Fact-checking Demuth’s fraud claims against Klobuchar

Election day is less than three weeks away, and we've got campaign ads that are now just taking over the commercial breaks on television. Fox 9's Corten Hoggart is tracking a lot of them, and tonight he has a fact check on an ad from the governor's race. Amy Klobuchar is a 20-year D.C. politician that has no plans to stop the fraud in Minnesota. No plans to stop fraud is the attack against Amy Klobuchar in a recent Lisa Damuth for Governor ad. But a quick look at Senator Klobuchar's campaign page reveals a lengthy plan to root out fraud, which was highlighted in Klobuchar's first press conference as a candidate for governor back in May. On day one, I will begin a top-to-bottom audit of our state government. That audit will look at state agencies to identify waste, fraud, and abuse. The ad's narration comes from a former Hennepin County Human Services investigator who is cited in some Fox 9 stories, including one from 2015 used in the ad. Steve Halicki spent 15 years as a welfare fraud investigator for Hennepin County. The ad does not share the rest of Halicki's background with the county, which was also reported in that Fox 9 story. Halicki was fired in 2013 while in the midst of a big investigation. The county claims he was an insubordinate bully whose tactics were hampering efforts to catch welfare cheats. An arbitrator upheld the county's decision to let Halicki go. Klobuchar and Halicki did not work in the same office and overlapped as Hennepin County employees for only about a year. The ad also cites a Tribune article from 2003 as Halicki delivers another jab. Amy Klobuchar started at the county attorney's office. The situation deteriorated. While the ad's graphic ties Klobuchar to the headline Frauds Find Fortune in Daycare. The article is about then-Hennepin County Attorney Klobuchar prosecuting a fraudster. The charges led to a conviction and prison time. I reached out to both campaigns for this story, and the Klobuchar campaign told me, quote, Lisa Damuth is resorting to lying because she knows that the truth isn't on her side. We also shared the details of this fact check with the Damuth campaign and asked them to respond to specific issues we raised, but they have not replied. Corin Hoggard, Fox 9.