After President Joseph Biden retrieved his hat from the ring and decided not to run for a second term, Vice President Kamala Harris, now the candidate, selected her running mate – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. CNN reports that “[i]n a remarkable two-week period, Walz ascended from a third-tier candidate to a final contender in the view of Harris and her vetting team. He was propelled by support from across the Democratic Party, progressive and moderate groups alike.”
Of course, such a quick vetting period could miss certain liabilities in a Walz candidacy. For instance, according to Breitbart, Walz “has listed on his official biography a higher military rank than the one he ultimately retired with, drawing criticism from some veterans and accusations of stolen valor. Walz served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and retired at the rank of master sergeant, or an E-8. However, on his official website bio, he lists a higher rank that he served at for a short period that ultimately was rescinded, as he did not complete all the requirements to serve at that rank. However, his bio implies that he retired at the rank of command sergeant major, or an E-9.”
More disturbing are the statements reported by Breitbart which are made by retired Army Command Sergeant Majors Thomas Behrends and Paul Herr, both of whom served with Walz. In a letter co-authored by the two, they write that “[i]n early 2005, a warning order was issued to the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, which included the position [Walz] was serving in, to prepare to be mobilized for active duty for a deployment to Iraq. On May 16th, 2005 [Walz] quit, leaving the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion and its Soldiers hanging; without its senior Non-Commissioned Officer, as the battalion prepared for war. His excuse to other leaders was that he needed to retire in order to run for congress.”
This allegation is far more serious than the issue of Stolen Valor. According to Sergeant Major Behrends “'[a]s soon as the shots were fired in Iraq, [Walz] turned and ran the other way and hung his hat up and quit’…Behrends, [who] replaced Walz on the deployment to Iraq after he quit,” also said, “The public needs to know how pathetic his leadership was as a National Guardsman…He abandoned us. What the hell kind of leader does that?”
Indeed. Just what kind of a leader is Tim Walz?
Perhaps the best way to determine the man’s qualifications to be Vice President is to review his record as Governor of Minnesota. First elected in 2018, Walz was in his first term when petty thief George Floyd met his demise while being placed under arrest by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.
As the riots that followed the death of Floyd are described by left leaning Vox, “[a]t least two people died during the violence in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, more than 600 arrests were made in the initial days of unrest, and the whole span of rioting and law enforcement response made it one of the most costly and destructive periods of civil unrest in US history. Minneapolis and Saint Paul sustained hundreds of millions of dollars in damage during those riots, and hundreds of buildings were heavily damaged.” While “Walz wasn’t the main authority in charge of responding to the unrest – that was the task of local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey…[t]he main line of criticism of Walz’s response to the…riots hinges on the time it took for him to deploy the Minnesota National Guard and coordinate with other state and local officials in restoring order.”
According to Vox, it took Walz several days to authorize the use of the National Guard to control the increasingly violent protests. “Walz…did not sign an executive order authorizing National Guard deployments until…much of the city had shut down, businesses were closed and boarded up to prevent looting, and buildings were smoldering after overnight arsons. [The] night [before Walz sent in the National Guard] saw some of the worst rioting, violence, and arson, as well as one of the indelible scenes of the protests: the breach and burning of the Minneapolis police’s Third Precinct police station. A few hundred National Guard and Minnesota State Patrol officers had been deployed to Minneapolis by then, but were charged with protecting federal buildings and downtown areas of the city, as well as escorting first responders, instead of immediately going to hot spots.”
Even Walz knew his delay in sending in troops was a mistake. “At a press conference…Walz would take responsibility for the state patrol’s mishandling of the [situation], saying, ‘There is absolutely no reason something like this should happen. Calls [for assistance] were made immediately … I failed you last night in that.’”
So far, Tim Walz’ record reveals a leader who failed to act decisively, except when it came to avoiding a call to arms on behalf of his country. But for those concerned with whether or not a candidate for Vice President of the United States will be respectful of the civil liberties of the American people, the worst aspects of Governor Walz’ history are cause for much trepidation on this score.
In my book, Not Wasting a Crisis, The Lawless Biden Administration, we describe the extreme responses of mostly-Democrat local and state officials to the Covid-19 pandemic. “[W]e discussed multiple violations of the Constitutional Rights of US citizens and residents by state and local authorities, all under the guise of guarding the health and welfare of their residents…too many state and local governments did not know where the powers of the state end and the rights of the individual begin. Various ‘stay at home’ orders were promulgated, along with orders to close businesses and churches as ‘nonessential entities,’ as we discussed at length…”
In addition to being governor during the George Floyd riots, Tim Walz was also in charge of Minnesota during the pandemic, and as governor, Walz showed no respect for the freedoms and the basic civil rights of the residents of his state.
In March of 2020, Walz issued a series of Executive Orders which he describes in Emergency Executive Order 20-20; “On March 13, 2020, I issued Executive Order 20-01 and declared a peacetime emergency because this pandemic…threatens the lives of Minnesotans, and local resources are inadequate to address the threat. On March 15, 2020, I issued Executive Order 20-02 ordering the temporary closure of public schools. On March 16, 2020, I issued Executive Order 20-04 ordering the closure of bars, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation.”
