Millions in legal costs trigger belt-tightening at Minn. human services agency

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11-28-2014 Minnesota:

“It’s never easy to cut back spending, especially in an agency where the work is so critical,” Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson wrote in a Nov. 14 memo to department employees.

The state agency charged with protecting Minnesota’s most vulnerable populations is imposing across-the-board spending restrictions after incurring millions of dollars in unexpected costs related to two high-profile lawsuits.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services, a giant agency with 6,628 employees and a biennial budget of $28.2 billion, is imposing limits on everything from filling vacant positions to out-of-state travel. The belt-tightening became necessary to bring the agency back on fiscal track after it racked up more than $4 million in costs from litigation over the treatment of sex offenders and the alleged abuse of people with disabilities, among other costs.

“It’s never easy to cut back spending, especially in an agency where the work is so critical,” Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson wrote in a Nov. 14 memo to department employees.

The fiscal pinch sets the stage for a debate at the State Capitol this spring over spending priorities at the state’s largest agency, which serves more than 1 million Minnesotans. Already, House and Senate committee chairs who oversee health and human services are girding for a debate over how to absorb millions of dollars in court-ordered costs while sustaining programs for those who are poor, disabled or mentally ill, among other vulnerable populations served by the department.

“Unfortunately, our ineffective response to problems over the past 10 to 12 years is catching up with us,” said Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato, chairwoman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Housing Committee. “Now we have no choice but to act.” Lawmakers will have to wrestle with how to pay for the ongoing legal cases before considering further spending increases the agency’s programs or projects, Sheran said.

Report urges overhaul of state's sex offender program

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11-26-2014 Minnesota:

Program has not unconditionally discharged a single client in 2 decades

In yet another indictment of the troubled Minnesota Sex Offender Program, a court-appointed panel is calling for an overhaul of the laws and treatment protocols that have made Minnesota the nation’s per-capita leader in the civil commitment of sex offenders.

The 108-page report, written by a four-member team of sexual behavior experts who visited MSOP facilities in Moose Lake and St. Peter, provides some of the most detailed critiques yet of the controversial program.

Over its two decades of existence, the MSOP has yet to unconditionally discharge a single client treated there — a failure that has contributed to a Kafka-esque atmosphere and, the report found, fomented “high levels of learned helplessness and hopelessness” among both offenders and staff.

U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank, who previously described the MSOP as “clearly broken,” ordered the review in connection with a pending class action lawsuit challenging the program’s constitutionality.

“There weren’t a lot of surprises in there. This is ground we’ve been covering for some time,” said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, who served as a member of the Sex Offender Civil Commitment Advisory Task Force. Frank previously tasked that group with identifying potential legislative fixes for MSOP.

State seeks to commit Juneau County child sex assaulter as sex offender

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Here we see the State AG trying to commit someone on his FIRST offense. Notices how the AG speaks in plurals, but there is ONE offense.

11-26-2014 Wisconsin:

State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced this week that the state Department of Justice filed a petition under the state’s sexual predator law against a Juneau County man.

The petition filed Nov. 20 in Juneau County Circuit Court alleges that Larry Whiteeagle, 68, is a sexually violent person and should be committed for treatment. A probable cause hearing is scheduled Dec. 4 before Judge Paul S. Curran.

Under Wisconsin law, a person may be subject to civil commitment when the person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense, has a mental disorder and is dangerous to others because the disorder makes it likely he or she will commit further acts of sexual violence.

A civil commitment is defined in Wisconsin law as commitment to the custody and care of the Department of Health Services for control, care and treatment until the person is no longer considered sexually violent.

Texas DPS most wanted sex offender Rubio caught

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11-24-2014 Texas:

BANDERA, Texas (AP) - A tip has led to the arrest of 1 of the Department of Public Safety's 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders at a home in Central Texas.

DPS says 55-year-old James Anthony Rubio was captured in Bandera, about 40 miles northwest of San Antonio.

Rubio was released from prison in April 2012 after serving 20 years for sexual assault. Investigators say Rubio last September cut off his ankle bracelet monitor and fled from the Travis County Residential Center in Del Valle.

