Transcripts For CSPAN Campaign 2022 Minnesota Governor Debate 20221021

Walz, and republican scott jensen. They met for their first debate, which included questions on abortion, education, and Race Relations. This runs one hour. Kttc tv in rochester, minnesota, youre watching the Gubernatorial Debate, with Governor Tim Walz and dr. Scott jensen, moderated by caitlin alexander. Justin betty, and stacy stein hagan, dan wolf. Good evening and welcome to the only planned Television Debate between minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his republican challenger dr. Scott jensen. Welcome to the 2022 minnesota Gubernatorial Debate hosted by great television. Many of your watching stations across the state and may recognize the familiar faces joining me on the panel. Dan wolf with northern news now,. Justin betty. And stacy from ky see news now. Kyc news now. We have not shared questions with anyone outside of our stations and management. Dan wolf will serve as moderator and timekeeper. Dan thank you tonight will be a form style debate each of you will be asked to the same question, you get 90 seconds each to answer for a variety. There are several short answer style questions where you will have 30 seconds to answer, panelists will make those questions clear when asking those, at the cover is money topics as possible, we ask cover as many topics as possible, we ask that you stick to time limits. There are no Opening Statements tonight. Youll each get two minutes to close out the debate and share any final thoughts. We will alternate between who starts, each answer by virtue of a coin toss. Governor walz will start first. Rochester is home to the worldfamous mayo clinic. Thousands come from around the world for treatment. Health care spending topped 4 billion in 2020. The cost of health care continues to weigh heavily on families in our state. Can you point to one specific policy or initiative in your platform that will help lower the cost of health care for minnesotans . What we do as governor to lower the cost . Gov. Walz thank you for the question, and thank you for great tv for hosting and thank you for minnesotans caring about democracy. Health care is fundamental to each of us. An precedented pandemic and access to get the health care to get the vaccines you needed and get the lifesaving care when you needed it. It has become way too expensive. One of the things we know is making sure people are insured on the front end, so they are able to get the inventive care. We have been advocating and expanded on minnesota care. We were able to make sure that the provider tax stayed on, allowed that care to be delivered. We saw this last week that minnesota ranked first in the nation for women and Childrens Health care. Our initiative has been to get more children involved, to do more of the wealth care, to make sure we were reaching to all corners to keep the prices down. Another thing we continue to focus on. We start with insulin is make sure the prescribed to Prescription Drugs iss going down. I am grateful for the federal governments Inflation Reduction Act to help do that. We continue to do that with minnesota care and our Veterans Home to make sure we are keeping the price of drugs down. The biggest thing is we have one of the highest amount of people who are insured. We have some of the best health care providers. We have some of the best preventative care. We saw during the pandemic, we come together to solve the problems. Dan thank you. Dr. Jensen you have 90 seconds. Dr. Jensen we have Wonderful Health care in the state. I would say this. Mayo clinic, the university of minnesota, and so many of our systems have done so many have done such a good job. Insurance has helped minnesota keep the premiums manageable. The other thing that has happened, we have worked together on insulin. Tim walz and i do that together. People dont realize, insulin was a penny a unit. Now it is . 40 a unit. We need reinsurance to keep premiums down. Right now, in terms of the exchange, we have problems. We have rate cliffs where people are all of a sudden falling off that advantageous place to be. All of a sudden, instead of paying 10 of their income for premiums, the go to 20 , even 30 . Thats a problem. We need to make sure that everybody can have their appendix removed, without sitting at home too long, because theyre worried about whether they can afford it. I would disagree with governor walz. The tax is the machiavelli and way to pay for the cares we need to provide. We want to make sure every minnesota and has basic coverage person and met soda has basic coverage every person in minnesota has basic coverage. To make sure everyone has a plan. Its too much we cant afford it. We have a lot of people, five to 10 of the population who do not have insurance. We have another chunk of people who do have insurance, the coinsurance is and pays her so much they cannot use it. Dan lets get over to justin betty. Justin a recent decision by the u. S. Supreme court overturned roe v. Wade, no longer guaranteeing women a right to abortions nationwide, leaving it to states. Our state is on the border of fargo and minnesota. In north dakota, abortion could become illegal in most cases under trigger law. In minnesota, abortion is protected under the state constitution. But that could change. Question is, what would you do to change abortion law . We begin with dr. Jensen. Dr. Jensen minnesota, abortion is a constitutionally protected right. The only way that feasibly gets changed is there some sort of an amendment ballot. That would mean 4 Million People from minnesota whatever chance to decide where minnesota comes down to this decision. Tim walz has said this, and numerous other legal experts that i have talked with, because in minnesota inflation abortion is a legally protected right its not on the ballot in november. What is, is without question, skyrocketing inflation, crime out of control, and our kids are not getting the education we think they need. As governor, i wont ban abortion. I cannot. Governor walz has said no governor can, no politician can. I want to say this, as governor, i absolutely want to come alongside women and protect them. This is our opportunity. We need to do more. We need to share the responsibility and the challenge of planning families and planning pregnancies. I think we should have Birth Control pills, overthecounter. We should have a 10 maximum, per month. I believe we should have paid Maternity Health benefits, when moms have babies. I think