XPost: mn.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fraud   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   GOP State Sen. Steve Drazkowski said that Gov. Tim Walz tried to scuttle   
   a bipartisan bill that would establish an independent office of the   
   inspector general (OIG) to investigate fraud in Minnesota.   
      
   That shocking claim was made during a Senate Republican press conference   
   on Thursday.   
      
   Back in the 2025 legislative session, DFL State Sen. Heather Gustafson   
   and GOP State Sen. Michael Kreun worked together on a bill to establish   
   an independent, statewide OIG that would be tasked with rooting out   
   fraud in Minnesota state government.   
      
   In 2025, the Minnesota Senate passed that bill by a 60-7 vote. However,   
   the bill was never brought up for a vote in the Minnesota House of   
   Representatives, which is evenly split with 67 Republicans and 67   
   Democrats.   
      
   Republicans have said the House DFL refused to bring the bipartisan OIG   
   bill up for a vote. That bipartisan OIG bill is poised to be a major   
   focus of this year’s legislative session, and the bill was already heard   
   in the House State Government Committee Thursday morning.   
      
   During that hearing, DFL State Rep. Matt Norris tried to delete the   
   contents of the bill and replace it with his own OIG proposal. However,   
   that effort was blocked by Republicans.   
      
   On Thursday afternoon, Kreun said Norris’ effort would have removed the   
   portion of the bill that gives the OIG its own law enforcement division.   
   Kreun said that section is “a critical part of this bill that our   
   [bipartisan] working group spent a lot of time on last year.”   
      
   “It’s what puts the teeth into that office,” Kreun said of the law   
   enforcement division in the proposed OIG. Kreun said that he is open to   
   minor changes to his and Gustafson’s OIG bill, but “we’re not gonna move   
   backwards.”   
      
   Kreun called on members of the House DFL to work in a bipartisan manner.   
      
   Regarding Norris’ effort to change the bill, Kreun said, “I do believe   
   that there was probably some involvement by the governor’s office.”   
      
   Shortly thereafter, Drazkowski took to the podium at the Republican   
   press conference and spoke about the OIG bill.   
      
   “Sen. Gustafson did a great job I think as an author in the Senate,”   
   Drazkowski said.   
      
   “As a matter of fact, she resisted efforts from the governor to scuttle   
   the bill,” Drazkowski said. “I was in State Government Finance Committee   
      
   “And so she goes and takes a call, and she comes back and I say, ‘Well,   
   Heather, what’d the governor want?'”   
      
   “He wants me to withdraw my bill,” Drazkowski said, quoting Gustafson.   
      
   “And she did not withdraw her bill,” Drazkowski said. “She stood in   
   there in the bipartisan manner that we laid out in that working group,   
   and stood in and we all stood there together, throughout the time. We’re   
   not seeing that in the House. Obviously, [Walz] is having that influence   
   in the House, and that’s the perspective that I can provide.”   
      
   Alpha News reached out to Walz, Gustafson, Drazkowski, and Norris for   
   this story. However, neither Walz nor Norris immediately responded to   
   media inquiries. Walz has previously said he would sign legislation that   
   created an OIG.   
      
   Drazkowski told Alpha News that his interaction with Gustafson took   
   place at a meeting of the State Government Finance Committee during the   
   2025 legislative session. However, he said he could not remember the   
   exact committee meeting where the interaction happened.   
      
   In a statement to Alpha News, Gustafson said, “Sen. Drazkowski’s   
   statement that I did a great job on the OIG bill is correct, however,   
   his recollection of my conversation with Governor Walz is inaccurate.”   
      
   https://alphanews.org/republican-state-legislator-says-tim-walz-tried-to-   
   stop-bipartisan-anti-fraud-bill/   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)