Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan refused to take ownership of the largest welfare fraud scandal in state history at Friday's Senate debate — and Republican challenger Michele Tafoya made her pay for it in plain English.

With as much as $9 billion potentially pilfered from state coffers since 2018, the same administration that couldn't track taxpayer money is asking voters to trust it with another six years. The integrity question isn't just about ballots — it's about whether the people running the machinery can even count the dollars.

The exchange came during the first and only scheduled debate between the two candidates. When asked whether she had