BY PER PETERSON
editor
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DMN) on May 3 announced her plan to make state government more innovative, effective, and accountable to Minnesotans — a plan that includes more than 40 proposals to transform state government, deliver results, and root out fraud.
Last Thursday, the Democratic senator and gubernatorial hopeful told Above The Fold Publishing that fraud is an issue that cannot be ignored during a visit to Bolt’s Grocery Store, one stop of her rural economy tour of Minnesota counties.
“I think Minnesotans have every right to be angry,” she said last week. “You think about small businesses where people are working really hard on low margins and depend on things like grants … everyone got hurt by this by people who committed fraud — a lot of them area already going to jail and more will.”
Those who are or will be held accountable for fraudulent activity should not only be put in jail, but should never have a chance to get future grants.
KLOBUCHAR
“I will be very focused — if Minnesotans give me the honor of being governor — to get this fixed,” she said.
A former prosecutor, Klobuchar said if give the opportunity to serve as governor, she vows to transform state government, one, she says, solves problems, doesn’t cause them, and that guard taxpayer dollars instead of allowing them to be misspent or stolen.
One way she wants to do that is to get the State’s computer system modernized to improve checks and balances and the management of things like inspections at the agency level before something happens.
Klobuchar’s plan – which builds on ideas from both Democrats and Republicans – includes: a top-to-bottom audit of state agencies to identify fraud, waste, and abuse; strengthening criminal enforcement by toughening the criminal fraud statute, increasing penalties for organized fraud schemes, and extending the statute of limitations for all fraud offenses involving state programs; establishing a permanent ban from receiving state grants and contracts for anyone convicted of fraud against state grants or contracts – including executives, subsidiaries or other entities that knowingly participated in the crime; increasing oversight by requiring regular in-person site inspections and unannounced visits; and providing stronger oversight by giving people the technology and training to continuously monitor data to catch suspicious activity faster, so technology identifies patterns and people make the calls.
• On another issue close to the hearts and minds of business owners in this part of the state, Klobuchar said keeping businesses from moving across the South Dakota border has become a budget issue.
“We’ll have a budget problem in Minnesota next year; the answer to that is discipline, accountability and then growth,” she said. “Growth is probably the best way to get where we want to be.”
