The mess in Minnesota

 

 

 

"It seems that someone has spilled the beans on a major non-profit. This might just be a beginning of a sad, sad tale..."

Some have asked why in the heck we need a state auditor. What possible function could that person serve? Is not our state well run? In fact, what is wrong with the auditor we presently have? Well, please allow me once again to be Dr. Rain Cloud.

You would have to have been living in a cave not to hear about the Community Action of Minneapolis issue. Or should I say a mess. One of the things that our Republican candidate for Governor (Jeff Johnson) has asked since I first met him, are some very simple questions: "How do we know our existing programs are working? How do we know they are worth the cost? How do we know they are a good value for the taxpayers?" Well Mr. Johnson, we don't.

This non-profit (Community Acton of Minneapolis) is small compared to other non-profits. However, their CEO is making a major league salary (over $200K annually). Not only salary, but perks which stretch from dawn till dusk. Plus he has local and national politicians peppered all over his Board. This non-profit is truly the fox watching the hen house. People in need, people that are hurting, are not getting monies which have been donated due to excessive "skimming" off the top.

Since they are receiving state money, one might be tempted to ask, "Where is the Sam Hill is Rebecca Otto during all of this? Is she not suppose to be our watchdog?" She was asleep at the switch, I am afraid to say. The State Auditor is one of the most important constitutional offices, right after State Attorney General. When you have one party rule, blind eyes and deaf ears begin to develop on those who are suppose to be vigilant.

So what can we do? First off, we need a new Governor. One who is not a puppet for the unions or the status quo. One who understands the real meaning of money - our money. We also need a new State Auditor and a new State Attorney General. With this new team of watchdogs, we will be able to identify programs which no longer work, programs which don't serve people, and programs which are redundant.

How bad is it right now? A senior Democrat legislator was on the radio today discussing Community Action of Minnesota. In her words, this non-profit has been suspect for almost 20 years now. This has been a bi-partisan screw-up. And what has been done? Na-da. She went on to say the CEO of this group has been "untouchable" as he is very well connected in the "community". Translation - people elected to be our watchdogs are scared to death of people like him.

Time to clean house folks. Time for the watchdogs to replace the lap dogs. The money may not seem real to statists, but it is very real to people like us. In November, we need to take the first step to fiscal sanity by demanding a change in leadership. Top to bottom, a real change. We owe it to ourselves, our kids, and our grandkids.