we should streamline adoption proceedings and have a tax Credit Associated with it. Stiffen the penalties for crimes that target women, such as carjacking and rape. Abortion is not on the ballot in november. Anything on the contrary is pure mongering. Gov. Walz theres a contrast. My entire career i have trusted women to make health care decisions. I dont believe anyone in this office should come between them. Scott was clear and may, he said, nope kidding sherlock, we are banning abortion. That changed after roe v. Wade. Most of us know, you heard this from different places, this is not about trusting women are holding convictions, its much changing your positions as the winds blow. Kisses about lifeanddeath, providers making this is about lifeanddeath, providers making a decision about women with no one in between. Ive made it clear, i didnt have to practice 40 years of medicine to change position on Womens Health care in the final years weeks. Being governor means making hard decisions. It doesnt mean youll get them right. What it means trusting minnesotans. Lets be clear. The Governors Point Supreme Court justices who interpret cases, for them we were justices go in front of the u. S. Senate and claim there was no way roe v. Wade would change because it was a settled law. Full of swans, it will not happen in minnesota full us once, it fool us once, it will not happen in minnesota. I have been clear from the beginning of this. Not on our watch. I trust women and their decision to make health care decisions. Many of our viewers have reached out about the ongoing Opioid Crisis affecting communities big and small. According to the department of health 1300 people in the state died from an overdose come up 20 from 2020. Rainbow fentanyl pills looking like candies have reached minnesota. Authorities found the brightly colored fentanyl which could appeal to kids last month. As governor what would you do to address this crisis and save lives . The question going to governor walz first. Gov. Walz the crisis continues to accelerate. We seen this in minnesota. Its even disproportionately hitting communities of color and indigenous communities. Theres a lot of things we can do on the front end. Making sure we are stopping that demand. Making sure we have the services available. I want to say one thing i am proud of. Minnesota is one of the states that sue the manufacturers making this. This opioid pandemic started, some of you have seen the shows that have been done on this, they started pushing these things for profit and ended up spreading into our communities. That is where most of this has come from. I want to be clear. They did not do it alone. When scott was issuing opioid prescriptions, he should more than 94 of his peers. He did that at the same time, while accepting meals from manufacturers in the farmers article companies, wining and dining on expensive meals. He did and expose that was in the tribune that was entitled confessions of a Prescription Drug pusher where scott acknowledged their impact on him and marketing, impacted his prescribing of those. Its getting at the front end of this. Its understanding why he got out there. Its doing what the state did, suing and then putting processes to both capture the opioids before they get there and working with folks in recovery. Minnesota can do that. Dan thank you. Dr. Jensen. Dr. Jensen without question. Fentanyl that plagues us today is taking a number of lives. Over 100,000 Overdose Deaths in 2021, two thirds were fentanyl. In the 1980s and 90s, there was absolutely heavyduty pharma push to encourage positions to use more narcotics and opioids. We had another vital sign, which was the Pain Management level. What is your pain level . If we didnt ask that, we were not doing good medicine. I dont disagree with tim walzs positions. The Health Care System has contributed to the problems. I think the important thing, Going Forward, we need to stop the supply fentanyl coming from across the southern border. I dont think tim walz has been an advocate of tightening up the southern border. He has been loose on that. I also think, hes willing to go out and sue drug companies, which im ok with, but is not willing to go out and take action like that when we are losing 250 million in the feeding of our future fraud. In the situation, were governor walz learned of the fact that there was fraud going on. We cannot pin him down, whether it was april. But the fact was he broke the law by not advising the office of the legislative auditor that there was likely fraud going on. Governor walz broke the law. Dan thank you. We will get to that a bit later in the debate. On to one of our short answer questions. You will have 30 seconds to answer this. Minnesota surrounded by states that have legalized sports gambling. But some of them have not legalized it on mobile platforms. In 30 seconds, will you push for legalized sports gambling and the ability to bet, via mobile devices. Dr. Jensen, 30 seconds. Dr. Jensen i would say yes and yes. I would support Sports Betting on mobilized forms. I think its important to realize that we need to do this in an effort to secure funding for meaningful programs. We cannot, if we move in this direction, simply take money from that and allow politicians just to find another way, to find another pool of money and spend that. We need to do that because the government does not need to be regulating us. Dan thank you. Governor walz, we push for legalized sports gambling and the ability to vote via mobile devices . Gov. Walz i will support the bills that the legislature pushes. I think we need framework to make sure it is done right, inside our already existing gambling revenues in minnesota. I would argue i trust minnesotans as well. I think we should legalize recreational cannabis. The revenues from Sports Gaming are relatively small compared to some of the other things we do. Yes, i would support us doing it right. I also know we need to manage that at the state level. Dan justin. Justin were getting a clear picture of how the covid19 pandemic is impacting our childrens education. Math and reading scores have dropped the first two years of the pandemic. Act scores are the lowest they have been. What would you do as governor to direct the states resources and help the children succeed in schools . Gov. Walz what we have always done, we fully fund our schools, make sure they have the support, make sure our teachers, students, parents and support staff are there. Before the pandemic, there were things