Steve Hilton, California gov candidate, launches tip line to expose fraud after $1 billion Minnesota debacle

Steve Hilton, Republican candidate for California governor, has launched an online tip line to expose shenanigans in government programs following the alleged COVID fraud in Minnesota that’s plundered $1 billion of taxpayer cash.

The former Fox News contributor aiming to replace Gavin Newsom in 2027 launched the whistleblower line alongside a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem requesting that federal officials investigate fraud in California.

Hilton told The Post Wednesday that he spoke with senior DHS leadership earlier in the day and they agreed that an investigation in the Golden State is “warranted.”

“This is based on my very strongly held assumption that whatever we’re seeing in Minnesota is 1,000 times worse in California because of many more years of one-party rule by the Democrats,” Hilton explained. 

In September 2022, Minnesota federal prosecutors filed charges against dozens of defendants in an alleged scheme to defraud social services programs spun up during the pandemic.

A New York Times report published Saturday detailed a sprawling scam, concentrated in the state’s Somali community, in which fraudsters allegedly set up companies to bill state agencies for millions in fake social services.

The Times reported that government officials raised questions about the veracity of some invoices as early as 2020, but were ultimately drowned out by threats of legal action and negative press. On Saturday, an X account claiming to represent 480 Minnesota state stewards blasted Gov. Tim Walz for presiding over the fraud, alleging retaliation against whistleblowers. 

The California tip line, launched Wednesday, asks state workers to report misconduct and instances of waste, fraud and abuse. 

Hilton said he plans to advertise the tip line in publications read by Sacramento staffers. In addition, he called for a “full public audit of California’s major programs” if elected governor. 

Hilton argued that California’s “aggressive one-party establishment,” combined with a huge number of illegal immigrants, have created “massive incentives for fraud and waste in the system growing every year.” 

California’s gubernatorial race is a crowded field. East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have all declared their intent to run.