2020, Walz’s failure to act during the riots amassed over $500 million in damages. Walz not only urged protestors to be careful, delayed the deployment of guard members and allowed the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct to burn. Worse than the damages, Walz willfully put the safety of those living in Minneapolis and St. Paul at risk and it ignited violence that spread across our nation. This year we learned of numerous problems with the Southwest Light Rail Extension. The legislative auditor found that the most expensive project in state history was $1.5 billion over budget, and there was no plan to fund costs to complete the project. In the midst of the project’s total failure, Walz suggested using another $200 million for an additional light rail line extension in the north metro area. Walz has held no one accountable for the cost overrun.Most recently, the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future was exposed as the biggest instance of COVID-related fraud in the country. $250 million that was meant to feed hungry children was spent on luxury cars, vacation homes and real estate. Amidst the release of investigation details, Walz claimed a judge forced them to make the payments. Now we know, the judge did not order these payments to continue. Walz lied and held no one accountable. FBI found those that committed the fraud and is holding them accountable.Walz’s entire tenure in office has been plagued with fraud, frivolous spending and a lack of accountability and oversight. Walz should hold commissioners responsible for shortfalls that occur on his watch. He instead passes the buck, blames others and bills the taxpayers. Don’t re-elect Walz and the Democrats he leads, hold Walz accountable and vote for Republicans to restore competency and trust in our government.

― This is the opinion of Sen. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville, Minnesota Senate District 13.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Walz must be held accountable after years of failures: Howe