The Culture of Corruption in Minneapolis

There is a cancer on Minneapolis politics. Unless it is excised, it will continue to consume both the city and the state. The recent Bobby Joe Champion allegations of using his legislative position to divert public funds to non-profits he represents is simply the latest incidence of this corruption.

Years ago, when I first moved to Minnesota, I had a conversation with one of my political science professors. Both of us were from back East, having lived in states such as New York and New Jersey—neither known for clean or honest politics. When I asked my professor about Minnesota’s political culture, he said Minnesota was just as dirty and corrupt. The only difference, he suggested, was that the state either did a better job of covering it up or simply lived in denial. Decades later, I am convinced it is the latter.

In recent years, repeated stories have emerged involving unethical or outright corrupt behavior among Minnesota politicians, especially in relation to nonprofits and donors. The case involving Bobby Joe Champion is just the latest in a long list of troubling examples. While many of these stories have become familiar, it’s worth reviewing a few of them.

One of the most significant cases is the Feeding Our Future scandal, centered in Minneapolis. The case involved fraud and embezzlement totaling over a quarter of a billion dollars. As of now, 70 individuals have been charged and more than 40 have been convicted. It is one of the largest fraud cases involving federal food assistance in U.S. history.

In February 2025, Tezzaree El-Amin Champion, founder of the nonprofit Encouraging Leaders, pled guilty to defrauding funding sources of more than $6 million. In September 2024, Attorney General Keith Ellison ordered the dissolution of Shamsia Hopes, a nonprofit accused of being a conduit for fraud. Former state senator Jeff Hayden and his wife were found to have received at least $3,486 in improper reimbursements from Community Action of Minneapolis. A 2015 investigation uncovered financial mismanagement by the board, leading to the nonprofit’s closure.

Several Minnesota nonprofits operating charter schools have also been accused of financial mismanagement and self-dealing. These cases reflect deeper systemic issues regarding oversight of them and how they manage money.

Another story involves Minneapolis State Representative Jamie Long, who was given a job at the University of Minnesota’s Energy Transition Lab. The position was arranged by former state legislator Ellen Anderson. In securing the job, Long was allowed to draft his own job description and schedule it around his legislative duties. The position was funded by the McKnight Foundation, but the source of the funding was not initially disclosed. This raised significant questions about transparency and conflicts of interest. Situations like this erode public trust.

Minneapolis State Senator Omar Fateh also faced scrutiny in 2022. He failed to disclose a $1,000 payment from his campaign to Somali TV Minnesota. Fateh’s brother-in-law, a campaign volunteer, was later convicted of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury about handling absentee ballots. Although Fateh condemned the fraud and returned $11,000 in donations linked to the Feeding Our Future scandal, the damage was already done.

Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman founded the nonprofit Stigma-Free International in 2019. Although initially inactive, the organization was later transferred to new owners who used it to fraudulently obtain more than $10 million in federal funds. Osman’s wife, Ilham, also ran a nonprofit—the Urban Advantage Center—which received over $460,000 in federal funds. It was later shut down by the Attorney General’s Office for being a sham charity.

There are many other examples. What is striking is how many of these financial and political corruption scandals center on individuals and organizations in Minneapolis. Some actions are clearly criminal, but others reveal public officials who seem unaware of the ethical implications of their behavior. That ignorance is almost as damaging.

For nearly forty years I have observed Minnesota politics—as a scholar and as someone who once led Common Cause Minnesota, an organization focused on ethics in government. Over time, my conversations with public officials have revealed a disturbing trend. Many display either gross negligence, indifference, or ignorance about how their actions violate ethical norms. Often their defense is, “I didn’t break the law.”

But that kind of defense sets a low bar. We should expect better from our public servants than simply avoiding illegal behavior. Yet that seems to be the prevailing standard in Minneapolis, and increasingly in Minnesota. Even when there are allegations of illegality, few consequences follow.

Over the years, I’ve pointed out that Minnesota has rested on its reputation and moral image. In the early 1990s, the state had some of the strongest ethics laws in the country. Since then, those laws have largely stagnated—or worse, been weakened. A notable example is the erosion of the gift ban law, after legislators complained they could not accept liquor or gratuities from lobbyists.

Over the last three decades, our standards have weakened while other states, like Mississippi and New Jersey, have passed us by. I get several calls a year from reporters asking whether various examples of self-dealing in local governments are illegal. I usually must tell them: no, because we have almost no laws regulating that behavior.

In Minneapolis alone, I have given multiple interviews over the past  twenty years about how officials have structured vendor contracts to fall just below the threshold for competitive bidding. It is a tactic used to avoid transparency and accountability. A closer look at the city reveals a recurring pattern: the interconnection between political parties, nonprofits, and government actors.

My point here is that the media, politicians, and the public  seem to be underappreciating the fact that there is a real problem with public sector ethics growing out of Minneapolis. There is no appetite or interest in addressing these problems.  Instead dismissed as an aberration to the otherwise supposed  clean political culture in Minnesota.

The reality is that this is old-fashioned patronage politics. It is a closed system, designed to enrich insiders and avoid oversight. It is long past due for a cleanup.