If you are like me, when you first heard the number $9 billion stolen from taxpayers via the Somali fraud scandal, you probably said to yourself, “No way this could be true.” Do you know how hard it is to spend $9 billion in a short amount of time?
However, if you stretch the timeline back to around the period when Barack Obama was president, this story begins to make sense. The investigation I am referring to dates back to 2013. Viewed from that perspective, the Somali fraud scandal aligns logically by 2026.
Once you understand the time span involved, the $9 billion figure makes far more sense than it initially did.
Minnesota has voted Democrat consistently for decades. It is reasonable to assume the Somali community became a loyal voting bloc. If the state bills the federal government for welfare-related programs tied to fraudulent activity, the result is effectively free votes and a power consolidation for the Democrats in power at the state level.
At the same time, the Minnesota state government granted itself steady pay increases while this fraud was allegedly occurring. When you connect these dots, the situation becomes clearer.
Legislative Salary Context
In 2016, Minnesota voters approved a constitutional amendment creating the Legislative Salary Council, an independent body responsible for setting legislative pay to remove conflicts of interest.
Before the council was established, lawmakers’ salaries had remained stagnant for years. The council’s first raises began in 2017.
In 2023, the council approved a 7.25 percent raise for lawmakers, effective July of that year, increasing their COLLECTIVE annual salary to $51,750. The justification cited was the need to attract diverse candidates and keep compensation competitive.
At this point, I am not going to spend any more time on this issue. I wanted to understand how the $9 billion figure emerged, and now it makes perfect sense.
In my opinion, everyone involved should be in prison.
Moving forward, this fraud scandal will leave a lasting stain on the Somali community. I do not know whether things will change, but it will no longer surprise anyone when they hear the phrase “Somali fraud.”
Consider making Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior.
In a civil society, you should never steal from your neighbors. Stealing is something uncivilized people do. It is behavior expected in the animal kingdom.
Christ brought civility. Seek ye the Kingdom of God.
No country begins perfectly, but once a society becomes civil, it should be common sense not to steal.