Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s administration allocated nearly $449,000 in taxpayer money to a left-wing legal nonprofit as part of an apparent “sue-and-settlement” plan that put the first transgender inmate in a state women’s prison, The Post can exclusively reveal.
In 2023, the Democratic vice presidential nominee’s office shelled out $448,904 to Saint Paul-based Gender Justice, one year after the nonprofit filed a sex discrimination complaint against Minnesota’s Department of Corrections (DOC), according to a review of public records shared with The Post by the taxpayer watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com.
The complaint argued that the DOC was discriminating by housing the transgender inmate, Christina Lusk, in a men’s prison and denying access to sex-reassignment procedures including a vaginoplasty.
Lusk had received hormone therapy and pursued genital reconstructive surgery before being arrested in December 2018 and charged with meth possession, receiving a five-year prison sentence.
At the time, Lusk was already on conditional release following a 2012 DWI offense.
Though the DOC initially moved to dismiss the suit and touted efforts to defend “some of the most progressive transgender policies in the nation,” the agency agreed to a whopping $495,000 settlement in May 2023 that entitled Lusk to $245,903 in cash and Gender Justice to $198,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs.
Lusk was ordered to be transferred to a women’s facility in Shakopee, southwest of Minneapolis, and promised full reimbursement pending a medical evaluation and approval from a medical insurance provider for vaginoplasty and “breast revision” procedures — even after the end of Lusk’s incarceration period if necessary, per the settlement.
As of January 31, Lusk had been released from state custody and placed under supervision.
Gender Justice had only received a paltry $1,500 from the Minnesota government in 2022, the year before the unprecedented litigation got underway.
The DOC in 2023 categorized the massive expenses as “legal services” paid to Gender Justice, and the cash to Lusk was marked as “other operating costs” paid to a non-taxable vendor, records show.
Gender Justice got another $5,000 that year from the state’s Office of Higher Education for help with “general management” of “fiscal services.”
OpenTheBooks believes the facts point to the case itself being a sue-and-settle, where closed-door legal arbitration is used to change public policy without the approval of the legislature.
Attorneys at Minneapolis-based Robins Kaplan LLP, which partnered with Gender Justice on the lawsuit and got $51,096 in return for costs, had donated more than $22,000 to Walz’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign, state campaign finance records show.
A treasurer on Gender Justice’s board also serves concurrently as the manager of Adult Mental Health Programs and Services at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
“In this instance, we have a nonprofit with ties to the administration and a law firm with five figures in donations to the Walz campaign on the same side of the table, across from the Department of Corrections,” said OpenTheBooks spokesman Christopher Neefus.
“It’s a closed circle of interests. By simply following the money in the state checkbook, we were able to paint taxpayers a much more detailed picture of these negotiations,” he added.
“The funds paid as part of the settlement were funds appropriated to the Department of Corrections,” a spokeswoman for the agency said in a statement.
“The commissioner of the Department of Corrections, with input from the agency’s General Counsel, and attorneys from the Attorney General’s Office (who provide litigation representation to all state agencies), is authorized to settle cases,” the spokeswoman added.
“Settlement negotiations are conducted by Agency General Counsel and the attorneys assigned by the Office of the Attorney General. While the AG’s Office represents the agency and provides legal advice to the agency, the agency is responsible for making final settlement decisions that reflect the best interest of the State,” the spokeswoman went on.
“The agency’s policy determination is based on the requirement that the agency provide responsive and necessary medical care to incarcerated persons in custody, along with an analysis of emerging case law from legal actions brought against corrections agencies from across the nation.”
Walz’s office and Gender Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
The nonprofit said it was “proud and honored” earlier this year to be one of several groups invited to the White House South Lawn for a Pride Month Celebration.
Due to the Lusk settlement, World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care will now be the norm in Minnesota for the treatment of inmates with gender dysphoria — and taxpayers will be left picking up the tab.
The Biden administration successfully pressured WPATH in late 2021 into adopting transgender treatment guidelines that lowered the age limits for minors seeking sex-reassignment surgeries.
An explosive report published in March by independent journalist Michael Shellenberger also pulled the curtain back on WPATH downplaying the dangers of the gender modifications — including loss of bone density and infertility.
Many Western European nations have already banned the procedures and associated hormone therapies for minors, but the US government still relies on WPATH for guidelines in treating gender dysphoria.
“There’s a wide range of public opinion on trans issues, but WPATH has only grown more controversial recently,” Neefus said. “Following their standards of care is a decision taxpayers should know about and understand.”
The Minnesota Department of Corrections and “facility gender identity committees will promptly respond to incarcerated persons’ requests,” according to other policy revisions in the settlement, and inmates may change their legal names whenever they wish.
Those changes matched an executive order that Walz signed in March 2023 enshrining the right of all Minnesotans to receive “gender-affirming care,” a state Department of Corrections spokesman told the Star Tribune newspaper in the wake of the Lusk settlement.
Republicans and social conservative have seized on the order — as well as a law placing menstrual products in boys’ restrooms at public schools — to attack Walz as a radical on LGBT issues, giving him the moniker “Tampon Tim.”
The characterization clashes with the public persona he has cultivated as a “folksy” Midwesterner with humble roots as a high school teacher and assistant football coach who is fond of hunting.
Vice President Kamala Harris picked Walz to join her on the November ballot just weeks after President Biden suspended his re-election campaign July 21, leading to a slew of unfavorable stories about his embellishments of his military service record and mismanagement of state funds as governor.
Neither Harris nor Walz referred to their respective administration’s record on LGBT issues when addressing the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month — nor did they vow to protect or advance the rights of “gay” or “transgender” Americans.
The Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
