I’ve had my eyes opened to Wikileaks.org, thanks to the flap over the leaking of the names and credit card information of Norm Coleman’s election contest donors. My colleague Kevin Duchschere reported how a self-described German programmer associated with the site explains how it happened. The programmer’s description of these lists “floating around on the Internet” makes me think of this virtual world as a warm sea brimming with flotsam and jetsam that’s waiting to be scooped out and put on display by noble information scavengers.

Here’s the mission statement of Wikileaks:

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Supporters of a whistleblower bill hope this is the year Minnesota follows the lead of nearly two dozen other states in passing a law to reward those who stop fraud against the government. But they have encountered unanticipated resistance from the former attorney general, Mike Hatch, my colleague Mike Kaszuba reported.

Under the House bill’s research summary, here are the generous rewards specified for whistleblowers who help the government recover money that would otherwise have been stolen by fraudsters:

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For those of you who missed it, my Sunday story dealt with the plight of Lauren Strom, the erstwhile lead teacher in the older toddler room at the Cradle Club in downtown Minneapolis. She had contacted the state Department of Human Services after becoming convinced that her employer wasn’t taking the teacher-student ratio rule seriously. The story has sparked quite a conversation about who was right and who was wrong.

On Sunday, I wrote this story about how Walgreens was forced to repay the government $9.9 million after two Twin Cities pharmacists realized the company was overcharging Medicaid. Their secret lawsuit was made possible by the federal False Claims Act, which is designed to reward whistleblowers. Last session, bills to create a Minnesota version of the False Claims Act - essentially creating a reward for those who blow the whistle on those who defraud the state - stalled in the House and the Senate. I’ll be checking in on its chances in the upcoming session.