It would be easy for me to attribute my growing cynicism to my growing older.
After all, most people tend to get nostalgic for the "better times" of yesteryear. I was born in the mid-60s, and by the mid-1970s, it was the 50s that were being fondly remembered in shows like "Happy Days."
Upon reflection, though, my cynicism doesn't stem from nostalgia. Having grown up in the 1970s, I tend to think of my teen years are full of suckage.
No, my growing cynicism has been fully earned by the institutions I no longer trust.
STORY: https://t.co/8BQ36bFMJZ
— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) October 23, 2025
By now, you may have read about the massive corruption in Minnesota's state government, which is no doubt duplicated throughout the country in Deep Blue states. It is much worse than it was when I first noticed that the non-profit industrial complex was a total scam, as every urban planning and rail project turns out to be.
Column: State government was warned, repeatedly, but still they failed to stop the theft of the people's money. A quick thread of some of the reporting that went into this, most of it courtesy of former Reformer reporter @deenafaywinter https://t.co/dBbiLoDLfm
— j. patrick coolican (@jpcoolican) September 25, 2025
Our social services are a money pit, funneling taxpayer dollars to one scam after another, and even our generally excellent health care system is marred with fraud. Larger local governments seem to exist mainly to suck money down from the feds and the state, and it seems like every time a lobbyist opens his mouth, he is lying.
This did NOT age well. https://t.co/eZHRbNAVmo
— MN Up North Lake Guy (@MNUpNorthLakeG1) October 24, 2025
I spent much of my political activity in the late 90s and early aughts fighting insanely expensive and useless rail projects, which have turned out to be disasters. One was so awful that it even the transit agency wants to shut it down after only 15 years in service. Nobody rides it, but our legislature is considering an even less viable Minneapolis-to-Duluth line. The light rail exists to provide a warm place for homeless people to sleep and purchase fentanyl, and not much else.
🚨 BREAKING: Federal agents recovered $88,000 in cash from the home of brothers Anwar and Asad Adow.
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) October 24, 2025
They are accused of defrauding more than $1.2M in Medicaid payments through fraudulent Minnesota HSS businesses.
They were literally stuffing your tax dollars under a mattress. pic.twitter.com/BK9qoRor8z
It's all about the cash. Sending money to special interests.
Weinhagen published this op-ed in the Star Tribune after the 2022 election: https://t.co/MDKQgbrAWu pic.twitter.com/SX01Z470kk
— Alpha News (@AlphaNews) October 23, 2025
The corruption runs deep into government-adjacent organizations. The closer one gets to the government, the more corrupt it will be. Chambers of Commerce have long existed to create a cozy relationship with the government, and I noticed years ago that in many cases, their primary role appears to be laundering bad ideas from politicians to a business community that would prefer not to be bullied too much.
Scott Adams: All local governments are criminal organizations by design.@ScottAdamsSays “Reframe corruption as a design problem. Not a moral failing of that one person who got caught.
— jay plemons (@jayplemons) September 23, 2025
Every time you say, “Well, moral failing of this one guy that got caught, but at least we… pic.twitter.com/RO8B4H2fAx
In some respects, I understand why Chambers cozy up to the government. The government acts as a protection racket that has enormous power to make life difficult for businesses.
Over 661 MILLION tax dollars lost to fraud, over 62 active investigations, and NO oversight.
— MN House Republicans (@mnhousegop) October 22, 2025
This is Minnesota under the Walz administration. pic.twitter.com/tLZz5nUcOL
But it shouldn't surprise us that the corruption that is endemic to governments has infected the government-adjacent business organizations. Chambers are very much like government bureaucracies, and Chamber leaders have the perfect model for how to act corruptly.
U.S. Minnesota Federal Prosecutor Joe Thompson says the Fraud that is happening in Minnesota Government Programs is in the BILLIONS
— Beard Vet (@Beard_Vet) October 22, 2025
So much Fraud they can’t Prosecute them all pic.twitter.com/LeBr0dC1Vo
So when I read that the former President of the Minneapolis Chamber was charged with fraud, I pretty much shrugged.
Jonathan Weinhagen, the former CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, was criminally charged in a multi-count federal indictment that was unsealed on Thursday.
According to court documents, Weinhagen set up a fictional company called Synergy Partners that was owned by James Sullivan, a fake persona made up by Weinhagen. In turn, Weinhagen allegedly used his position at the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce to enter into contracts with his fake company.
Federal authorities say Weinhagen “caused the Chamber of Commerce to pay more than $100,000 to Synergy Partners pursuant to the sham contracts” and “borrowed more than $125,000 from a line of credit he opened” in the chamber’s name and transferred those funds to Synergy Partners.
Weinhagen reportedly used the funds “for personal expenses.”
Court documents say Weinhagen tried to cover his tracks by sending “fake emails making it appear that Synergy Partners no longer existed, and that ‘James Sullivan’ had died.” The CEO “even published a fake obituary for ‘James Sullivan’ on legacy.com, stating that Sullivan had died of pancreatic cancer.”
Additionally, court documents say Weinhagen paid for a Hawaiian vacation for himself and his family, as well as other personal expenses, with a Chamber of Commerce credit card.
Sounds about right. Weinhagen is even in government himself, in a small way — he's on his local school board.
There is organized crime in Minnesota, and you and everyone else knows who is involved.
— Liberty4All (@LibertyUSA37) October 21, 2025
When the state’s biggest lobbying firm run by Nancy Hylden employs Jacob Frey’s wife, heavily supports Keith Ellison and Tim Walz, and was also is the attorney for the Feeding Our Future… pic.twitter.com/xO01pExBPH
I used to believe that businesses could and would put pressure on local governments to limit their excesses, but over the years, I have realized that their only real tool to do so is to leave when things get bad enough. While they remain in an area, they are held hostage to the political power brokers, and turn their efforts to cutting deals with them for mutual benefit.
So it's no surprise to discover that a Chamber CEO is corrupt. Why not? Everybody else is getting theirs, why shouldn't he?
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