Governor Tim Walz Creates New State Post to Root Out Fraud

(KNSI) – A former Federal Bureau of Investigation sniper will have fraud in the crosshairs, after being appointed Friday to a newly created post by Governor Tim Walz.

Judge Tim O’Malley was named the Director of Program Integrity, a position based within the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tasked with rooting out fraud in state agencies. O’Malley began his career as a Rochester Police officer, then moved to the FBI and later to the Minnesota Court of Administrative Hearings as chief justice. His law enforcement and legal background is being leaned on heavily by the governor as financial scandals in Minnesota have recently become international news.

O’Malley has served a similar role before. He was retained by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2014 to help investigate sexual abuse allegations against clergy. The measure marks the strongest statement yet that it’s not business as usual in St. Paul regarding the fraud issue.

Less than two weeks ago, on NBC’s Meet the Press, he hinted that Minnesota’s problems stem from its charitable nature and fraud was inevitable. “Minnesota is a prosperous state, a well-run state. We’re AAA-bond rated. But that attracts criminals.”

Republican leaders in the state House believe the governor has lost the chance to be proactive on the issue. Speaker Lisa Demuth, a Republican from Cold Spring, says, “This move is too little, too late. He failed to root out fraud in his agencies, he failed to hold anyone accountable, he failed to take responsibility for what he allowed to happen, and now he wants to sweep all his failures under the rug. The time for program integrity was years ago – now it’s time for accountability.”

Floor leader Harry Niska of Ramsey echoed Demuth’s sentiments. “For nearly a decade, Tim Walz lost billions of taxpayer dollars to fraud and has done nothing to stop it,” said Leader Niska. “Now, with an election fast approaching and fraud his most serious political vulnerability, the governor is scrambling to paper over his epic failures. Minnesotans understand the timing and see this for what it is: a political calculation meant to save face. To be clear, creating a new layer of bureaucracy inside the same failed administration that did nothing to stop fraud in the first place is not reform, it’s self-protection.”

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