Rep. Fogelman: Walz Administration Continues to Duck Fraud Accountability by Demoting DHS Commissioner

ST. PAUL – Just one day before she was scheduled to attend Minnesota Senate confirmation hearings, Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Shireen Gandhi was hastily demoted by Governor Walz. State Representative Marj Fogelman (R-Fulda) believes this is no coincidence.

“By preventing her from attending a confirmation hearing, the Walz administration gets to avoid significant Senate – and media – scrutiny over its complete failure of handling fraud in this state,” Fogelman said. “It’s yet another pathetic attempt by Governor Walz to duck accountability on fraud.”

Gandhi’s initial appointment to lead DHS was a shock to many, as she was previously DHS’s Chief Compliance Officer and had been in the department for years while at least $9 billion had been swindled from state taxpayers. She was interim commissioner when the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) audited the Behavioral Health Administration – which is part of DHS – and found that state employees not only mismanaged money but also participated in a cover up by fabricating documents to cover their tracks.

Instead of facing the music, Walz ordered a last-minute department reshuffle. He appointed John Connolly as the new head of DHS and allowed Gandhi to maintain employment as deputy commissioner to oversee Medicaid programming in this state – programs, ironically, that have also been riddled with fraud.

“Money continues to fly out the door, and no one loses their jobs,” Fogelman said. “When it comes to fraud in this state, the goal of this administration is just to avoid negative news stories, nothing more, nothing less. They’re not serious about solving this problem because they don’t want to solve this problem.”