we can do, minnesota ranks near the top. The tenant the pandemic had it. A Million People died, the implications of trying to make those difficult decisions at those times. Most folks agree that those decisions save lives. With that being said, now is the time to reinvest and know what we learn. Our ability to use different methods. I know this as a lifelong educator, students learn at different levels. One of the things we saw was great resiliency among students, once we have them back in the classroom, where doing a new ways to make sure they get caught up. One of the things is minnesota had another opportunity to put a billion dollars in on special education. That deal died in the legislature. We can make that the case again. We seed and housing, see it in housing, diversity issues on children of color, making sure we close the gap. While students of color to better than any other state, there is still a gap between white students. We make sure that local control has the ability to make those decisions and the state make sure as we provide the promised resources to these incredibly important our most precious resources our children, but making sure we deliver that in a manner that parents want. Dan thank you. Dr. Jensen. Dr. Jensen i heard a lot of words, but i dont quite know if they made sense. Governor walz said people of color, or students of color are doing better in minnesota . Im not certain. I would say this. When governor walz says we need to fully fund education, who knows what that means. We spend 150 of what a lot of statesmen for students. We spend more per students, then any other in western states. We have to ask the question, are we getting what we pay for . We need to start funding kids, not broken institutions. Teachers understand that they could be unleashed and do more. The teachers are not crazy with what the union is doing. We need to unleash teachers for parents and students Work Together. With the deal with the fact that half of our kids are not reading or doing arithmetic to grade level. Understandably, in the first couple of weeks of the pandemic, we understood hard things would have to be done. When tim walz said 80 of kids in minnesota missed less than 10 days of in class instruction, he was telling parents you dont know what youre talking about. The fact is, they probably missed more than 100 days. The second lockdown, there was no reason for the governor to be so heavyhanded and destroy our childrens education. We dont get a do over with these kids. These kids will be paying the price of tim walzs irresponsible policy decision for years. Dan lets go over to stacy. Stacy one of the candidates, the county sheriff has serve the Department Since 1994. He has said that they need a better plan to respond to School Shootings. The confirmed abject failure of Law Enforcements response in uvalde texas weighs heavily on this country. What can you do to make sure parents and students are confident school is a place safe place to be . Dr. Jensen theres no question that we have got to do a better job at providing a safe place for kids. We have to provide a safe place for our teachers. Both teachers and kids are vulnerable in the school building. Teachers are being assaulted. We are seeing kids, teachers, parents, victimized at football games. This is a product of a lawlessness that swept over our state. It started with tim walz delaying in 2020. He unleashed a poisonous spread of lawlessness. Arguably, he is the godfather of the crime epidemic sweeping our country. What we can do with kids, we have to look at new things in terms of controlling access points. We need to recognize that the police will have an awful lot of expertise of how we can do this better. We need more cops. We need more restorative justice. We need to respect what police do. It will not help us when we see the governor get behind omar, when she says the police are cancer, i need to be dismantled and defunded. And weeks later tim walz is saying this is the woman we have to sent to washington dc to represent us. We need to make sure that imprisoning people is a deterrent for violence. We need to mandate minimum sentences and without question, the law has to be reinforced. We can do better. If we think we can cherry pick, and Everything Else runs amok, we are kidding ourselves. Dan governor walz, 90 seconds. Gov. Walz we have seen this. Being a teacher and having a sophomore in high school, this doesnt happen in other countries. This plague of violence we see. I will make the case that these School Shootings of children who cannot even be identified because of the damage that has been done by the shooters in their schools, there are things we can do. One is is making sure is making sure we increase the opportunity for Public Safety. We had a budget this year that was killed in the legislature when scott pulled and stepped away from that. We have increase in lga. Its much more than that. Have guns on the street that were meant for war. We had the opportunity to do smart things whether it was background chaps or checks or making sure we have a flag laws. The easy access to these firearms is one of the problems. We see that on our streets today. A shooting at a restaurant in st. Paul, personnel ended up with two of the guns there got them through a straw buyer got 90 of them. We have to have a conversation about guns about fully funding our local police to get there, we need to make sure we are doing all we can to understand that if you use a gun it is going to be a heavy cost we need to move back, upstream in the prevention of that. We want to make sure we have smart policy in place. Stacy that was my followup question. Who should have these military style weapons . Dr. Jensen the rebuttal has to be focused on who shut down the session. Tim walz, democratic chair confessed that the governor will not allow the democrats to vote. Tim walz shut down the session, nobody else did. Theres only one person in the state who can call the legislation back together that is the governor. Your giving me credit tim. I didnt know i was powerful that i can shut you down and you did need to come back you had every opportunity. By the way you better check stacy dr. Denson jensen, on the access to guns . Dr. Jensen i signed on to a strong bill. I kept my name on that, i agree that strawman purchases should be in penalties in regard to a specific types of guns. Im a strong advocate of the second amendment. These shootings are not happening because lawful people are not following the law. They