Rubio, who was caught Monday, had outstanding warrants for failure to register as a sex offender, failure to comply with sex offender civil commitment requirements and a federal warrant for sex offense.

His criminal history includes aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, rape, attempted rape and making a terroristic threat. ..Source.. by FoxDFW.com

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What's next for Minnesota's Sex Offender Program?

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11-24-2014 Minnesota:

The debate over when to commit sex offenders - and what to do with the more than 700 already in civil commitment in Minnesota - continues.

Last week, a court-appointed panel recommended dozens of changes to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. Among other things, the group suggested the state evaluate everyone in the program to see if they belong there.

Despite these and previous recommendations for reform, the Legislature last session did not take any action to change how Minnesota handles sex offenders.
Eric Janus, president and dean of William Mitchell College of Law, joins The Daily Circuit for an update on the issue, and a look at what might happen next. Janus is the author of books on sex offender civil commitment and was a member of a previous task force that recommended change.

State Republican Rep. Tara Mack also joins the discussion. ..Listen to Discussion..

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Ordered to be deported, but confined at MSOP

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7-3-2011 Minnesota:

Of the dozens of men who believe they should be released from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program in Moose Lake, perhaps Hayden Michael Richards has the strongest case.

Of the dozens of men who believe they should be released from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program in Moose Lake, perhaps Hayden Michael Richards has the strongest case.

He shouldn’t even be in the country.

Richards, 37, is a citizen of Trinidad and has had an order to be deported back there by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Homeland Security since 1999, according to court records.

Richards served 10 years in prison for beating and raping two women and attempting to rape two more in the mid-1990s in the St. Paul area.

Before his release in 2006, Ramsey County petitioned to have him committed for treatment at MSOP, which spends an average of $120,000 a year on each offender, about 3½ times the cost of prison.

And while in Moose Lake, Richards fathered a child with a security counselor at the facility.

Police Calls to MSOP

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6-28-2011 Minnesota:

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MSOP resident in jail on charges related to attack of fellow sex offender

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10-8-2014 Minnesota:

A resident of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) in Moose Lake is in the Carlton County jail Wednesday facing charges relating to a knife attack on a fellow sex offender program resident.

Mauro Flores, 32–years–old, is facing two charges of second degree assault with a dangerous weapon, causing substantial bodily harm, as well as a charge of making terroristic threats.

It is unclear how Flores acquired the weapon in a secure lock–up facility.

Other residents we talked with said there has been a lot of unrest, resulting in a significant increase in resident fighting in recent weeks, as the sex offenders wait for a court decision on the constitutionality of Minnesota's Civil Commitment Program.

Flores' first court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 15. He has been granted a public defender. Bail has been set at $3,000. ..Source.. by Barbara Reyelts

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For-Profit Prison Companies Have A Worrying Plan For Boosting Profits

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11-21-2014 National:

For-profit prison companies are exploiting "new markets" to compensate for the recent decrease in America's prison population, according to the report released by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

Psychiatric facilities in particular could bring in major cash for private prison companies. These state facilities typically include a number of "forensic" cases, meaning patients ended up in a psych facility because they committed a crime.

For-profit prison operators also stand to gain from a type of confinement known as civil commitment, which confines sex offenders after their prison sentences if they're likely to abuse somebody again.

Inmate charged with attempted murder at Rush City prison

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11-20-2014 Minnesota:

An inmate at the Rush City prison is facing two new serious felony charges, including attempted premeditated murder, in connection with a 2012 incident that left another inmate with a traumatic brain injury.

A criminal complaint against 56-year-old Mark William Latimer was originally filed in May 2013, alleging he committed first-degree assault on another inmate at the facility on June 8, 2012. An amended complaint was filed two years later and includes charges of attempted first-degree premeditated murder and attempted murder in the second degree.

Latimer, whose last known address was in northeast Minnesota, appeared in Chisago County District Court on Nov. 3, when he was booked on the charges set out in the amended complaint. He has remained incarcerated while this matter has been pending, said Chisago County Attorney Janet Reiter.

According to the complaint:

In response to an assault at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Rush City on June 8, 2012, an investigator learned a 28-year-old inmate was sitting in a chair while working in the industry area when another inmate, Latimer, approached from behind and struck him on the head six times with a thick, wooden block or board.

