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Speaker 1: There's roughly eighty thousand Somalies in Minnesota, and less than

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Speaker 1: one hundred have been convicted of the fraud, but it

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Speaker 1: is the vast majority have been Samalies. And I go

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Speaker 1: back to and by the way, you know, in the

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Speaker 1: having worked in the food manufacturing sector for twenty years

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Speaker 1: and oftentimes in operating plants, I've worked with a lot

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Speaker 1: of immigrants.

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Speaker 2: From all over the world.

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Speaker 1: And my grandmother was born in Naples, and probably all

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Speaker 1: of us to a certain extent, unless we're Native Americans

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Speaker 1: our products, we're immigrants at some point. So I am

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Speaker 1: pro immigrant in that respect. For as far as the

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Speaker 1: Somali population or any population, I think what we need to.

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Speaker 2: Do is just follow the law and enforce the law.

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Speaker 1: And I think one thing that causes me, let's say,

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Speaker 1: great frustration is it's at the federal level sometimes but

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Speaker 1: also at the state level. People just need to stay

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Speaker 1: in their lane and do their job the best they can.

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Speaker 1: The legislature needs to pass the laws, the executive needs

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Speaker 1: to faithfully execute the laws. The police need to enforce

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Speaker 1: the law, and the prosecutors need to prosecute the laws.

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Speaker 1: And we get into problems when let's say a governor

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Speaker 1: or a mayor, and the executive looks at the law

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Speaker 1: as almost like a menu or a buffet line, like,

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Speaker 1: all right, I'm gonna follow this law. I'm going to

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Speaker 1: disregard that one. It just messes up the whole system.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to a brand new episode of the Michelle ta

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Speaker 3: Foya Podcast. Please do me a favor, just one little favorite,

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Speaker 3: click that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

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Speaker 3: We're in the midst of a series that we've been

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Speaker 3: dropping here for the last month or so. Of the

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Speaker 3: gubernatorial candidates running against Tim Walls in Minnesota, so these

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Speaker 3: are all Republicans. Obviously, Tim Walls is running on the

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Speaker 3: Democrat ticket. He has not accepted an invitation to join us,

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Speaker 3: but all of the Republican candidates had, And today is

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Speaker 3: Patrick Knight, a guy with an extraordinary background. Grew up

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Speaker 3: in Plymouth, Minnesota, which is a suburb in Hanniman County.

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Speaker 3: You know, public school guy, ended up in the Armed Services,

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Speaker 3: was a judge advocate in Okinawa, Japan, later an infantry

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Speaker 3: officer deployed in the Middle East, retired as a lieutenant colonel,

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Speaker 3: and then became the CEO of an agribusiness company here

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Speaker 3: in Minnesota.

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Speaker 4: He's a dad of four.

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Speaker 3: He's got one kid who, as you'll hear, actually interned

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Speaker 3: for Amy klobash Ar, the Democrat senator from Minnesota, one

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Speaker 3: of the two Democrat senators. But this guy is running

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Speaker 3: as a Republican for governor. So meet Patrick Knight again.

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Speaker 3: This is one more in our series of interviews with

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Speaker 3: the Republican gubernatorial candidates here in Minnesota. Patrick Knight our

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Speaker 3: guest next. Patrick, I gave people, first of all, welcome.

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Speaker 3: I gave people sort of an overview. You've got an

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Speaker 3: incredible resume, and this is such an interesting time. There

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Speaker 3: are so many people jumping into this gubernatorial race on

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Speaker 3: the Republican side here in Minnesota. Clearly people see an

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Speaker 3: opportunity given the struggles of the current governor and his administration.

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Speaker 4: Why do you want to be governor?

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Speaker 1: Well, you know that's the first question I get why

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Speaker 1: I'm running, and the second question is specifically why governor.

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Speaker 1: So let me ask you the first one why I'm

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Speaker 1: running is I love Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: I'm from here, I grew up here.

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Speaker 1: I've always taken it as a point of pride to

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Speaker 1: be a Minnesotan, and I think the state's going in

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Speaker 1: the wrong direction, and I think people are hurting and

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Speaker 1: it feels like nobody's.

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Speaker 2: Doing anything about it.

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Speaker 1: And that's before we even talked about the fraud or

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Speaker 1: the size of the government. And I was taught if

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Speaker 1: something isn't working, step up and do something about it.

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Speaker 2: And that's why I'm running.

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Speaker 1: And as far as why governor, you know, it's a

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Speaker 1: people say, well, that's a big job with a lot

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Speaker 1: of leadership requirements and a lot of responsibility, and I say, well,

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Speaker 1: that's what I've been doing for the last thirty years.