He then went on to order that “[b]eginning on Friday, March 27, 2020 at 11:59 pm through Friday, April 10, 2020 at 5:00 pm, all persons currently living within the State of Minnesota are ordered to stay at home or in their place of residence except to engage in the Activities and Critical Sector work set forth below…[a]llowed activities and work performed in the above Critical Sectors should, to the maximum extent possible, be conducted in a manner that adheres to Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Standards and the Minnesota Department of Health and CDC Guidelines related to COVID-19, including social distancing and hygiene…a person who willfully violates this Executive Order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction must be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 90 days.”
These orders, originally intended as temporary measures to “stop the spread,” turned into years of lock downs, mask mandates and other restrictions placed on the freedoms and civil rights of Minnesotans. As late as May of 2021, in Executive Order 21-22, Walz continued to extend his “Emergency” Orders from March of 2020. “Even as we end public health restrictions across our State, the need for emergency response remains…the pandemic is not over and our work to protect our communities continues…I have determined that the COVID-19 pandemic…continues to endanger life and property in Minnesota, and local resources are inadequate to address the threat. The COVID-19 Peacetime Emergency must therefore continue.”
As Governor Walz’ handling of the pandemic is described in Reason, “Walz’s coronavirus policies were extremely heavy-handed and restrictive; under his leadership, the state endured the pandemic in a fundamentally anti-libertarian fashion.” His Executive Orders and multiple restrictions led to “one of the stupidest COVID-19 rules: Diners at restaurants had to wear masks while walking to their table and moving about the establishment but were allowed to go maskless as long as they were eating and drinking… in November and December of 2020, Walz issued and extended orders for restaurants, gyms, and other businesses to shut down. This included outdoor dining service for eating establishments. Over 150 businesses formed the Reopen Minnesota Coalition and urged the governor to relent, but Walz was unmoved.”
In addition to his draconian Covid restrictions, the governor of Minnesota is best known for his “snitch line,” that is, “[a] hotline set up by Gov. Tim Walz’s administration to monitor compliance with his 2020 stay-at-home order [which] generated thousands of reports from Minnesotans who snitched on their neighbors for things like playing basketball in a park, walking their dogs, and throwing small parties.” The hotline was “launched in March 2020 and law enforcement continued to monitor it until November, well after the stay-at-home order ended. In October 2020, it was used to alert authorities to a church service that didn’t fit with the governor’s ‘legal requirements.’ This type of complaint was not uncommon.”
This hot line was not halted until the middle of 2022, long after almost all pandemic restrictions had been lifted. According to Hot Air, “[w]hy did [the snitch line] apparently stop in 2022? Walz faced voters in a re-election campaign, which probably prompted the state to quietly shut down its COVID snitch operations.”
The use of such a hotline is particularly troubling from a civil liberties standpoint. Hot Air continues: “If you think the comparison to the Stasi [the East German Secret Police} is overwrought, read the linked 2015 article from Der Speigel. It describes just how the Stasi managed to impose such an effective police state by deputizing everyone to rat each other out. The Stasi understood that they could manipulate slights and grudges between neighbors, co-workers, and even family members to gain leverage over practically anyone and everyone. And it didn’t cost the state a dime to employ most of its subjects as domestic spies.”
In 2023, Walz revealed a certain level of hypocrisy regarding his use of the “snitch line.” As reported by The Daily Wire, “[t]he hotline flew in the face of the message Gov. Walz sent in 2023 regarding LGBT issues; ‘In Minnesota, we mind our own damn business. We don’t need you in the exam room. We don’t need you telling us who we can love. And we sure don’t need you attacking our teachers, students, and schools.'”
This hypocrisy continues to the present day; consider these comments made by now-Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz in the context of “reproductive freedom”: “Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom. It turns out now what they meant was that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule, ‘Mind your own damn business.’”
The final evidence of Tim Walz’ disdain for the rights and civil liberties of the American people comes during an interview he gave to MSNBC in December of 2022; “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy,” he stated.
Infowars puts this comment in perspective: “if the COVID pandemic taught us anything, it’s that the establishment cannot be trusted to dictate what is and isn’t ‘misinformation,’ and that their covert power-hungry motives guide their censorship efforts.”
If we are to judge Tim Walz by his actions and words, we are left with a portrait of a cowardly, hypocritical totalitarian, someone who will use the power of the state to trample the rights and liberties of those unlucky enough to reside within his jurisdiction. Someone who will cry “freedom” and “mind your own business” when it comes to leftist causes like abortion and LBGTQ rights, but encourage Minnesotans to inform on their neighbors when Walz’ draconian Executive Orders are violated. We are also left with the impression of someone who cannot be relied upon to either protect the lives and property of these same Minnesota residents, nor to answer the call when his country (and his fellow soldiers) require his service.
Under these circumstances, Kamala Harris has made the right choice of running mate. She has managed to pick someone for her Vice President who will fit right in with a government that, if elected, would undoubtedly continue the lawless and repressive activities of the Biden Administration.
Judge John H. Wilson (ret.) served on the bench in NYC