The Minnesota Department of Commerce Is Enabling Public Service Fraud — And Ignoring Victims

In April 2025, the Minnesota Department of Commerce was respectfully contacted regarding the ongoing illegal conduct of the Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC) in the administration of the Energy Assistance Program. As is typical, they have chosen to remain unresponsive. This is not new behavior. Minnesota enforcement agencies chronically ignore, bury, and retaliate against victims—particularly Black residents—who file complaints about the racist criminals they’re employing. At this point, they are no longer bystanders; they are facilitators.

How Racism Is Systemically Protected

Black residents are winning. But white employees in enforcement positions are allowing those wins to be stolen, then reframing the outcome as "racial disparities" or "gaps." They dismiss these chronic, systemic crimes as if they’re paradoxes or unfortunate outcomes of complexity. It’s Roger B. Taney every single day in Minnesota. It’s as if none of these people are bound to respect the rights of Black Minnesotans—and that's just the way it is in these public institutions.

The Personal Cost of State-Sanctioned Failure

As a Minnesota resident, all I should have to do is my job, correctly, once—and move on.
But it’s never that simple.

What I experience is chronic, systemic, "forced" failure—even when criminal conduct is required to ensure that failure. I'm already permanently physically disabled and kept debilitated because of systematically racist Minnesotans—not because of any medical diagnosis. When I exercise my legal right to leave these people followed me to the other side of the country and did everything to force me back. They keep me sick to expose me to terrorist like the ones employed at the Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC) so I'll go crazy if nothing else works. Then they don't have to be accountable for decades of fraud and abuse.

terrorist /tĕr′ər-ĭst/

noun

1. A person who engages in terrorism.
2. One who governs by terrorism or intimidation 
3. specifically, an agent or partisan of the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror in France.
4. One who commits terrorism{2}.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition 

These people are building a life, a livelihood, and a public image off of my suffering, my struggle, and my crisis when its all them, their actions, their conduct, their lies, their crime—like I’m a slave whose labor and pain they’re entitled to. I’m out of respect, political correctness and patience with people who should be not only judicially judge but socially known an accurate reputation befitting their actions. 

I don't feel anymore embarrassed about my circumstance or they're being created than any captive black American that came before me or than the black population as a whole, that has failed to eradicate systematic racism completely. I do not have to defeat an entire government by myself while wilting away with a serious disability for which I'm systematically barred healthcare for—when the only reason I'm financially dependent or involved with any of these public services that are functioning as terrorist organizations is because of these endless crimes that I'm subjected to and I've proven that now beyond all possibility of doubt.   Everyone should be held accountable for their actions.

Take Action: Contact the Minnesota Department of Commerce

If you're experiencing fraud, denial of services, or misconduct by a Minnesota public agency like MVAC, there is no need to use the contact information below to report it directly to the Department of Commerce because as I have demonstrated—they are unresponsive but that's fine. 

As sure as you're reading this article I'm going to write a book about their role in the illness and possible cancer Minnesota public services gave me with the name of every individual who collected employment income to protect me but refused to respond. 

Phone Contacts

• Main Office: 651-539-1500

• Complaints Line: 651-539-1600

• Weights & Measures Division: 651-539-1555

• Hearing/speech disabilities: Use your preferred Telecommunications Relay Service

Email Contacts

• Consumer Protection & Complaints: consumer.protection@state.mn.us

• Commerce Enforcement (Report Fraud): consumer.protection@state.mn.us

• Weights & Measures Complaints: complaints.commerce@state.mn.us

• Energy Assistance Program Feedback: Use the Energy Assistance Feedback Form

• Energy Information Requests: energy.info@state.mn.us

• Senior Fraud Team: SeniorFraud.mmb@state.mn.us

Department of Commerce Offices

Main Office – Golden Rule Building
85 7th Place East, Suite 280
Saint Paul, MN 55101
Metered street parking available
Robert Street Municipal Ramp is connected via skyway (Level 3)

Weights & Measures Office
14305 Southcross Drive, Suite 150
Burnsville, MN 55306

Key Personnel Email Contacts

Title	Name	Phone	Email
Commissioner	Steve Kelley	651-539-1441	commissioner.commerce@state.mn.us
Acting Deputy Commissioner of Insurance	Frederick Anderson	651-539-1753	frederick.andersen@state.mn.us
Deputy Commissioner / Chief of Staff	Anne O'Connor	651-539-1442	anne.oconnor@state.mn.us
Deputy Commissioner, Financial Institutions	Maxwell Zappia	651-539-1725	maxwell.zappia@state.mn.us
General Counsel	Kathleen Finnegan	651-539-1450	kathleen.finnegan@state.mn.us
Director of Administrative Services	Tim Jahnke	651-539-1501	tim.jahnke@state.mn.us
Assistant Commissioner, Enforcement	Martin Fleischhacker	651-539-1601	martin.fleischhacker@state.mn.us
Assistant Commissioner, Government & External Affairs	Peter Brickwedde	651-539-1443	peter.brickwedde@state.mn.us
Communications Director	Ross Corson	651-539-1463	ross.corson@state.mn.us

Other Online Resources

• File a complaint or request an external review

• Request public data

• Submit a request for a speaker

• Subscribe to the monthly Consumer Alerts Newsletter

• Follow the Department of Commerce on: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn

When a regulatory agency like the Minnesota Department of Commerce is unresponsive to complaints, there are several steps you can take to escalate the issue:

1. Contact the Minnesota Office of the Ombudsman:
   The Ombudsman acts as an independent intermediary to help resolve problems with state agencies and can investigate complaints about unresponsiveness or unfair treatment.

2. File a complaint with the Minnesota Office of the Attorney General:
   The AG’s office can take action on behalf of consumers and may open investigations into agency misconduct or negligence.

3. Reach out to your state legislators:
   Your elected representatives can put pressure on state agencies to address complaints and hold them accountable.

4. Use the Minnesota State Auditor's Office:
   They oversee government accountability and might investigate misuse of funds or administrative failures.

5. Engage the media and advocacy groups:
   Public exposure can sometimes spur action where internal complaints fail.

6. File a formal complaint or lawsuit:
   When all else fails, legal action may be necessary to force accountability.

If you're a victim of service denial, racial discrimination, or bureaucratic fraud in Minnesota, your voice matters. Keep records, speak plainly, and do not be silenced.