are happening because lawmakers are going to get the guns and theyre not going to go through the system. We dont think that is going to solve the problem. Stacy governor walz. Gov. Walz scott has been all over. The moms demand action, dr. Jensen told the group of them is that he can trust trust the integrity of the bill. As far as shutting down the legislature he knows how it goes, the governor cannot do this alone. His public statements were good. Walk away from this deal. We wouldve had it for 50 million, a dollars for health care, 4 billion would have gone back into your pocket. I will make sure we follow through. Dan we have to move along. Moving to the next question we saw soaring gas prices, some restrictions on chain cheaper fuel but drivers still felt the hit, moving california moving to band gas powered vehicles by 2035. Minnesota has followed the golden states emission standards but this move has drawn concerns from minnesota businesses and farmers. How do you balance the need to lower Greenhouse Gases emissions and keep freedom of choice for consumers, governor walz . Gov. Walz the market will help fix this that is one of the National Chair of the biofuel conference. I have worked on it for decades. Our future fuels are going to be made right here in minnesota. The road, the cars that are on the road are going to be on the road for decades but this transition to make sure that we are addressing Greenhouse Gases and following where the market is going. All of the manufacturing by will 2035 only be producing those vehicles. Its why minnesota went on the initiative to make sure that were going to be the state that builds the infrastructure necessary for the charging stations. Making sure now that minnesotans will have a choice of over 40 vehicles rather than the eight that they were limited to. You dont want to buy one, dont buy but if youre going to buy one. One in minnesota, we have the opportunity to continue to grow our economy, to continue to make that transition to understand that that is where the market and climate is going. Now, the good news here is is from the businesses, its pretty limited number because we have a Climate Action plan that attracted almost all of the major men, all of the major businesses in minnesota. Whether its xl Energy Producing the power, whether its ecolab understanding what the climate looks like or whether its our Environmental Group that understands it. Minnesota plans to reduce emissions especially in the area of transportation, we have a golden opportunity. So this is a winwin. Our farmers, produce lead, and have been the pioneers and i have lead on so many of these initiatives on e 85. Dan dr. Jensen you have 90 seconds. Dr. Jensen this is politics as usual. By forcing minnesotans to buy lecture vehicles they dont want so in 2035 all new vehicles are electric, governor walz is telling minnesotans he is allow you to follow the market. He is forcing the market. He is forcing inflationary pressures on all minnesotans. He hasnt come up with his own tailormade plan, he has copied california over and over again. He put the largest biennial general budget forward last session in the history of minnesota. It has never gone up that many dollars. He has told minnesotans you dont get to buy the cars you want to buy, im going to forcefeed you. He has told the farmers im with you on biofuels and on the other hand he says but were going to completely electric vehicles and electric vehicles that run on biofuels. Hes told the northern port of the state, youre not going to be able to mine because i dont trust you. Tells us that the things we need in order to have electric vehicles, were going produce in minnesota. It doesnt add up. Hope we see this people. This is crazy. It tim walz is saying no you cannot my nickel and copper. Hes saying to the farmers, im with you on biofuels but then he says to this group, were going to have electric vehicles and none other. He wants to get rid of internal Combustion Engine vehicles. You cant have it every which way. This is just a word salad with no substance. Dan we will get to the issue of mining. Lets get over to caitlin. Caitlin i have another short answer. Other than thanking them for being willing to serve in office, what is one nice thing you can say about your opponent . Dr. Jensen i have thought about this question. I think tim walz is an affable individual who has a wonderful smile. Dan governor walz. Gov. Walz i think scott has shown a great affinity as he talks about his family, how important that is to him. Thats a good indicator of someone in their heart, that is something i always appreciate when someone puts her family first. Dan lets get over to stacy. Stacey agriculture is a driver of the minnesota economy adding more than 12 billion a year and creating more than a 400,000 jobs. Covid showed us how fragile the the food system is. What can you do to enforce policies protect the state and those working within agriculture agriculture to ensure all minnesotans have access to a safe and steady food source. Governor walz. Gov. Walz this is an area i am proud of from working on farms growing up to serving 12 years and being a Sub Committee Ranking Member in the House Agriculture Committee passing three farm bills. I recognize and have deep roots and deep relationships with the people in minnesota. We do feed, fuel and clothe the world. Weve always been on the forefront. Were making that balancing that chance between production and increasing production for a hungrier world but also at the same time using working lambs conservation. I had the opportunity to be in worthington this last saturday where we dedicated a new piece of land in the middle of some of the most productive farmland in minnesota to allow for hunting and for love of habitat. In minnesota, some of the things that we can do is first and foremost, we pass the most robust agricultural budget this year and provided for some of the relief that Climate Change is bringing. I think one of the things that we saw is we diversified meat packing industry. We now have opportunities for students to study meatpacking. Its one of the things my fathers parents did. They had a small meat locker. I remember growing up working in that. Those are back now. We are teaching students to do that. Were diversifying that. Making sure that we dont have so much vertical integration and then we are continuing to use investments we make at the university of minnesota and into the our commodity groups to make innovations. We now drive on