Correctional officers in the area said they heard “smacking” and “cracking” sounds and discovered the victim inmate sitting in a chair, with other offenders clearing away from him. Other officers claimed to have either observed the assault or Latimer swinging the board in the air.

Study: Many sex offenders wrongfully committed

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11-20-2014 Minnesota:

Experts reviewing Minnesota’s civil commitment program for sex offenders issued dozens of recommendations in a report issued Tuesday, including individual evaluations of each resident to ensure compliance with the criteria for confinement.

The panel, appointed by a federal court, also said the state’s civil commitment statute should be changed to ensure it’s used only for the most dangerous sex offenders who are at the highest risk to reoffend. The 108-page report also recommended that officials expedite the process to transfer the program’s only female resident to another environment.

Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson said she appreciated the review.

“We will carefully examine the report and its recommendations before deciding our next steps,” she said in a statement.

The four-person panel has been reviewing the Minnesota Sex Offender Program as part of a class-action lawsuit filed in 2011 by residents who allege it is unconstitutional because it keeps them locked up indefinitely without providing adequate treatment. More than 700 people deemed sexually dangerous or sexual psychopaths have been committed to high-security facilities in Moose Lake or St. Peter after their prison terms were completed. Only one resident has been successfully released, with provisions, since 1994.

Backlash grows against sex offender program

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11-19-2014 Minnesota:

A scathing and exhaustive report casts new doubt on the constitutionality of long-term confinement.

The state of Minnesota confines many sex offenders far longer than necessary and may be confining some who pose minimal risk to the public, according to a scathing review that casts new doubts on the program’s future.

The findings, included in an exhaustive report released Tuesday, raise new questions about the legality of Minnesota’s controversial sex offender program just three months before a lawsuit over its constitutionality is set for trial in federal court in St. Paul.

A team of court-appointed authorities on sexual behavior, including experts from Florida, New York and Wisconsin, conducted what is considered the most comprehensive review yet into the inner workings of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP). Their 108-page report (below) paints a bleak picture of a program that creates unnecessary obstacles to treatment, sets unrealistic expectations for patient behavior, and leaves both patients and staff beset with feelings of futility. Only two offenders have been discharged in the program’s 20-year history — in what many argue has become a de-facto life sentence.

CLICK to read report

Update: Expert panel Recommendations issued for sex offender program

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11-18-2014 Minnesota:

Experts reviewing Minnesota's civil commitment program for sex offenders issued dozens of recommendations in a report issued Tuesday, including individual evaluations of each resident to ensure compliance with the criteria for confinement.

The panel, appointed by a federal court, also said the state's civil commitment statute should be changed to ensure it's used only for the most dangerous sex offenders who are at the highest risk to reoffend. The 108-page report also recommended that officials expedite the process to transfer the program's only female resident to another environment.

Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson said she appreciated the review.

"We will carefully examine the report and its recommendations before deciding our next steps," she said in a statement.

The four-person panel has been reviewing the Minnesota Sex Offender Program as part of a class-action lawsuit filed in 2011 by residents who allege it is unconstitutional because it keeps them locked up indefinitely without providing adequate treatment. More than 700 people deemed sexually dangerous or sexual psychopaths have been committed to high-security facilities in Moose Lake or St. Peter after their prison terms were completed. Only one resident has been successfully released, with provisions, since 1994.

No cross dressing, puppies or kids toys: Ways NY does surveillance on dangerous sex offenders

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11-18-2014 New York:

No cross dressing. No children's toys. No puppies or kittens. No romantic relationships without notifying a parole officer.

These are just some of the conditions that dangerous sex offenders released into the community must follow under strict parole, called Strict and Intensive Supervision and Treatment (SIST).

It's the less-onerous alternative to sex offender confinement, which keeps 286 men locked up in mental hospitals after their prison terms.

SIST ensnares roughly 150 sex offenders deemed to have a "mental abnormality" but not dangerous enough to keep indefinitely confined.

Of those, 108 sex offenders were released to SIST from the get-go, and another 51 were released from confinement into SIST, according to the state Attorney General's Office. They are not confined, but must still undergo treatment and follow the rules. If not, they could be sent into confinement.

