Another twist Friday in a massive COVID 19 fraud case involving the organization Feeding Our Future in Minnesota that has now become finger-pointing between different branches of Minnesota’s government.
In a statement late this afternoon, Ramsey County Judge John Guthmann is accusing Governor Walz and Minnesota Education Commissioner Heather Mueller of making false statements about the case.
Guthmann says he never ordered the Minnesota Department of Education to resume making payments to Feeding our Future after the department had suspended them due to possible fraud. He says all payments made by the department were made voluntarily, without any court order, and that the department told the court Feeding Our Future had resolved the deficiencies that caused them department to temporarily suspend the food reimbursement payments.
Governor Walz said Thursday he was left “speechless” but the judge’s decision which runs totally counter to what the judge is saying on Friday.
“I would hope there would be an investigation into that,” Walz says. “Because, just to be candid, I'm very careful about this and I understand my position here in the separation of powers, we respected the judge’s decision. But I can tell you, I was speechless. Unbelievable that this ruling would come down. Did not really know what to say. Obviously we had to honor it, but it was at that point in time, I said we have got to continue to push the Federal Government and the FBI to do the investigation.”
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A spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Education also sent the following email to WCCO Radio host Jason DeRusha Thursday.
“At that stage in its pursuits to shut down FOF, MDE had already been held in contempt of court once, was facing mounting legal fees, and the court had made it clear that if we were to continue the legal fight to withhold payments, MDE would incur additional sanctions and legal penalties. Further, as partners in the federal investigation, there were concerns that ongoing litigation would result in the now-indicted fraudsters learning of the investigation that resulted in the execution of multiple search warrants and property seizures in January of 2022, and the issuance of six indictments and 48 arrests on Tuesday of this week."
Judge Guthmann's statement does not address the governor or MDE's claims they were held in contempt, or the allegations he threatened them with jail time. There also has been no further information from the FBI on their direction to MDE after the instances of fraud were brought to their attention.
The full statement from Guthmann and the Minnesota Judicial Branch reads as follows:
Since the investigation of Feeding Our Future (FOF) by law enforcement became public in January 2022, numerous media outlets have reported on the investigation and the events leading to federal criminal indictments. Many of the reports commented on the civil lawsuit filed in Ramsey County District Court by FOF against the MN Department of Education in November 2020. The original lawsuit was based solely on claims that the Department of Education violated federal regulations and laws prohibiting race discrimination, by failing to act on FOF’s applications for new food-distribution sites as part of its administration of the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program. Judge Guthmann was initially assigned to the case.
The lawsuit included a motion by FOF for an order to require the Department of Education to act on pending site applications. Before the court could rule, the parties reached an agreement in which the Department of Education agreed to handle these federally regulated site applications “reasonably promptly.” A consent order approving the settlement was issued on December 22, 2020.
The Department of Education suspended payments to FOF based on a “serious deficiencies” letter it issued to FOF on March 30, 2021. As a result, FOF filed a motion asking Judge Guthmann to order the Department of Education to resume payments and to pay sanctions. Judge Guthmann never ordered the Department of Education to resume payments to FOF in April 2021, or at any other time.
Thereafter, the Department of Education voluntarily resumed making payments to FOF. The Department of Education was not ordered by the court to do so. After the Department resumed voluntary payments, counsel for the Department of Education wrote the court asking that FOF’s motion for sanctions based on non-payment be denied as moot because the Department voluntarily resumed payments. In a later court filing related to FOF’s separate motion for sanctions based on the failure to approve or deny 144 applications for new food delivery sites, the Department of Education advised the court that FOF’s serious deficiencies were resolved as of June 4, 2021. Of the 144 applications, 143 were denied, resulting in FOF’s separate administrative appeal.
On February 26, 2022, the Star Tribune reported on a federal investigation of FOF. The article included the following false statement: “In April 2021, Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann told the department it didn't have the authority to stop payments and ordered the department to resume payments.” Since February, that Star Tribune quote has been repeated or paraphrased on many occasions by many other media outlets. The same media sources reported that, in her April 4, 2022, testimony to the Minnesota Senate, the Commissioner of the Education stated that the MN Department of Education tried to stop payments to FOF, only to be ordered by Judge Guthmann to resume payments. That is false. Then, when federal indictments were announced this week, many new reports were published. On September 22, 2022, Governor Tim Walz told the media that the Minnesota Department of Education attempted to end payments to FOF because of possible fraud, but that Judge Guthmann ordered payments to continue in April 2021. That is also false.
As the public court record and Judge Guthmann’s orders make plain, Judge Guthmann never issued an order requiring the MN Department of Education to resume food reimbursement payments to FOF. The Department of Education voluntarily resumed payments and informed the court that FOF resolved the “serious deficiencies” that prompted it to suspend payments temporarily. All of the MN Department of Education food reimbursement payments to FOF were made voluntarily, without any court order.
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