soy tower tires. Were going to see the opportunity in so many fronts to be able to use some of those value agricultural products. Minnesota does this incredibly well. We do it as well is anyone in our community. Dr. Jensen when he was on the committee in congress he didnt show up to the bill in 2018 and i think it was a newspaper in the southern portion of the state that excoriated him for his absence his absence in determining was going to go on that ag bell. We need to recognize how important ags. Its more than 30 of our economy. Governor walz has been very heavyhanded. All of these agencies have to take a posture. There there to facilitate becalmed rather than punitive, thats a big problem. We need to understand that to grow ag. We need to know that the culture in which farmers on their business has to improve. Regulations are killing farmers. We need to reduce taxes and make it so family farms can stay in family farms. I made it clear, over my dead body what i allow Foreign Corporations to buy family farms in minnesota. We need to understand the treatments to the crops, the seeds, soil needs to be researched. Transportation is huge. We need to make sure the young people stay in our communities they need to understand all of the opportunities to connect with what the worst force workforce needs. We need to stop following californias elite. We dont need to do that. Energy is a huge issue for farmers and i dont think weve done a good job there. Weve got a be able to have more, if you will, competitive impacts bringing better price fuels to farmers. Diesel fuel is killing the farming industry. Dan now to mining. Twin metals controversial proposal to mind copper and nickel was essentially killed by the Biden Administration who terminated their mineral leases following objections from Environmental Groups and native tribes. If a future administration wanted to reinstate those leases to then move forward with the permitting and Environmental Impact process, is this something you would support and why, dr. Jensen you have 90 seconds . Dr. Jensen i would absolutely support getting the mining going, regarding twin metals. It is terrific what we have done with the permitting and the regulation, it is killing the northern part of our state and we need those minerals and the fact is weve had mining in the northern part of the state for 150 years. If you want to know who stewards land best, its the people who live there, who raise their children there, who want their grandchildren raise there. We absolutely can mine in the northern part of the state. As far as im concerned, we should get government out of the way and let minors mine and let loggers log and let farmers farm. But heres the rub. Were not seeing mining take place because tim walz has hooked his wagon to joe biden and i guess with Kamala Harris coming to town, hes hooked her to his wagon as well. Between biden, harris and walls they have squashed mining in northern minnesota and has killed the economy. These folks are like you and i, they just want to take care of their family, pay the bills maybe take a vacation but it is not happening. This is just wrong. Can you imagine how you would feel if you had this government politician come from hundreds of miles away until you you dont get to do this. The way you grew up you dont get to do this, the job you want you dont get to do this because that is what is happening. We should absolutely let minors mine. Dan thank you, dr. Jensen. Gov. Walz first of all a week and a half ago i was with the president of u. S. Steel and the steelworkers as we made the largest investment in mining in northern minnesota in decades at the mine. We continue to make sure we are following the science, the law and process. The idea that we get out of the way, thanks the goodness i saw a bald eagle today im glad the governor made the decision that we can Work Together. The idea that teachers, farmers or miners dont want to do things right and they want people outoftheway is ridiculous. We set standards to make sure we keep those and we have done that in northern minnesota. I have been clear on these processes. We will follow the science we will process the law and we will do that in a manner that makes sure we are able to do them safely unable to produce what we are going to produce. We follow that process in one of the largest Construction Projects in northern minnesota and we know theres a tradeoff. You have to be careful with Environmental Standards so you can create these jobs. Your hearing this idea a lot tonight what is not happening our complaints rather than real solutions, watching spades go on the ground up there and watching the key tech might be solid again making sure that those hundreds of jobs and stay there. It is the reason why we have the lowest Unemployment Rate in the country the second highest Labor Participation rate and some of the highest projections of what the state can do. If its agriculture, medical, mining if we can do so safely and smartly we will do it. Dan to be clear if a future administration wanted to reinstate twin metals mineral leases to move forward with permitting and Environmental Impact process . Gov. Walz we will follow the statement. We started we did it and that is what is been there. They process according to the law. Dr. Jensen whats your answer . Gov. Walz yes we will follow if they reinstate the minds. Dan thank you governor walz lets get over to caitlin. And a soda has more than a 9 billion surplus. Governor walz and republicans cannot come to terms to decide how to use the money. If you become governor what you think should be done with the billions in our Budget Surplus . Gov. Walz well, im glad that our administration was able to create this most of this was created by corporate profits that went through during my term we have lower taxes on the middle class. We have created the largest rainy day funds we reduce cost and government and we have been able to do the surplus. I agree together with republicans as we signed our names before they walked away that we would leave a 4 billion of this on the bottom line. And we would put 4 million investing in longterm care Public Safety, education and get the matching funds for the transportation bill. It was a fair deal but i guess they didnt want to get the win on this. Our plan to invest in all things grow minnesota is in a contrast with scott. He made the proposal that he wants to remove the income tax, which the bulk of that would go to millionaires like himself at the same time, taxing minnesotans for clothes and food. It would raise her property taxes, it would got the funding to our schools, Transportation Systems and the things minnesota loves. This is the fundamental difference we invest in minnesotans we may targeted tax cuts in the middle class. We are proud of our targeted taxation system and we make sure those who are doing well pay their fair share. What we get is one of the best states for longevity. You get what you pay for in minnesota. Dr. Jensen if you get we pay for, i guess governor walz didnt pay much for the police. We have a lawlessness we have not seen before. Lets ask ourselves questions. What is the increase in the budget over the last 11 years . 