Minnesota has had some of the largest financial scandals in its history during the current

state auditor’s watch. We’ve seen news reports of $72 million in daycare fraud, $250 million in the Feeding Our Future scandal and $1 billion-plus in Metropolitan Council cost overruns of the Southwest Light rail project.

I’m tired of our hard-earned tax dollars being wasted. This keeps happening, and it seems no one is ever really held accountable until the waste and fraud have reached crisis level. People have lost trust in the government being able to ensure their tax dollars are being used effectively.

These issues have been largely ignored by the current state auditor Julie Blaha. That’s why we need new leadership. I’m voting for Ryan Wilson for State Auditor in this election because he has experience running a large medical device auditing company and will actually fight waste, fraud and abuse. Mr. Wilson has also reached out to communities across the state and demonstrated how he will use his experience to provide local decision-makers with better data to ensure best practices are being followed regarding spending tax dollars at the local level.

Mason P. Epeneter is a Freshman at the University of Minnesota and a candidate for Chair of the Minnesota College Republicans.