Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has called a press conference at 11:00 a.m. (Central) this morning. He has not specified the subject. Those usually in the know speculate that he will announce the abandonment of his campaign for reelection to a third term despite the stellar job he has done, at least by his own lights.
Walz is guilty of an old-fashioned kind of political corruption magnified to the nth degree by an absurdly creative welfare state. He has compiled the worst record of any governor in the history of Minnesota. It has surpassed his ability to talk his way out of it in his accusomed Joe Isuzu style. He should ride out of town on a rail.
The week before Kamala Harris picked Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, I assessed Walz’s record as governor in the July 30, 2024 Washington Free Beacon column “Take my governor–please.” It would have saved Harris some heartache if Eric Holder had paid attention to the urging of a Republican supporter of Trump’s reelection, but no. They knew better.
Please forgive me for quoting myself. However, I would like it noted that I did not overlook the obvous. Among other things, I wrote this in the Free Beacon column:
Walz will never live down the frauds committed under the watch of the state agencies within his jurisdiction. By far the most notorious of these is the Feeding Our Future case. It represents the single biggest COVID fraud uncovered so far. When it comes to COVID fraud, we’re number one. All together, 70 defendants have been charged to date. Eighteen have pleaded guilty. The first of the cases to go to trial featured a large cast of seven defendants—the biggest criminal trial ever in federal court here. Five of the seven defendants were convicted. Two were acquitted. The remaining cases have yet to be tried.
Under the auspices of the Feeding Our Future nonprofit, defendants purported to dish out millions of meals to children and families. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) oversaw the payout of some $250 million to reimburse mythical meals served around the state. The nature and scale of the fraud are staggering.
In his Joe Isuzu mode, Walz has sought to blame it on state district court judge John Guthmann, who handled a case regarding MDE’s processing of applications. Walz and Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison blamed the judge for ordering the state to continue making payments. Judge Guthmann authorized an unprecedented press release correcting “media reports and statements by Gov. Tim Walz concerning orders issued by the court.”
This is the final paragraph: “As the public court record and Judge Guthmann’s orders make plain, Judge Guthmann never issued an order requiring the MN Department of Education to resume food reimbursement payments to FOF. The Department of Education voluntarily resumed payments and informed the court that FOF resolved the ‘serious deficiencies’ that prompted it to suspend payments temporarily. All of the MN Department of Education food reimbursement payments to FOF were made voluntarily, without any court order.”
If Walz had any decency he would have resigned long ago. However, Walz’s resignation would elevate “light-skinned Native woman” (as she calls herself) Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flannagan to the governor’s office. Flannagan is a bigger flake than Walz. Once upon a time, Walz had the capability of impersonating a more or less normal human being. That time has long since passed. Flannaga has never had the gift. We are living a political satire turned horror movie.
