It was announced today that Governor Walz permanently appointed Shireen Gandhi as commissioner of the Department of Human Services (DHS). Until today, Gandhi had been serving as “temporary” commissioner since February 2025. It was under Gandhi’s leadership that DHS created a website to deny that Minnesota has a fraud problem.

“With more fraud being uncovered every month, often within DHS, it feels like this appointment is misguided at best. In fact, just weeks ago, she came to a human services committee and when asked about the fraud, stated, ‘I don’t think Minnesota has a problem different than any other state in the nation.’ If the head of the agency cannot even acknowledge the current fraud problem, how can we expect them to implement a plan to solve it? It’s time for the new commissioner to come to terms with the reality our state is facing,” said Senator Paul Utke (R-Park Rapids), who serves as the Republican lead on the Health and Human Services committee.