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Speaker 1: That's spent twenty years in the Marine Corps, active duty

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Speaker 1: and reserves, deployed to the Middle East, retired as a

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Speaker 1: lieutenant colonel. Originally started as a judge advocate, but switched

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Speaker 1: to infantry and the best job I ever had was

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Speaker 1: a rifle company commander in charge of about two hundred people,

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Speaker 1: and I quickly learned the value of leadership. Thankfully, I

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Speaker 1: had some really good mentors. But if you cannot lead,

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Speaker 1: you're quickly ushered out and somebody will replace you because

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of good leaders as you can imagine

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Speaker 1: in the Marine Corps.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I got to ask you, what is a judge advocate.

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Speaker 1: It's a well, it's an attorney, so I'd gone.

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Speaker 4: Out kind of like Jagger exactly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: In the Marine Corps they call them judge advocates. In

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Speaker 1: the Navy they call them jags.

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Speaker 4: Got it.

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Speaker 1: There's a slight difference. In the Marine Corps. You have

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Speaker 1: to be a line officer first, so you go through

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Speaker 1: six months of infantry training before you go to Naval

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Speaker 1: Justice School.

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Speaker 2: So got it?

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Speaker 3: Well, what did you like so much about the best

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Speaker 3: job you ever had and leading a group of two

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Speaker 3: did you like so much about the best job you

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Speaker 3: ever had and leading a group of two hundred.

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Speaker 1: Men, Well, I just it was to me it was

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Speaker 1: like the ultimate in leadership. Is a small enough unit

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Speaker 1: that you got to know a lot of the Marines,

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Speaker 1: but it was big enough that you had a lot

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Speaker 1: of tool in your arsenal, so to speak.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of different moving parts.

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Speaker 1: There'd be some line three typically three rifle platoons, a

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Speaker 1: weapons platoon, headquarters, and support platoon, all different functions.

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Speaker 2: So it really.

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Speaker 1: Required the broad range of skill sets to understand how

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Speaker 1: to not only lead and manage the organization, but then

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Speaker 1: how to use those tools, those assets, whether it's the

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Speaker 1: people or the equipment.

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Speaker 2: It was just very fulfilling.

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Speaker 3: So right now in Minnesota, you talked about the state

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Speaker 3: going in the wrong direction. What would be your top

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Speaker 3: three priorities if you were to become governor?

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, I think of the it's a fairly

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Speaker 1: simple equation, and a flourishing society needs three things. A

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Speaker 1: strong economy, a good education system, and the rule of law.

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Speaker 1: And that's not me just making it up. It starts

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Speaker 1: with Aristotle, it goes through the Roman replace public, goes

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Speaker 1: through the founding fathers in the Federalist papers James Madison,

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Speaker 1: and comes to today. And I think of it as

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Speaker 1: a very powerful equation, which is, you need economic growth

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Speaker 1: that creates opportunity, and they need education that allows people

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Speaker 1: to capture that opportunity, and they need the rule of

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Speaker 1: law that allows people to protect and nurture that opportunity.

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Speaker 1: And if they're all working, you get a virtuous cycle

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Speaker 1: that reinforces everything.

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Speaker 2: But those are the three elements. So the three things

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Speaker 2: I do, I'd start.

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Speaker 1: To improve the economy, whether it's regulatory reform, tax reform,

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Speaker 1: permitting reform. I'd focus on improving schools and Minnesota schools

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Speaker 1: unfortunately I've been falling over the last eight years despite

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Speaker 1: us having a governor who has a lengthy experience in education.

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Speaker 1: So I would get us back to core curricula, improve

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Speaker 1: school choice, reduce mandates, and then on prime.

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Speaker 2: I think that's a fairly easy fix. If the city it's.

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Speaker 1: Particularly in Minneapolis and the more broader counties of Hennepin

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Speaker 1: and Ramsey. I think that's something that can be fixed

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Speaker 1: fairly quickly if the city wanted to, but where the

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Speaker 1: county wanted to.

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Speaker 2: But if not, the state has tools to address that

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 3: So the state can say, hey, Hannepe County, which is

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Speaker 3: for people who don't live in Minnesota, it encompasses a

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Speaker 3: great deal of the metro Minneapolis and the suburbs. If

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Speaker 3: Hennebec County says no, you know, we don't want to

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Speaker 3: cooperate with you, what do you do then, as governor.

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Speaker 1: Well, the governor does have the state patrol, and if

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Speaker 1: you look at the areas on the map, and Minneapolis

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Speaker 1: are more broadly, Hannepan County. There's certain areas that are

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Speaker 1: high crime and so the state patrol can surge into

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Speaker 1: those areas. The governor also controls the Bureau of Criminal

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Speaker 1: Apprehensions the BCA, which is almost like the state's FBI,

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Speaker 1: the investigatory resources.

