k and Dagger in the Free Food Scandal // John Hinderaker
An anonymous package was sent to the American Experiment office earlier this week. It was addressed to Bill Glahn (an American Experiment employee who probably did more than anyone else to investigate the Feeding Our Future scandal). Regular Power Line readers will recall that fraudsters working under the umbrellas of two entities and nonprofit Feeding Our Future stole more than $250 million. Over 40 people have been indicted. This includes the principals of Feeding Our Future who were allegedly paid large kickbacks for their role in the fraud. The money was taken from a federal program that provided free meals for poor children. It was administered by the Minnesota Department of Education.
What was the contents of the package? An anonymous cover letter, which presumably came from someone connected to Feeding Our Future. Also, copies of emails that were exchanged in August 2021 between Feeding Our Future’s founder and its lawyer, on the one hand, and representatives of Minnesota’s Department of Education and Minnesota’s attorney general’s office, on the other.
What does the email show? Feeding Our Future informed the Department of Education that it suspects fraud from one of the organizations that participated in the free food program, House of Refuge. FoF stated, somewhat implausibly that this was the first indication that fraud had been detected in the program and requested guidance from the Department.
Bill Glahn wrote a post about the mysterious envelope. It includes a link that will take you to all the emails. The title of the post, “Even Feeding Our Future tried-to warn state officials about fraud”, sums it all. Feeding Our Future was essentially ignored by Minnesota’s Department of Education, and Attorney General’s Office. They couldn’t be bothered apparently. One Department of Education employee wrote that “MDE does not take a position if fraud has occurred.”
It is remarkable that the principals of Feeding Our Future were presumed to be heading to the penitentiary. However, even they expressed more concern about stolen millions than Minnesota’s Department of Education or Attorney General.
Both Governor Tim Walz, who oversees Minnesota’s Department of Education, as well as Keith Ellison, our attorney General, struggled to address the Feeding Our Future scandal. It was the worst of its kind in Minnesota history. Both have claimed that their agencies did a great job. It is a feather in the cap that the fraud was stopped after $250 million was stolen (and counting, more indictments await in the wings).
This is, let’s just be honest, a difficult sell. It gets even more difficult when the indicted people were tugging at the lapels Ellison’s and Walz’s employees to report fraud and couldn’t get enough time.
