Pleading the Fifth? MN Dept. of Ed. refuses to answer questions at Feeding Our Future hearing
It was a bizarre scene yesterday in the state House of Representatives’ Education Policy committee. The Commissioner of the state Dept. of Education (MDE), Willie Jett, time and again deferred questions to his Dept.’s attorney.
The occasion was the first-ever hearing held on the Feeding Our Future scandal in the state House. This hearing was only possible because House Republicans hold a (slim) majority in the chamber for the first time since the scandal broke more than three years ago. When Democrats were in the majority, no hearings were held.
Gov. Tim Walz appointed Jett as Education Commissioner in December 2022, some three months after the first indictments were handed down in the case.
In committee, the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) presented their scathing, June 2024, 120-page report on MDE’s mishandling of the free-food nonprofit at the center of a $250 million fraud scandal to the committee.
House Republicans put together a 97-second montage of Jett’s dodging question after question. The video of the full 97-minute committee hearing, including the OLA’s presentation, can be seen here. Jett’s testimony begins at the 43:45 mark.
Initially, the Dept.’s lawyer cited the ongoing courtroom trial of Aimee Bock, Feeding Our Future’s CEO, as the excuse for not answering committee-member questions. As part of her criminal defense, Bock has sought to blame MDE for the scandal. The Department doesn’t wish to give Bock any new ammunition as she faces a jury of her peers.
For the Department, it’s a convenient dodge, as courtroom trials for the dozens of remaining Feeding Our Future defendants have been scheduled well into 2026. With additional Feeding Our Future indictments a real possibility, this catch-all excuse will likely extend for many years.
But MDE’s excuses went well beyond the ongoing Federal trials. MDE’s attorney, Maren Hulden, also cited “attorney-client privilege” on multiple occasions (see the video, 56:00 mark). This dodge raises the questions “who is the client?” and “who is the attorney?” Ultimately, state agencies must be answerable to the people, through their elected representatives.
Finally, MDE hid behind the excuse of “human resources (HR)/personnel privacy” concerns (1:31:50 mark). $250 million of taxpayer money went missing, 40 individuals have been convicted of fraud, and the state agency responsible won’t answer a single question about what happened.
In a different era, a department Commissioner refusing to answer questions in a committee hearing about his agency’s conduct would have been summarily fired by the Governor, or subject to impeachment proceedings.
