Could a Minnesota-style fraud also be occurring in Washington State?

As Nick Shirley’s investigative videos reveal the massive fraud that is costing Minnesota and American taxpayers billions of dollars, should King County and Washington residents fear the same thing could be occurring here?

Sadly, the same reckless and lax conditions within Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’ administration are also present in Washington State – especially in King County.  It is not surprising that initial investigations into Washington taxpayer-funded childcare facilities are finding the same storefronts with no children present as Shirley found in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

As ChangeWA reported in September, regional Democrat run government bodies have had a plethora of examples where their mismanagement resulted in fraud, massive waste, and cost-overruns. From the State of Washington to King County, and Sound Transit, the conditions are ripe for massive theft of public money.

Some of the disturbing circumstances in Washington state include:

• Lack of legislative over-site of the executive branch. Even after foreign criminals committed one of the largest thefts in American history by stealing hundreds of millions from Washington’s Employment Security Department at the start of the 2020 pandemic, legislative Democrats refused public hearings into the Inslee Administration’s security decisions. Thus, not one government employee was fired or punished for their reckless  actions and Governor Inslee escaped any accountability.
• Political leaders refuse to admit how much their programs are costing taxpayers. In ChangeWA’s exclusive interview with King County Executive Dow Constantine, he declined to estimate how much money he had authorized be spent on homelessness issues. This startling lack of transparency occurred while Constantine’s homelessness strategy resulted in a massive 68% increase (and still growing) in homelessness.
• Lack of proper record keeping of financial transactions. As a 2023 Discovery Institute report revealed, non-profits who receive millions of dollars to provide emergency housing, are refusing to submit paperwork on how they spent taxpayers’ money and whether homeless individuals were actually helped. This led to the recent revelation that under Dow Constantine, the King County Department of Community and Human Services only tracked 1% of its financial transactions. An audit concluded that “likely massive fraud” has taken place within DCHS’ $1.8 Billion grant program. This audit was performed at the request of Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who initially received no support from his Democrat colleagues until public pressure forced them to relent.
• Regional newspaper refuses to uphold its 4^th Estate responsibility to hold the powerful accountable. As ChangeWA reported in November, because the Seattle Times’ readership has plummeted, the region’s largest newspaper is now financially dependent on government funds and grants from super-wealthy liberals. Thus the paper refuses to hold Democrat politicians, government, and liberal organizations accountable for their failed policies, waste, and fraudulent activities.
• Government officials use their power to keep expensive failed policies in place. Washington State Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the federal government seeking to reverse the decision to reallocate homelessness funds away from failed homelessness policies (which have caused a 68% increase in homelessness. While it is hard to imagine anyone keeping policies with such horrendous results, the Democrats are defending them since because they are fearful the Tramp Administration will end the wasteful gravy train which deposits so much money into their supporters’ bank accounts (later used to make large donations to Democrats’ campaign organizations)

The lack of accountability, complacent media, and powerful politicians protecting a wasteful system create the perfect environment for criminals to swindle large amounts of public funds. It will be interesting in the coming weeks and months if any of the region’s truly independent media (i.e. The CenterSquare, Jonathan Choe, Brandi Kruse, etc.) find evidence of fraud being committed here as Nick Shirley has uncovered in Minnesota.