Tim Walz is not the only governor plagued by fraud. Newsom may be targeted next

Former vice president and Gov. Incumbent Tim Walz announced this week that he will not seek a third term, beset by a scandal over child care payments that may or may not have gone to fraudsters.

Politically driven agitation that doesn’t focus on the Black immigrant community, including the real problem of fraudsters who steal government funds in MAGA’s growing frenzy about an imagined version of America that thrives on whiteness and Christianity.

Despite the ugliness of current racial politics in America, fraud remains a reality, and not just in Minnesota. California has lost billions to fraud over the past few years, leaving our governor, who also has DC dreams, vulnerable to the same attacks that brought down Walz.

As we approach the 2028 presidential election, Republicans and Democrats will likely come to Gavin Newsom with critical views on the government’s handling of COVID-19 funds, unemployment insurance and public college financial aid to name a few of the honeypots that have been successfully hatched during his administration.

In fact, President Trump has had quite a bit of a social media barf-fest this week.

“California, under Governor Gavin Newscum, is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that’s possible??? The California Fraud Investigation has begun,” he wrote.

Right-wing commentator Benny Johnson also said he was conducting his own “investigation”. And Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton says his fraud counsel has been “(c)rorupt, fraudulent and abusive on a staggering scale.”

Just to bring home how serious and bipartisan this risk is, Rep. Ro Khanna, the Silicon Valley congressman rumored to have an interest in the Oval Office, is also circling the fraud feast like a vulture looking for its next meal.

“I want to hear from the residents of my district and across the district about the waste, mismanagement, inefficiency, or fraud that we have to deal with,” Khanna wrote on social media.

Newsom’s spokeswoman Izzy Gardon questioned the veracity of many of the fraud claims.

“In the real world where adults rule,” Gavin Newsom said, “Gavin Newsom has been cleaning house. Since taking office, he has blocked over $125 BILLION in money, arrested criminal parasites from the taxpayers, and protected taxpayers from the very type of fraud that Trump celebrates, excuses and amnesties.”

What exactly are we talking about here? Well, it’s a choose-your-own-shame kind of thing. Even before the federal government dumped billions in state aid during the crisis, California’s unemployment system was plagued by inefficiencies and, yes, fraud. But when the world shuts down and people need that government money to survive, inefficiencies skyrocket.

All the thieves with a half-baked plan – including CEOs, jailed prisoners and organized crime rackets abroad – came looking for California money, and it seems they got it. The sad thing is that these were not criminal geniuses. Often, they were low-level cheaters watching a program full of holes because it was trying to do it too fast.

In just a few months, billions had been taken. A federal audit in 2021 found that at least $10 billion was paid out in questionable unemployment claims — never mind small business loans or other forms of assistance. An investigation by CalMatters by 2023 suggested the final figure could reach three times that number due to unemployment. In fact, no one knows exactly how much money was stolen – in California, or in the rest of the country.

It hasn’t completely stopped. California is still paying fraudulent unemployment claims at a record high, reaching $1.5 billion over the past few years — more than $500 million in 2024 alone, according to the state auditor.

But it doesn’t end there. Business thieves are looking elsewhere when COVID-19 money dries up. Most recently, that has been our community colleges, where millions in federal student aid have been lost to grifters who use bots to sign up for classes, get state aid, and then disappear. Another CalMatters investigation using data obtained from a public records request found that up to 34% of community college applications in 2024 may have been false — though that number represents fraudulent admissions that were flagged and blocked, Gardon notes.

Still, the community college scam will likely be a big problem for Newsom because it’s new, and it can be tied (or not) to immigration and progressive policies.

California allows undocumented citizens to enroll in community colleges, and makes those classes free – two bad policies that have been exploited by unscrupulous people. For a long time, community colleges did not do enough to ensure that students were genuine, because they did not require sufficient proof of identity. This was in part to accommodate at-risk students such as foster children, the homeless and the undocumented.

With no up-front costs for trying to enroll, the suspects dumped thousands of identities at the system’s 116 schools, which were unprepared for the technological attack. These “ghost” students were often accepted and given grants and loans.

Former colleague Kaitlyn Huamani reported that in 2024, fraudsters stole an estimated $8.4 million in federal financial aid and more than $2.7 million in federal aid from our community colleges. That pales in comparison to the tens of billions provided in federal and state financial aid, but more than enough for political controversy.

As Walz may explain if the vague policy discussions are still a thing, both the right and wrong criticism to blame these criminals on the governor alone – the government of the country should be aware of its money and be aggressive in protecting it, and the bull stops with the governor, but the problems and technology have collided to create opportunities for unreasonable tricksters or a few leaders who use skill in the government, or any weapons of government. luck.

Fraudsters are simply smarter and faster than the rest of us to capitalize first on the pandemic, and then on the evolving technology that includes AI that makes fraud easier and escalated to levels our institutions were ill equipped to handle.

Since he got away with it during the crackdown, many federal and state agencies have taken steps to combat fraud — including community colleges using their own AI tools to stop fake students before they even get in.

And the state caught the thieves. Newsom hired a former federal prosecutor appointed by Trump, McGregor Scott, to go after artists who defrauded the unemployed. And some county, state and federal prosecutors have offered resources to recover some of the lost money.

With the slowness of our courts (weighed down by their aging technology), many of those cases are still ongoing or wrapped up. For example, 24 LA County employees have been indicted in recent months for allegedly stealing more than $740,000 in unemployment benefits, which is chump change in this whole mess.

A California man recently pleaded guilty to defrauding $15.9 million in federal loans through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs.

And in one of the more colorful plots, four Californians with nicknames including “red boy” and “Scooby” are accused of running a scam that raised about $250 million in federal tax refunds before three of them tried to kill the fourth to stop him from issuing them.

There are literally hundreds of cases of fraud that are endemic across the country. And these programs are the tip of the cash-berg. Fraudsters also target fire relief funds, food benefits – really, any pot of public money is fair game for them. And the truth is, most of that stolen money is gone.

So it’s hard to hear the numbers and not be shocked and outraged, especially since the Golden State is facing an $18 billion budget deficit.

Whether or not you personally blame Newsom for all of this fraud, it’s hard to justify so much public money being given to criminals when our schools are in need, our health care is at risk and our debt is rising.

Failure will stick with someone, and it doesn’t take a criminal mastermind to figure out who it will be.