People who don’t closely follow politics and government don’t understand how far off the rails it has gone. It’s a train wreck/
Because of that, when many people see us banging away trying to clear the mess, they see the destruction but not the original cause. They think we are dismantling something that works or might be fixed.
Would that it were so.
STORY: https://t.co/nMmPdcxCEf
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) July 10, 2025
It’s not that there aren’t some things done by the government that are necessary or even do reasonably good work, but the reality is that the system is fundamentally broken. It has been turned into an employment machine for malcontents, a graft machine for scam artists, and is filled with a lot of people whose main qualification is political connections.
I can’t imagine what it is like to work there if you are a smart, competent person who just wants to get things done. And there are such people. I have met them.
A fine example of the folks who make government so awful is Vonnie Phillips, the Human Resources Director for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
First, please take note of his job: he controls both the hiring of workers in the agency and monitors their behavior to ensure a good working environment that meets all laws and regulations about workplace behavior. And the agency he works at regulates, in some way, most businesses. So he is well placed to make life better or worse for everybody.
And he is a hateful, disgusting man.
A human resources director for the State of Minnesota is now on leave after sending a profanity-laced email from his official work account to an Alpha News reporter following an inquiry about racist posts on his social media page.
It started after Alpha News received an email about LaVon “Vonnie” Phillips. A search of the state directory website shows Phillips listed as a “Human Resources Director 1” for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
State records also indicate that Phillips earns six-figures and is paid $55.45 per hour.
The tipster raised concerns about Phillips and claimed his social media page is “littered with racist comments about ‘white folk.’”
After reviewing a Facebook page under the name Vonnie Phillips — filled with the type of content described by the tipster and a video tagging a woman whose name matches Phillips’ wife in public records — Alpha News sent an inquiry to Phillips’ state email address.
In his response, Phillips confirmed the Facebook page was his and lashed out at Alpha News reporter Jenna Gloeb in a profanity-laced tirade defending his posts.
“Good luck,” he wrote. “My Facebook page is within the ‘protected concerted’ activity guidelines, therefore, do what you want; nowhere on my Facebook page lists my employer; and the person, the gutless, worthless coward that reported me, the hell with them, please tell them I said that fool.”
Phillips concluded the email with: “F-ck you, Jenna. Notice I did not use my work email …
f-cking rotten b-tch.”
He seems nice, doesn’t he? By the way, he accidentally DID use his work email, which ironically earned him a suspension from the agency.
Most of us think of HR as the behavior police, with good reason. That is one of their main functions, for good and ill. As you can see, when it comes to policing behavior, Lonnie has a unique style that only works if one is in a position to be a tyrant.
Phillips is such a man, and riven with hate toward his fellow citizens. His Facebook page was filled with rants against white people and, of course, Trump voters. As you would expect, he felt free to say the most vile things about whites you could imagine, because racism is perfectly acceptable if you have the right quantity of melanin in your skin.
Given Phillips’ key spot in the bureaucracy–HR can indirectly control everything because it controls hiring, discipline, and firing– you can imagine the influence he has had. When the HR guy vents on Facebook about how much he hates certain coworkers and the citizens he has been hired to serve faithfully.
Phillips is listed as the contact person for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Affirmative Action Plan for 2024–2026, a document outlining the agency’s diversity goals and hiring practices.
According to the agency’s Affirmative Action Plan, Phillips carries significant responsibilities for overseeing and enforcing diversity initiatives. Other duties include complying “with state-wide and agency anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.”
Additionally, the State of Minnesota’s Respectful Workplace policy outlines clear expectations for how employees are to conduct themselves.
“The State of Minnesota is committed to providing a positive environment in which all staff, members of the public and others doing business with the state are treated with respect.”
It further states: “Employees and third parties are expected to: Conduct themselves in a manner that demonstrates respect for others in the workplace and public service environment … Failure to comply with this policy and its procedures may result in disciplinary action, up to and including discharge, or ending a contractor or volunteer relationship with the agency.”
This isn’t the first time the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has come under scrutiny in recent weeks.
Alpha News recently broke the story of Wilson Tindi, a convicted sex offender and former ICE detainee whose rise in Minnesota state government began at the MPCA — despite his felony record and placement on the state’s predatory offender registry.
Such people are poison. The problem with the government isn’t that everybody who works there is a lazy schlub who doesn’t care–far from it–but that enough people who work there and rise to the top are poisonous, creating a toxic culture that rarely gets better. When things go off the rails, consumers have no alternative source of services. Instead, politicians just raise taxes so we wind up paying even more for even worse services.
Now, let me plug Alpha News, which reported this story. They are a local Minnesota alternative media source that is thriving. I have no connection to them at all, but I admire what they do and how well they do it. They do great work, and serve as an example of how alternative media sources can be created and become successful.
