ST PAUL – Changes are coming at the top of leadership in the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
At the directive of Governor Tim Walz, the department has new leadership. Shireen Gandhi has been named the department’s temporary commissioner, along with James Clark being named Inspector General. The changes bring an emphasis on fraud prevention and program integrity, a release from Walz said.
“My administration continues to assist the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, the United States Attorney’s Office, and other law enforcement and prosecution agencies to ensure that fraudsters are brought to justice,” he said. “But there is more to do, and State agencies need the resources and clear direction to continue the fight against fraud.”
In response, GOP leaders in the Minnesota House are speaking out on the Governor’s changes ‘in response to years of record fraud enabled by the Walz administration.’
In the statement, House Speaker Lisa Demuth and GOP Floor Leader Harry Niska said, “It is extremely disturbing that it took more than five years and countless warnings from legislative Republicans and administration whistleblowers for someone to be held accountable for enabling fraud. Even more disturbing is that it took that same amount of time for the Governor to tell agencies to do something as basic as training employees to stop fraud. The state needs to take real steps to combat fraud, instead of stalling for years just to tell agencies to follow the law. Every dollar going out to fraud is a dollar that doesn’t help someone who really needs it.”
Demuth has established the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Accountability Committee.