75 . From 30 billion to 52 billion. Governor walzs proposal was the largest single biannual increase in dollars in the history of minnesota that is what he is doing. We have a 10 to 12 billion surplus that seems to move around but heres the deal. If we win 12 during the biennium and he wants to spend another three or 4 billion euro to 17 increase in one biennium, that is not sustaining him sustainable. The average wage earner has earned governor went up 75 this is not sustainable. Governor walz was not interested in having a bonding bill unless he got to spend more. Governor walzs favorite tactic is to play santa claus and say, im going to give you a check for a thousand dollars, isnt that nice of me . If you would stop the waste, fraud, abuse, cost overruns and pay attention, you would save every family in minnesota 1000. You wouldnt have to be going out pandering like some politician whos trying to buy votes. Minnesotans get what is going on. Dan thank you, dr. Jensen. Lets get over to justin. 30 seconds. Gov. Walz there is a choice here. You get what you pay for. Justin the largest known covid19 fraud scheme in the nation was discovered in minnesota. Close to 50 people are facing charges for misusing to 50 million 250 million meant to free children during the pandemic. What role does the Governors Office plays in the situation, and what steps would you take to make sure Something Like this doesnt happen again . Dr. Jensen i think the Governors Office was lazy. There were signs. Governor walz said, he was made aware of the situation april 2020. What is office called the news reporter, and said he misspoke, they called back and said november. It doesnt matter. The governor had every right to believe fraud may be taking place with this feeding our futures, 250 million. According to state law, he has a responsibility to notify the office of legislative auditors. He never did it. The legislative auditor goes on record with the letter saying that never happened. That is breaking the law. Governor walz and his team could have stopped this anywhere along the line. When it was getting warm in the kitchen, basically it appears theres a cover up. Two questions are huge on all of our minds. What did governor walz know and when did he know . Here are the facts. When he was pinned down on that, he said well, it was the judge who made a bad decision. Then he said, when the judge came back, in an precedent to move, he said it was the fbi. He said the fbi cap told them to keep making fraudulent payments because they didnt want to get in the investigation. Then he said it was the u. S. Department of agriculture not having. The right program in place. There were five different points for tim walz for tim walz to stop this. But he didnt. Dan thank you. Governor walz. Gov. Walz all of us can agree fraud is unacceptable. Whether it is in the public or private sector. When we came into the office with the memoir system, not fraud but it was 100 million in an ineffective system. We Work Together to put that in place. We have implemented that in many agencies. We have had many audits from the auditor, unprecedented of the Governors Office released this year in september. During covid, the federal government relaxed the sum of the rules and sent out, as they should have, the terms of unprecedented numbers. Making sure those safeguards in place, is a priority. Once the department of education found this they alerted the fbi. Its an ongoing investigation. We will get more clarity when it comes to that. One that is important is for hundreds of School Districts and honest providers, we provided food to children during a critical time, when those are putting out false misinformation, this was a lifeanddeath situation, Food Security was a top priority. The vast majority of those delivered didnt incredible job, where minnesota was ranked did an incredible job where minnesota is ranked top for Food Security. No one agrees with the fraud. We made sure that those people will go to jail. We will put things in place, as they have done at the federal level, rolling and putting back in the safeguards. I think the after action is for us to strengthen those. Dr. Jensen was there he said the Governors Office, is there a step that you can ake . Is there step Going Forward to prevent this or something you can do differently than try harder . Gov. Walz its the intersection with the federal government to know the payees go. One other thing, when you do these types of grants, theres a grant agency that does it to some of the smaller ones. The grant agency that was responsible for making sure they were overseeing this was fraud. One of the things you do on this is working with the federal government, if its a federal Government Program begin ministered by the state, you make sure the federal and state safeguard. Dr. Jensen you just heard a smokescreen. This is not not about the federal government. This is about the state of minnesotaand the office should have been notified. The fact is when there is a lawsuit taking place, there is tremendous opportunity for the attorney general, tim walz to look at the checkbook to make sure with these tens of millions of dollars are going, and they would see that teslas were being bought vacation homes are being taught. This is laziness to the most magnifying degree. Dan thank you dr. Jensen. Dr. Jensen theres a coverup going on. Dan we have to move on now. Moving down to markets. The cover minnesota. Outside of the twin cities, more rural parts of the state. Yet in the summer of 2020 we all watched as parts of minneapolis burned following the murder of george floyd. Looking back, what would you do differently in reaction to the protests that turn violence . Dr. Jensen how would you handle that situation has been government governor . Gov. Walz this is an theoretical. When youre