Why the DFL should care the most about fraud in government programs

The Reformer’s Deena Winter reports this week that about half of the people indicted in the Feeding Our Future scandal have ties to nonprofit groups that had other state contracts.

It adds up to tens of millions of dollars in contracts granted to the nonprofits to provide services like child care, adult daycare and other services for people with disabilities.

The Department of Human Services, which as far as I can tell spent months stonewalling when confronted with the reporting, says a review of the contracts hasn’t turned up evidence of fraud, but they won’t tell us much else. We should be skeptical. I’m unclear how the agency would come to this sweeping, exonerative conclusion. Carl Sagan: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

For those of us who believe government can and should be a force for progress and widely shared prosperity, this situation should be supremely concerning.

Most obviously, money intended for hungry children was used by greedy people to buy fancy cars and real estate, the federal charges allege.

The past legislative session notwithstanding, resources are scarce, and money that goes into the pocket of someone who is misusing it means less money for people who it was intended for. The point of government programs is to justly help people who need it, not stuff the pockets of people who provide that help — or don’t provide it, as the case may be.

Then there’s the politics. Don’t let their crocodile tears of rage fool you: Republicans love fraud and government waste. It gives them a powerful talking point for their ultimate goal: dismantling the social safety net, privatizing the schools, killing mass transit and keeping at bay calls for socialized medicine and child care, all in the service of tax cuts for the wealthy.

When they moan about the outrage of government fraud and waste, are they arguing in bad faith? Usually. Are they being hypocritical when they ignore the legions of examples of criminal corporations defrauding us? You betcha. Isn’t this small potatoes compared to trying to overturn a presidential election? Absolutely.

But that’s howling at an icy January wind — scream all you want, but the gale will keep blowing.

Like it or not, Democrats are the party of government. As far as I’m concerned, that should be a point of pride. Defeating the fascists in World War II, ending apartheid in the South, building the interstate highway system, putting a man on the moon, curbing untold deaths from communicable diseases. That’s a solid record during the past century. Take a bow.

But it also means every time the government fails or gets snookered, Republicans are well-positioned to exploit the debacle. Their argument is simple but works well enough: We told you government is a bloated scam, didn’t we?

No one remembers anymore, but Jim Schultz nearly became the first Republican attorney general in half a century, and Republicans nearly kept control of the state Senate and took the state House. The Feeding Our Future scandal helped them immensely, nearly pushing them over the finish line.

For their part, voters have limited patience, and I can’t blame them. If government is constantly being hoodwinked and wasting the people’s money on boondoggles, why would voters entrust to Democrats a universal public health insurance program?

That’s why progressives need to be hyper-focused on government working well and efficiently and with a minimum amount of fraud.

Being the responsible adults in the room is not always fun or fair, but what other choice do we have?