Experts appointed to review Minnesota Sex Offender Program issue 44 recommendations

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11-18-2014 Minnesota:

A panel of experts appointed to evaluate the Minnesota Sex Offender Program has issued 44 recommendations for changes.

Among them, the panel says the state's civil commitment statute should be changed to ensure that it's used only for those sex offenders who are truly the most dangerous and at the highest risk to reoffend.

The panel also recommends that officials expedite the process to transfer the program's only female resident to another environment, and that each resident be evaluated to see if he meets criteria for commitment.

A federal court appointed the experts to review the state's commitment program for sex offenders as part of a lawsuit alleging the program is unconstitutional.

The experts filed their 108-page report Tuesday morning. Officials at the Department of Human Services are reviewing it. ..Source.. by AMY FORLITI

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Syracuse judge says pedophiles he's seen were victims of their own crime

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11-18-2014 New York:

A Syracuse judge who has adjudicated some of the state's worst sex offenders says every pedophile seems to have one thing in common: they were abused themselves.

Onondaga County Court Judge Joseph Fahey said virtually 100 percent of sex offenders he's seen suffer from that condition because they were victims at some point.

"I can't recall a case of (mental abnormality) or in other courts I've sat on where the offender wasn't victimized in that way," the judge said.

In the past seven years, Fahey has conducted roughly 200 hearings for sex offenders confined or supervised under the state's program for those who can't control their deviant sexual urges. He's one of three judges in the state who can set a confined sex offender free.

Fahey said he rarely rules against the state's recommendation, except in very close calls. The vast majority of the time, he rules against the patient. Some come in each year and he's gotten to know them very well.

Audit On Prison Issue Released, Recommendations Made

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11-17-2014 Nebraska:

An audit of the Department of Correctional Services, released Monday by the Legislative Performance Audit Committee, found issues of concern with the reliability of DCS data regarding inmates, as well as the department's use of segregation. Additionally, the audit report recommended that the Legislature consider amending relevant commitment and corrections acts to ensure the evaluation procedures and definitions for potentially mentally ill and dangerous inmates and dangerous sex offenders are "clear and consistent."

Performance Audit Committee members, prompted largely by the 2013 DCS release of Nikko Jenkins, authorized an audit of the corrections department in January. Legislative concerns about DCS' handling of Jenkins ultimately resulted in the initiation of two other investigations, with both of which the Audit Office coordinated its research.

The audit scope included an examination of the department's disciplinary process and use of segregation; the adequacy of inmate programming- such as substance abuse treatment and mental health services- and the relationship between parole decisions and the availability of programming. The scope also called for a comparison of the commitment process under the Mental Health Commitment Act and the Sex Offender Commitment Act and of the processes the department uses to identify inmates who may be subject to civil commitments under the acts.

Serial Oswego County sex offender attacks indefinite confinement law

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11-17-2014 New York:

In 2001, an Oswego County man was convicted of sexually abusing children. Floyd Yelle's history included the sexual assault of a 23-year-old woman eight years earlier and the harassment of a teenage babysitter.

But that was only the beginning. Yelle had been accused of preying on others: the babysitter's twin sister, the 8- and 15-year-old daughters of ex-girlfriends and an 8-year-old friend of the family.

He was sentenced to serve in prison from Jan. 16, 2001 to Dec. 22, 2005. Yet, he remains in confinement today.

Yelle is one of nearly 300 sex offenders who remain confined indefinitely after serving their prison time. It's part of a little-known state law that keeps the worst sex offenders off the streets, as long as they are getting psychiatric treatment in a mental hospital.

Before the state can confine a sex offender, he has a right to a trial. And that's where Yelle's appeal came in.

What controversial technique does NY use for confined sex offenders?

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11-17-2014 New York:

Fixing sex offenders is hardly a proven science. Few mental health doctors knew anything about sexual abnormalities until indefinite confinement programs started in the 1990s.

Since 2007, the state has run a little-known system that confines dangerous sex offenders after their prison sentence has ended.

Most controversial in New York's treatment program is the use of a penile photoplethysmograph, or PPG. It measures sexual stimulation.

The mental health agency calls it an objective way of measuring progress. "It's a key treatment tool," said Dr. Christopher Kunkle, chief psychiatric examiner of institutional sex offender treatment.

