Latest news with #LegislativeAuditor
CBS News
2 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Minnesota's legislative auditor set for more investigations after funding boost
Minnesota is ramping up its response to fraud amid dozens of convictions in the Feeding our Future scandal, and the investigation into a "massive scheme" to rip off the state's Housing Stabilization Services. Judy Randall, the state's independent, non-partisan legislative auditor, says her office will be conducting more audits of how taxpayer funds are being spent. "There's just been really an increased demand for that type of work, and so we are trying to do our best to meet that demand," Randall said. She says her office is also increasing contact with legislators at the Capitol. "We're going from one set of meetings to select topics," she said. "A set of meetings once a year to two sets of meetings every year.." The Legislature approved an additional $1.24 million for the legislative auditor this year for more staff and resources. Republican state Rep. Patti Anderson says the public wants answers on how their money is being spent. "Where are the dollars going? Why is there so much fraud?" Anderson said. "Minnesota used to have clean government and we want to get that back." The legislative audit commission gave the green light to seven new audits, including ones for Nursing home licensing; agricultural water quality certification; new voter registration systems; and the Board of Animal Health Oversight of Companion Animals. WCCO asked Democratic state Sen. Scott Dibble if he believes the auditor's office can get the government back on track. "Yes, I mean that's the exact purpose we have for something like the legislative auditor," Dibble said. Legislators say they expect to get the results of the audits discussed in time for the start of the next legislative session that's set for January 2026. The office of legislative auditor also accepts suggestions for audits from the public.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Department of Justice opens criminal investigation into Ellsworth
Senator Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, watches a vote during the Senate Floor Session on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. (Nathaniel Bailey for the Daily Montanan) The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced it is opening a criminal investigation into former Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, following a referral from the Legislative Audit Division on Feb. 14. According to the DOJ, the Division of Criminal Investigation will 'conduct a thorough investigation specifically focused on potential criminal conduct as defined by the criminal code,' but would not share additional information about the ongoing investigation. 'We look forward to a legitimate fact-finding grounded in reality, not the political whims of a public servant clinging to his job,' Joan Mell, Ellsworth's attorney, said on Wednesday pushing back against earlier findings from the Legislative Auditor. Separately, Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a letter to current Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, that the Senate has the ultimate authority to enforce ethical proceedings against its own members. Late last year, Ellsworth quietly signed a $170,100 contract with a business associate to track and analyze a series of bills related to judicial reform following the 2025 legislative session. The no-bid contract raised questions among legislative and administrative staff for starting out as two identical contracts that appeared to circumvent regular procurement rules. Findings from the Legislative Auditor earlier said Ellsworth abused his power and wasted state resources in securing the contract, prompting the Senate to convene its Ethics Committee, which alleged criminal and ethical violations. Mell has called the results defamatory. However, the Senate voted on Feb. 6 to refer the investigation to the DOJ, with Democrats in the chamber saying it had become too political for lawmakers to continue. The referral was for both the criminal and ethical allegations, but Republicans, including Regier and the Attorney General, had questions about whether the DOJ was the correct venue for ethics, stalling progress. On Friday, Legislative Auditor Angus Mciver sent his own referral from the waste, fraud and abuse hotline investigation to the DOJ, which the department took up this week. Regier had sent a letter on Friday to Knudsen asking how to go forward with the ethics investigation, saying he believed disciplinary matters of legislators remained under the Legislature's purview. In his response, Knudsen said the DOJ did not have the jurisdiction to enforce an ethics complaint against a legislator, and affirmed that 'the Montana Constitution confers exclusive authority to the Legislature to enforce ethical proceedings against legislators.' He also cited statutes indicating that the Commissioner of Political Practices is another avenue, but that the commissioner lacks jurisdiction 'if a legislative act is involved in the complaint. 'The Department of Justice takes no position at this time whether the allegations in the referred motion constitute a protected 'legislative act,'' Knudsen wrote. 'Whether an act is a legislative act is a fact-dependent inquiry.'
