Editor's Note: Fifty Years to Fraud | Twin Cities Business

In recent weeks, better detail has emerged about the political and structural roots of Minnesota’s social services frauds. Most edifying was a column by Hamline University political scientist David Schultz on his public policy commentary website Minneapolis Times, which took the origins of the frauds back half a century. Additional feedback from the legislative auditor, and even Gov. Tim Walz, has brought the problems into clearer focus.

At their core, they are a function of a few phenomena: Minnesota’s status as a generous funder of aid for the less fortunate; the GOP’s hatred of government bureaucracy; and the DFL’s concomitant use of private charitable organizations and nonprofits to manage all that aid. Walz noted in his March proposals that Minnesota had less robust auditing…