The offender is shown a series of photos with audio. There's no pornography - the visuals are there only to orient the offender to what he hears.

Search NY sex offenders confined indefinitely in mental hospitals after prison

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11-16-2014 New York:

he public New York sex offender registry keeps track of 37,000 people. Among that list, you'll find the 300 or so indefinitely confined in either Oneida or St. Lawrence counties.

But good luck finding them. State officials believe once a sex offender has been confined to a psychiatric center the public has no right to know their names.

Civil confinement is a little-known program that allows the state to keep uncontrollable sex offenders off the street as long as they're treated for psychiatric problems.

Syracuse.com sent Freedom of Information requests to the state Attorney General's Office and the Department of Corrections looking for an official list of confined sex offenders. But they were denied on the grounds they were considered hospital patients, not inmates. The mental health office, judges and the court system also declined to divulge lists. The Marcy hospital also declined to let a reporter tour the facility.

Inside a closed courtroom: What happens in a sex offender civil proceeding

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11-16-2014 New York:

Inside courtrooms with closed doors, between lawyers and judges with confidential files, simple questions are debated: How much of a danger is this person? What is his "mental abnormality?"

Those are the questions during sex offender civil management trials. A jury will decide whether a sex offender who has already served prison time has a mental abnormality that could confine him indefinitely.

During these confidential trials, sometimes police and parole officers testify; even victims, ex-girlfriends and pastors. It's a grueling process that captures the offender's whole life, not simply the crime they were convicted of. This is a civil trial, not a criminal one, so the offender isn't facing double jeopardy.

The jurors must be unanimous in finding a mental abnormality. If that happens, the offender is then brought back to court for the judge to decide whether he should be confined or released to strict parole. That means more testimony, much of it a repeat of the trial itself.

About three-quarters of those with a mental abnormality are confined by judges, and the rest released. ..Source.. by Douglass Dowty

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Little-known NY law keeps worst sex offenders off the streets and out of sight - possibly forever

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11-16-2014 New York:

Raymond Younis had a way of reaching young boys.

The divorced father befriended single mothers and shuttled their sons, ages 6 to 13, to and from school in the village of Phoenix. He babysat them and listened to their problems.

But Younis wasn't the father figure he appeared to be. Three times in 1984, he handcuffed a 10-year-old boy in his bedroom, stripped him naked and took photographs. For that, Younis spent two years in jail.

A decade later, Younis struck again. When authorities raided his apartment in 1997, they found videos of up to 30 young boys in various stages of undress and a stolen .38-caliber gun he used to threaten victims.

The laundromat worker attracted infamy as one of the most prolific sex offenders in Central New York history. He did his time in state prison, but state officials did not want him to go free another time.

So they turned to a little-known New York state weapon called "civil confinement," an indefinite legal purgatory that has elements of bonus prison time and mandatory mental health care.

FOX 11 Investigates UPDATE: Audit of the Supervised Release program

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11-13-2014 Wisconsin:

FOX 11 Investigates first uncovered last year the inflated rate the state was paying to house convicted sex offenders and now, the state agency that runs the program is continuing to make changes brought about by that report.

An audit of the program followed last year and changes were made. And now more changes are made to save taxpayers money.

Kevin Moore, the Department of Health Services (DHS) Deputy Secretary, says they welcome the opportunity to work with the audit bureau.

Moore appeared before the legislative audit committee to announce more cost savings in the $2.8 million supervise release program.

The biggest savings of taxpayer dollars is a new contract in place to monitor and transport sex offenders in the program. DHS had paid $70 an hour for the service and the new deal slashes that to around $30.

“We’re looking at $187,000 in savings we anticipate to save that by the end of the year,” Moore said.

According to Moore, the DHS continues to seek out additional landlords to rent homes to some 35 sex offenders in the program. The original audit confirmed our FOX 11 Investigates report that rents paid were inflated on several homes to more than three times the going rate.

New Jacumba Home Proposed for Sexually Violent Predator

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11-12-2014 California:

Diagnosed pedophile Gary Snavely, 49, is set to be released into San Diego County

The Department of State Hospitals says a sexually violent predator should be released in Jacumba, not Borrego Springs as the agency initially suggested.