in the room you have to set the decisions, sidelining and critiquing, that is not what is being governor. The murder of george floyd shock not only minnesota, shock the world. The civil unrest that ensued from that was probably some of the greatest we have seen both in this nation and globally. That operation involving dozens of local county and the state, involving multiple states in the region and the federal government had to be assembled, coordinated, and make sure we brought order back. I will tell you that is terrifying for minnesotans in those days. Nothing like this had been seen, the level of violence after the murder of george floyd. Again, there will be stories written. This will be written about for some time. I am proud of minnesotas response, of their First Responders out there, from Fire Fighters to the National Guard, to citizens out there. When we got done with this, and president trumps secretary of defense wrote a book, he was on the phone many times communicating with Public Safety folks here, making the case. His assessment of this was that minnesota had to write the book on this. They had to build the plane, they were flying on it, and it had to be the model use at every state in every state. There were several cases from chauvins trial. It did not from the lessons learned. Dan dr. Jensen you have 90 seconds. Dr. Jensen you heard it here. Governor walz told you, i am proud of minnesotas response, referring to the right its i riots of may and june. This is not a oneoff situation. Theres a reason that the and a soda police has Minnesota Police has endorsed me unanimously. The pattern that has emerged is that tim walz denigrated the National Guard. Tim walz did not use them when they could have restored safety, security unlawful behavior. Then when confronted about it, he made a comment about a bunch of 19yearold crooks. He didnt stand with the National Guard. On may 28, he can send with the cops. He told them stand down. And let the state at the state fair, he said it was because of the best advice from Law Enforcement, blaming Law Enforcement for making that decision. A couple of weeks after, their precinct burned. Christopher columbus statue that was torn down. Over and over, anything that has to do with lawful behavior it seems that tim walz is not there. He said, i am proud of the way minnesota responded. Burn that into psyche your psyche. We initiated like never before, tim walz is proud of minnesotas response. Dan i want asked the question again, how would you handle the situation had you been governor . Dr. Jensen the chain of command wouldve kicked in. We have experts. We have a commissioner of Public Safety, Police Chiefs in minneapolis. You have got to lean into these people. There were plans and methodologies created should have been kicked into gear. Tim walz should of been using the bully pulpit to calm the people. We should not have had tv analysts and journalists saying wheres our governor . This was the biggest crisis we have experienced in my lifetime and tim walz was absent. Dan a chance for rebuttal . Gov. Walz i said i was part of the First Responders. This was an incredibly difficult and unprecedented incident. There was no precedents before. I i have stood shy have stood with the National Guard for 24 years i have stood with the National Guard for 24 years. It doesnt change the fact. I dont care what scott says about me. I care about what he says about the folks, doing this work that put the plan together dealing with an unprecedented situation and restore order. Dr. Jensen what he means is at 19yearold crooks. Gov. Walz the question i made on this of being a soldier in this, is that each of us has a military occupational specialty. Scott took a clip of what i said. One of the problems is getting folks right away. We have troops deployed over the world. We have specialties trained for this. We have a small percentage of the National Guard trained for civil defense, not urban warfare. I made the case that some of us artillery men, some of us are pilots, some of us are newly enlisted 19yearolds cooks. Its an important part of what we do. Having a deep understanding of the militarys role in making the claim that this is somehow slanderous of someone who doesnt understand that. That is why, making the case and this i will be the first to tell you, not everything can go perfectly. Dr. Jensen thats how two of them go. Dan we do have to move along to the next question. Lets address an issue that stands out. Diversity. There are no people of color in this debate, either on this panel or the candidates for governor. In the wake of 2020 and the social unrest experienced in minnesota, what he think misses minnesota its where you think minnesotans are . Dr. Jensen theres not much diversity in the audience either , i guess that is because we dont have an audience. Having said that, i think that was tim walzs choice. Minnesota is absolutely committed to being the kind of marvelous state, where kids get foundational educations. They are not judged by the color of their skin. I think you are seeing a rising up of minority communities, saying we are not pleased with this hyper accentuation of skin color. I am old enough to remember i was taught, if you see someone who looks different than you just forget that and stick your hand out and make a new friend. We absolutely corrupted the way we are educating our kids in school. We are saying that somehow some artificial parameter as to what is acceptable diversity, inclusion, is what we have to hit. Thats not human nature. We need to keep reaching out and making new friends. We need to understand that just because you see two white guys appear on the stage tonight doesnt mean that tim walz or scott jensen are some racially biased individuals. We need to keep working on it, minnesotas not perfect, america is not perfect. We dont have to do it in the context of namecalling. We are confined to a tv station. For space there is no audience. Where do you think minnesotans are on Race Relations and where are we headed . Gov. Walz its a work in progress. Its 160 years, whether it is indigenous communities, boarding schools or land confiscated, we are working on it. I am proud of the lieutenant governor, the first indigenous person to assume office. I am proud of our judicious appointments that are stunning to look like the states. I hear scott denigrating our schools and just vicious black internet rumors about things. That is not who we are. We are a state of immigrants had values that. We have