Candidate for Governor of Minnesota (2026)
November 6, 2025
Faribault, Minnesota
Minnesota’s Leadership in Crisis: Latest Audit Exposes a Racketeering Pattern of Fraud, Not Mere Mistakes
Fellow Minnesotans,
Today marks yet another damning indictment of the Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan administration—not from partisan voices, but from the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor. Their November 2025 financial audit of the Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor reveals a staggering 12 serious violations, including widespread noncompliance and internal control deficiencies in receipts, inventory, payroll, and nonpayroll expenditures. As State Rep. Pam Altendorf courageously highlighted during the Legislative Audit Committee meeting—where even Democratic members called the findings “appalling”—this is not an isolated oversight. It is the latest thread in a tapestry of systemic fraud that has bled our state dry, costing taxpayers over $1 billion in documented losses from unemployment scams, child nutrition heists, Medicaid billing fraud, and housing stabilization schemes.
See the full audit summary And Rep. Altendorf’s firsthand account.
What we are witnessing transcends negligence or incompetence. This is a premeditated pattern of racketeering—a willful disregard for accountability that enables organized fraud at the highest levels. Consider the evidence:
• Unemployment Insurance Debacle (2022 OLA Audit): $541 million in improper payments, with $300 million stolen outright, due to delayed fraud safeguards under Walz’s emergency orders.
• Feeding Our Future Scandal (Ongoing Federal Probes): $250 million+ siphoned from child nutrition funds, with state licensing lapses allowing ghost sites and fake claims—despite whistleblower warnings ignored by Flanagan’s equity initiatives.
• Medicaid and Housing Fraud (2024–2025 HHS-OIG Investigations): Over $360 million in bogus autism therapy billing and Housing Stabilization Services kickbacks, fueled by lax oversight in programs Walz championed.
• Now, This Audit: 12 material weaknesses in the very offices meant to steward our resources, from untracked payroll to inventory mismanagement—echoing the same control failures that prosecutors have nailed as predicates for federal wire fraud and money laundering charges in related cases.
This isn’t accident; it’s architecture. As a retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander who swore an oath to defend against threats foreign and domestic, I see a racketeering enterprise in plain sight: repeated violations of fiduciary duty, concealment of red flags, and prioritization of political optics over public trust. That’s why, earlier this year, I filed a formal RICO referral with federal authorities, alleging a coordinated pattern under 18 U.S.C. § 1961—predicate acts of mail/wire fraud, obstruction, and embezzlement that mirror the organized crime statutes designed to dismantle corrupt syndicates. The FBI, IRS-CI, and HHS-OIG are already circling these scandals with raids, indictments, and convictions; this audit only strengthens the case for why Walz and Flanagan must face the full weight of accountability, not just audits. If private executives ran their operations this way, they’d be in federal prison. Why the double standard for those who swore to serve us?
Minnesotans deserve leaders who audit the auditors, not evade them. As your next Governor, I will:
• Establish an independent Fraud Czar with subpoena power to root out racketeering in real-time.
• Mandate triple-verified controls for all state expenditures, clawing back every stolen dollar.
• Expand whistleblower protections tenfold, rewarding those who expose the rot—like Rep. Altendorf and the brave @Minnesota_DHS voices.
• Cut waste to deliver the largest taxpayer refund in state history, putting money back in your pockets, not fraudsters’.
Visit parrish4mn.com to join the fight. Share this statement. Demand hearings. And on November 3, 2026, vote for integrity over impunity. Together, we’ll reclaim Minnesota—from the capitol to your kitchen table.
For questions, contact: phillip@parrish4mn.com
Phillip C. Parrish
U.S. Navy LCDR. (Ret.) | Business Leader | Gubernatorial Candidate
#AuditTheAuditors #EndTheFraud #ParrishForMN
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