On Wednesday, the DSH proposed that diagnosed pedophile Gary Snavely, 49, be placed at 45612 Old Highway 80 in Jacumba, a town with fewer than 600 people, according to the 2010 census.

In 1987, Snavely was convicted of molesting two girls between the ages of 8 and 9 in Orange County. The molestations included fondling and oral copulation, according to the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.

The DSH originally proposed that Snavely’s home be in Borrego Springs, but they withdrew the suggestion earlier this month after the landlord rescinded his offer to rent the property. The man currently renting there had no idea it was the possible location for a sexually violent predator.

Littlefield jail could house sexual predators

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10-7-2014 Texas:

The lockup sits empty in Littlefield, devoid of prisoners. But not ongoing costs. The community northwest of Lubbock needs a tenant, badly, for the Bill Clayton Detention Center. And what was originally a proposal to house illegal immigrants, has now evolved into the possibility of transitioning sexual predators who have paid their debt to society.

These convicts are tweeners. They've done their time but aren't quite capable of being returned to society. They continue to receive treatment for mental issues in a secure setting.

"What they have is basically a mental abnormality. And so that is why they'd be able to continue to receive treatment, while not being free but not be a prisoner also," said Mike Arismendez, Littlefield city manager.

Texas doesn't have a facility like this and there are very few in the nation. The convicts are given a battery of tests after completing their sentence to determine if they continue to pose a risk.

Montgomery County , near Houston, has administrative control over these cons. A judge there orders a 'civil commitment', placing the offender in the facility. The focus is on rehabilitation, not punishment.

Judge signs orders to return banished sex offenders to Texas

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11-6-2014 Texas, Utah, Virginia:

A Montgomery County Judge has signed orders that would allow Texas to reclaim two violent sex offenders banished by the state to Utah and Virginia, where they committed new sexual offenses.

On Tuesday, Judge Michael Seiler, of the 435th district court, signed writs of attachment for Lloyd Joseph Wilson, 44, and Melvin Cody Whipple, 58. In September, the Houston Chronicle revealed the two men were banished from Texas in 2004, after they completed their prison sentences for sex crimes.

The banishments were agreed to by the men as part of their assignment to the state's civil commitment program, which keeps high-risk offenders in custody even after they have completed their sentences because of the severity of their crimes. Both men are in prison for crimes committed in other states since their banishment. Wilson is serving a 30-year sentence in Virginia for the 2005 rape of a teen; Whipple was given a 15-year sentence in Utah on a 2008 conviction for a sexual offense involving a child.

State will pay $203,000 to sex offender raped while in custody

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11-5-2014 Minnesota:

Staff at sex offender facility failed to step in and prevent inmate’s attack on his cellmate.

A violent patient in Minnesota’s sex offender treatment program admitted in therapy that he was grooming his new roommate for sex, but the staff failed for weeks to intervene or prevent the rape that subsequently occurred.

The sequence of events, detailed in a recent state investigation, will result in the state paying $203,000 to settle a lawsuit by Michael Mrozek, the victim in the 2010 attack.

In addition, Deputy Human Services Commissioner Anne Barry has apologized to Mrozek, telling him by letter that the agency “sincerely regrets the sexual assault that was perpetrated upon you by your roommate.”

This is the second sexual assault in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) to produce a costly court settlement. In 2011, the state paid a patient $130,000 after he was assaulted by his roommate.

Human Services officials would not comment Wednesday on what steps they have taken to ensure that staff react when they learn that one patient may be sexually targeting another.

Gubernatorial candidates square off over MSOP in final debate

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11-1-2014 Minnesota:

Governor Mark Dayton's leadership style was questioned Friday night during the final gubernatorial debate leading up to the election.

Minnesota's controversial sex offender treatment program was one of the topics during the debate on Twin Cities Public Television's Almanac program.

An upcoming court ruling could result in freeing many of the civilly committed clients now held indefinitely.

Dayton's republican challenger Jeff Johnson said tonight the governor had the chance to show leadership on this politically charged issue but did not.

"You've been governor for four years and we've known about this problem and you're saying after the election we'll solve it you had the opportunity," said Johnson.