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Speaker 2: The governor can plus that up. There's also state in

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Speaker 2: county and federal task.

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Speaker 1: Forces that can be deployed if the city in this

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Speaker 1: case isn't going to do their job, let's say, and

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Speaker 1: staff up the police.

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Speaker 2: Department and enforce the laws.

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Speaker 1: So I think those are at least three things that

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Speaker 1: the government the governor could have a pretty quick impact

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Speaker 1: on Right now.

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Speaker 3: If you say the word, if you utter the term Minnesota,

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Speaker 3: almost anywhere in the country, people are going to say, oh, fraud,

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Speaker 3: Tim Walls and fraud. How responsible do you think Tim

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Speaker 3: Walls is for what's transpired here? And again for people

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Speaker 3: who may not know, probably well over a billion dollars

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Speaker 3: of taxpayer money funneled to fraudulent groups who never provided

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Speaker 3: the services they said they were providing, and much of

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Speaker 3: that money going to Kenya, China and Somalia yep.

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Speaker 1: And that's a billion with a B is to emphasize

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Speaker 1: that point, and it all stops with Governor Walls. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's part of the role of leadership, and I'm sure

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Speaker 1: Governor Walls learned it in the first day.

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Speaker 2: Of boot camp. I know he was in the National Guard.

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Speaker 1: That if something is going well, you give the credit

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Speaker 1: to your team if you're the leader. And if you're

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Speaker 1: the leader and something is not going well, in fact

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Speaker 1: it's gone wrong, even if it wasn't your fault, you

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Speaker 1: take responsibility.

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Speaker 3: That's like a coach or a quarterback.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, And Governor Walls seems to be doing the

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Speaker 1: exact opposite. And I think of my role as most recently,

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Speaker 1: I was CEO of a food manufacturing company a little

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Speaker 1: over one hundred employees. We're selling you know, different food,

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Speaker 1: snack foods, and so forth, competing against big multinational companies.

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Speaker 2: And you know, as a.

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Speaker 1: Role of CEO, you're supposed to be the steward of

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Speaker 1: your company's resources. And part of that is putting in

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Speaker 1: proper accounting controls and compliance mechanisms and so forth. And

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Speaker 1: if a private company CEO would misspend anything outside the norm, you.

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Speaker 2: Would be fired.

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Speaker 1: And out of that, you'd be sued for liability for

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Speaker 1: reaching the duty of care or sometimes called the fiduciary duty.

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Speaker 1: So there's real world consequences in the private sector, of course,

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Speaker 1: there is in the public sector. That's elections, and that's

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Speaker 1: why twenty twenty six is so important.

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Speaker 3: It's a midterm election. It's already tough for Republicans in Minnesota.

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Speaker 3: We all know that for a variety of reasons. But

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Speaker 3: at the moment it looks like there might be an opening.

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Speaker 3: We've had single party rule here in Minnesota. Right now,

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Speaker 3: our state Assembly is split at the house level, so

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Speaker 3: it's closer than it's been in a while. But why

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Speaker 3: do you think a Republican has a shot at winning

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Speaker 3: the governor's mansion in twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think the path to victory is fairly clear

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Speaker 1: for a Republican and I think it's focus on the

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Speaker 1: core issues that unfortunately for the state of Minnesota, we

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Speaker 1: are going the wrong direction, and that's affordable the economy, crime,

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Speaker 1: and education, which is focused like the laser on those

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Speaker 1: because Minnesota families, regardless of how they vote, or what

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Speaker 1: they look like or where they live, those are the

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Speaker 1: issues that matter, and that's where they're suffering.

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Speaker 2: The number two is we have to win the middle.

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Speaker 1: Governor Polenti, who's a last statewide Republican to win state office.

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Speaker 1: He often says, and I agree with him that if

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Speaker 1: you look at the percentages in Minnesota, Governor Walls has

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Speaker 1: about forty six percent approval, Republican Republicans generically forty two percent,

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Speaker 1: so it leads twelve percent undecided, and typically about two

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Speaker 1: thirds break against the incumbent. So that then puts us

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Speaker 1: at fifty to fifty. And so the Republican candidate for

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Speaker 1: state wide office, whether it's for governor or any other

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Speaker 1: statewide seat, needs to get more of those independents, more

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Speaker 1: than two thirds if he or she wants to win.

