Republicans accuse the Walz administration of delaying an investigation into allegations of fraud in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, even as Inspector General Carolyn Ham is on paid leave due to a complaint against her. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt says in that time Ham has been paid about 42 thousand dollars. “Four months went by where she drew a paycheck, where no investigation happened. That’s the problem,” Daudt says.
Governor Tim Walz says an investigation has started and every employee has the right to due process. “To be very clear, no one in state government stole any money,” he says. “Private businesses stole from the State of Minnesota and we were negligent — or it appears to me that we were negligent — in stopping that in a timely manner.”
Walz says he can’t speak to how long the investigation has been going on. Republicans suspect it’s only been a few days.