{"id":128286,"date":"2026-01-10T18:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T18:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128286\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T18:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T18:24:09","slug":"linking-california-with-the-minnesota-food-aid-probe-is-a-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128286\/","title":{"rendered":"Linking California with the Minnesota food aid probe is a stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/a>An applicant signs up for food stamps, known as CalFresh in California, at a low-income health clinic in Contra Costa County. (Foe; photo by Anne Wernikoff\/ CalMatters)<\/p>\n

This column\u00a0was originally published by CalMatters.\u00a0Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Last month, as required by law, State Auditor Grant Parks published an annual report on state programs and agencies that his office deems to be at \u201chigh risk\u201d of costly inefficiency, waste or fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

The report reiterated concerns about seven situations, two of which have been on the list since 2007, including the bureaucracy\u2019s\u00a0chronic inability to successfully employ information technology<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 embarrassing for a state that is the global center for digital tools.<\/p>\n

Parks has added a new program in his latest overview, the Department of Social Service\u2019s food aid for poor families, once called\u00a0food stamps but now known as CalFresh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The federal government primarily finances supplemental food benefits, but the state\u2019s share is determined, in part, by its management, as indicated by its rate of error when determining people\u2019s eligibility.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill tightens the error rate thresholds. Thus, Parks notes, California\u2019s 11% error rate, if not improved, could require the state to \u201cspend about $2 billion annually to maintain CalFresh benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most disturbing item on Parks\u2019 list is the continuing inability of the Employment Development Department to effectively manage unemployment insurance benefits, which first came to light during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0Billions of dollars in fraudulent benefit claims were approved<\/a>, almost all of which came in a federally financed expansion of the program.<\/p>\n

By happenstance, the high risk report was released just as\u00a0a scandal was erupting in Minnesota\u00a0<\/a>over widespread fraud in a program meant to keep children fed during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Dozens of people, mostly in Minnesota\u2019s substantial Somali population, have been charged with looting the program by setting up companies that billed the state for supplying food that was never delivered.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom Kamala Harris chose as her running mate in her campaign for president in 2024, felt the political fallout from the scandal \u2014 generated mostly in right-leaning media outlets \u2014 and this week\u00a0dropped his bid for re-election<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, those same outlets \u2014 blogs, podcasts and YouTube videos \u2014 have been making an accusatory connection between the Minnesota scandal and the Parks report, suggesting the report proves the same kind of fraud was even more rampant in California and laying the blame on Gov. Gavin Newsom, who\u2019s a likely 2028 candidate for president.<\/p>\n

This week, Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for California governor, and Herb Morgan, a Republican running for state controller, cited the Parks report, their own research and tips from whistleblowers in a broad assertion, dubbed \u201cCALIFRAUDIA,\u201d that \u201cCalifornia\u2019s exposure to fraud, waste, and abuse across major state programs is likely to reach $250 billion,\u201d adding that it \u201cunderscores the urgent need for formal investigation and audit, as a matter of basic fiscal responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the allegations of widespread fraud and mismanagement during Newsom\u2019s governorship is not confined to those on the starboard side of the political balance beam.<\/p>\n

Ro Khanna, a progressive Democratic member of Congress from Silicon Valley who could be a rival to Newsom in the 2028 presidential sweepstakes, issued a similar blast in a posting on X, albeit with a smaller $72 billion pricetag, citing Parks\u2019 report and other data.<\/p>\n

Khanna told\u00a0Politico,\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know what the specific number is\u201d of dollars lost to fraud or mismanagement. \u201cIt\u2019s not particular to any person,\u201d Khanna said. \u201cIt\u2019s making government more effective. Tackling the mismanagement and waste and some fraud will build more credibility for asking for higher taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom\u2019s staff responded by accusing Khanna of making a \u201cMAGA made-up claim.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason why veterans of political wars refer to election years as the \u201csilly season,\u201d when political figures seeking media attention are prone to convert anthills of fact into mountains of rhetorical fantasy.<\/p>\n

CalMatters<\/a>\u00a0is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable.<\/p>\n

Want to submit a letter to the editor, guest column or\u00a0opinion\u00a0piece? Find our guidelines and submission form\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An applicant signs up for food stamps, known as CalFresh in California, at a low-income health clinic in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2085,7,9,8,6752,23500,457,4226,13],"class_list":["post-128286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-audit","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-calmatters","tag-food-aid","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-minnesota","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}