The Real Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota

By Wayne Rohde, Special to The Kennedy Beacon

My first temptation is to dump on the weird and bizarre actions that Governor Walz and his administration have conducted upon the State of Minnesota and the people of the state.

What is remarkable is how little most people outside of the region of the Upper Midwest know about Walz. 

Currently, he is facing major corruption in his administration for the lack of oversight and accountability totaling nearly $500 million dollars in fraud, mostly Medicaid/Medicare billing. Recent announcements by the FBI investigating millions of dollars received by fraudulent autism service providers bothers many. Myself included. For my son Nick, who is 26, has severe regressive autism, and is dependent on his family and care providers.

Before I start on a long list of questionable and troubling actions by Walz and his administration, I would like to point out that there is only one candidate in this presidential campaign who is offering solutions, not platitudes. The Harris and Walz campaign is more about offering a junior high remark looking for the cheap laugh. President Trump is more about attacking the democratic candidate. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is staying above this nonsense.

Walz as Governor during COVID Lockdown

Walz returned from Congress and ran for Governor in 2018. 

For the first 2 years of his governorship, it was rather boring except for budget policy wonks at the state capitol debating spending priorities. The legislature was split, forcing Walz to, at the very least, work across the aisle to get a budget passed. If anyone was paying attention, Walz and his administration were starting to move to the left of their previously established policy positions.

COVID hit and Walz and his administration lurched far to the left quickly. Mid-March of 2020, Walz issued emergency powers orders to close schools and shut down businesses. These measures would stay in place for nearly 18 months. 

One of the longest tenures in the nation.

Enacting draconian lockdown measures, mask mandates, and fear mongering filled the hourly and daily press conferences. The use of data modeling that had no factual basis drove a message of fear, of doom for all Minnesotans. Forecasting dramatic death tolls, his administration purchased an abandoned warehouse, retrofitting it to become a very large morgue for his pending death count. His forecasting models for the number of deaths were never supported by any science or data. Millions of state tax dollars were wasted.

He issued orders to lock down most retail and restaurants, wiping out small business owners. Ordering a complete shutdown of schools with a message that kids would spread COVID and kill grandma. He later pushed policies to prevent family gatherings for weddings, funerals and even Thanksgiving. Separating families was his specialty. Walz threatened families from gathering and businesses from opening. His administration created a 1-800 snitch line for people to call in to report on families that gathered for the holidays, churches that held in-person services. This was a scene from Europe during the 1930’s.

Walz weaponized the state agencies against those who questioned his tactics. In rural parts of the state, he sent in Department of Health agents to shut down restaurants and small businesses that defied his orders. These establishments were often the sole source of income for many people who lived in a small town.

His pressuring tactics of state agency officials came to light when Walz was caught using a fake email address to circumvent open records discovery.

Many, many people lost their homes, their livelihood. Families were destroyed because of these draconian actions – while Walz allowed large retail businesses such as Walmart to remain open.

The George Floyd riots

One of the scariest times in my life occurred during the riots that burned sections of Minneapolis and St. Paul. And Gov Walz went AWOL for over 36 hours while the riots raged on and fire destroyed a police precinct, US postal office, and hundreds of businesses.

Local news reporters and their TV anchors were all reporting live and asking where is Walz? Even the little man, the mayor of Minneapolis, asked Walz to activate the National Guard.

It took a threat by President Trump to get Walz to activate the National Guard to stop the rioting. By then the damage was done.

Governor Walz and COVID-19 vaccine injured

Then came the COVID vaccine rollout. Walz pushed for state employee mandates and private sector employer mandates. And the pushback continued to build, yet he did not relinquish his power and control over the state.

In the early months of 2022, a Zoom meeting was set up with several COVID-19 vaccine injured and members of Walz’s staff. The meeting included Suzanne Newell, Lorri Jennings, several of the COVID-19 vaccine injured and advocates for vaccine safety, including myself. What was billed as a meeting with Walz’s staff turned out to be a meeting with interns – an insult to those who were injured. The message of those injured was passionate, real. They told stories about how their lives were a total wreck. They were in pain, needed help, many had lost their jobs and were unable to provide for their families. And it fell on deaf ears.

2022 Elections

With the upcoming reelection campaign in 2022, Walz promoted a new message. “One Minnesota,” although he had been the state’s most divisive governor in the last 75 years.

Walz ushered in a new era of weaponizing State Medical Review boards that would attack doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners who questioned the CDC and state health department. This included his opponent for governor in 2022, Dr. Scott Jensen.

During the state fair at the end of August 2022, Walz claimed that 80% of students missed only 10 days of in-person learning during covid. Which was a flat out lie. Local media called him on it but did not hold him accountable. This is a pattern for Walz.

The election results of November 2022 provided Walz a political trifecta. Both chambers of the state legislature, plus his office, gained control of the entire state government.

An interesting side note of the gubernatorial election: In Walz’s congressional district of southwest Minnesota, where he served for five terms, his opponent Dr. Scott Jensen easily defeated the governor. Walz’s victory was based on the Twin Cities turnout. The rest of the state was not so kind to him.

2023 & 2024 Passing Harmful, Radical Laws

The Legislature seized upon this trifecta in the 2023 session and passed what is considered the most radical and damaging legislation in any state. This includes California and New York.

The bill allows children, without parental consent, access to abortion providers at any stage in the pregnancy. It allows children access to sterilization services without parental consent, which creates more incentives for sex trafficking. And the crown jewel for the radicals: it allows children, without parental consent, to seek transgender medical treatments and therapies. 

Governor Walz was so proud to sign this legislation into law, he invited several advocates and even young children to the signing ceremony.

Walz signed a Bill redefining the term "Sexual Orientation" such that protection did not specifically exclude pedophiles, as it previously had.

The legislative session allowed the governor to recklessly spend the $18 billion surplus – a lot of it made up of one-time federal COVID relief money – to fund radical projects. 

He signed into law a bill to mandate tampons in boys bathrooms in public schools.

The legislature passed a bill to create a hate speech database that the governor signed into law.

During the 2024 session, the largest school district in the state was in the red for over $150 million. 

Special education budgets were left behind. Test scores declined dramatically during his tenure as governor.

A Walz-appointed Minnesota justice decided against allowing state residents from defending themselves from deadly harm with a firearm. Good news for street muggers, home break ins, and other violent criminals.

Bottom line, Governor Walz cannot be trusted with our lives and safety.