more refugees per capita than any other state. That is not just morally a good thing. Its our economic and cultural future. This beautiful diversity we see, you see 50 languages spoken in the school and you see every storefront filled with different types of food, different businesses happening. Minnesota needs to continue to do that. The office of the governor can set the tone of that. Thats why when scott said that immigrants are undermining the fabric of our state, thats type of talk that turns people away. Were going to need to continue to attract people here, to diversify and were going to have to put policies in place that make sure we are attracting peoples of color so students have someone they can understand , look like, think like, see like in front of them. George floyd sparked that conversation. Dan thank you governor walz. We want to get to the final question before we wrap up. There are a million topics we could talk about but we just dont have the time. People would assume a lot of things by seeing the name next year. In 30 seconds are there any topics where you think your party has it wrong or you differ . We will start with governor walz. Gov. Walz on biofuels and some of our agricultural work. I have been an outlier, i was one of the few democratic members of congress was on the ag community. Im the one who has support of the statewide agricultural groups and theres friends in their of understanding us and i think our party could do better of listening, reaching out, understanding these policies and trying to find that common ground. Dr. Jensen the Republican Party has plenty of room for improvement. Im proud of the fact that we are recognizing it. We need to do a better job of elevating issues and concerns that moms have, we need to do a better job of going to the minority communities and asking them what is important. When they do, they belong with us, they want to elevate faith and family and freedom and freedom in life. We need to do a better job of going to millennials and gen zs and say we need your help solving problems. We need to go to immigrants and say you are the fabric of our future. Dan thank you. Each of your going to get two minutes for those closing statements, based on the coin toss before the debate. Governor walz you will go first. Gov. Walz i would like to thank scott for his participation. To tv and are moderators. I know theres a big audience out there and i know you care about the state. Youre getting a choice of a vision of minnesota one that questions our elections, one that tells women they can make choices, one that defines our public schools, or you get an opportunity that brought so many of us to minnesota. An opportunity for state that is inclusive, an opportunity in a state that, we do spend a little more on health care, a little more on education, we do spend a little more on our roads. Weve got the fourth largest amount of roads in the country behind california, texas and illinois. We know that you invest in the future, that thats what comes back to you tenfold over. Our children are fundamental to us. Investing in fully funding education and making sure they have the best start is what we can do. Making sure were investing in the workforce of the future. Business communities no. Were going to have to tackle this issue. We do have the lowest Unemployment Rate and most of our people work. We need to attract people here by being a state that is welcoming, by being a state that says, you know were going to help figure out this crisis around childcare and its a state that says, you know what . When problems come up, its not enough just to complain about em. Weve seen it across the country. Weve seen it here. We should have zero tolerance on crime. We should invest the money that we know we need to invest and we need to collaborate together and then, we should make smart policies making sure we keep dangerous , military weapons out of the hands of our children. Making sure were continuing to invest in innovation at the university of minnesota and our state colleges systems and our community colleges. Those are the ways that minnesotas come together. Ive talked a lot about one minnesota, i didnt come up with that. Thats what we believe. Whether its mining on the iron range, whether its farming in southern minnesota, or whether its a job in the twin cities. Folks who try and divide us apart are not going to do it. This is our opportunity to learn from whats happened, to come out of the pandemic, and to create a minnesota that everybody can thrive in. Dan thank you. Dr. Jensen, two minutes. Dr. Jensen everyone i see across the state north, south, east, west has endured some pretty trying times. I think everyones felt some heartbreak from watching peoples lives turned upside down and everyone has grassed at some level that tim walz has failed, he got away from it, he tried he repeated mistakes, he fumbled, he locked down businesses, he locked out kids he locked in frail elderly. The question is, was going to step forward. Who is going to try to find a new path for minnesota . Clearly, were not one minnesota. Who is going to help minnesota find its way back to be the bright shining star of the north . To be that economic hub of the midwest. You, you, minnesotans have the opportunity to do this. You have the power to take back your rights. You have the power to turn your agencies. Instead of being heavy handed, punitive agencies. Whether youre talking the dnr or the met council, whether youre talking to the npca, you have the ability to step forward. We need to stand up together. We need to recognize that matt burke and scott jensen are not professional politicians. We will make mistakes. We will use words that we should have chosen a different word. I will make mistakes to be sure. But at the end of the day, i will take the slings and the arrows. I will get bruised embodied and bruised and bloodied. I have. I have never had anybody spend 15 Million Dollars to denigrate my name and it is what it is. I get it. Ive been Family Doctor of the year and ive started businesses and built clinics. Ive been on school, board, and president of the Church Council and the rotary and alliance. Ive always been a measured person. To be called extreme has been an unusual experience for me. This time around, i want you and i to stand in the arena side by side. I want us to go forward. And i want us to heal minnesota. Alright, thank you both. That is our time for tonight. We appreciate governor tim walls tim early voting is currently