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Speaker 1: But then the third piece is it's not enough just

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Speaker 1: to win. We need a candidate that can credibly, not

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Speaker 1: only incredibly win, but can make the very hard leadership

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Speaker 1: decisions to peel away at least eight years of bad

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Speaker 1: policy and get education going on the right direction, the

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Speaker 1: economy and so forth.

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Speaker 3: When we talk about we were talking about fraud in

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Speaker 3: Minnesota a moment ago, and Tim Walls and the Somali

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Speaker 3: community has come under great scrutiny and disproportionately the number

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Speaker 3: of people involved in feeding our future, in the autism

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Speaker 3: scandal and the housing scandal have been part of the

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Speaker 3: Somali community.

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Speaker 4: So it's not.

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Speaker 3: Necessarily unfair to say that this community, again disproportionately by

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Speaker 3: a mile, committed this fraud. They've become a powerful voting block,

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Speaker 3: which is why many people think Tim Walls and Company

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Speaker 3: turned the other way and said, fine, we're going to

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Speaker 3: let you do this because we need your votes. You know,

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Speaker 3: we need your votes in Heneman County and wherever else.

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Speaker 4: What do you think about how do you address that community?

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Speaker 4: I mean, Jacob Fry.

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Speaker 3: Decides to speak to them in their own language. A

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Speaker 3: lot of people would like to see all immigrants to

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Speaker 3: this country assimilate and join in being part of what

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Speaker 3: is the great American experiment. So how do you approach that.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean, that's partly a federal issue, but from

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Speaker 1: the state level, there's roughly eighty thousand Somalies in Minnesota.

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Speaker 1: In less than one hundred have been convicted of the fraud,

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Speaker 1: but it is the vast majority have been Samales. I

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Speaker 1: go back to and by the way, you know, in

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Speaker 1: the having worked in the food manufacturing sector for twenty years,

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Speaker 1: and oftentimes in operating plants.

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Speaker 2: I've worked with a.

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Speaker 1: Lot of immigrants from all over the world, and my

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Speaker 1: grandmother was born in Naples, and probably all of us,

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Speaker 1: to a certain extent, unless we're Native Americans, are products.

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Speaker 1: We're immigrants at some point. So I am pro immigrant

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Speaker 1: in that respect. But as far as the Somali population

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Speaker 1: or any population, I think what we need to do is.

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Speaker 2: Just follow the law and enforce the law.

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Speaker 1: And I think one thing that causes me, let's say,

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Speaker 1: great frustration is it's at the federal level.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes but also at the state level.

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Speaker 1: People just need to stay in their lane and do

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Speaker 1: their job the best they can. The legislature needs to

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Speaker 1: pass the laws, the executive needs to faithfully execute the laws.

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Speaker 1: The police need to enforce the law, and the prosecutors

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Speaker 1: need to prosecute the laws. And we get into problems

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Speaker 1: when let's say a governor or a mayor and the

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Speaker 1: executive looks at the law as almost like a menu

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Speaker 1: or a buffet line, like all right, I'm gonna follow

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Speaker 1: this law. I'm going to disregard that one. It just

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Speaker 1: messes up the whole system.

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Speaker 3: Judges as well, I think we can throw judges in there,

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Speaker 3: we've got a true one, a pen and Marry Moriarity

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Speaker 3: who has decided to let some even a murderer walk,

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Speaker 3: you know, because of her ideology. So this is again,

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Speaker 3: you're right, it'd be nice if people stayed in their lanes.

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Speaker 3: It's gotten to the point where, you know, this is

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Speaker 3: why I think there's so much public mistrust for the

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Speaker 3: judicial system, for politicians, for the government is people not

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Speaker 3: staying in their lanes and people not being held accountable

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Speaker 3: in that sector. Whereas, as you mentioned earlier, if you're

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Speaker 3: a CEO, if you're a you know, part of any

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Speaker 3: company and you do something illegal, you're not going to

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Speaker 3: last in that company and you might wind up in jail.

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Speaker 4: So I don't know why this is so difficult.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: And the election is the public sector way to address

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Speaker 1: these things for at least people in public office, but

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Speaker 1: it does not work as efficiently when there's not let's say,

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Speaker 1: aggressive news coverage. And that's one thing where I think

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Speaker 1: Minnesota is benefiting is now there is national news coverage

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Speaker 1: on the problems because a lot of Minnesotans, this has

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Speaker 1: been brewing for a few years. A lot of us

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Speaker 1: who have been following it, but to the majority of Minnesotans,

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Speaker 1: it is because it has not been in the local press.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't really until the national news picked it up

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Speaker 1: that that people are reading about it.

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Speaker 3: Right. It took a New York Times article for really,

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Speaker 3: for this to gain quote unquote credibility with the mainstream press.

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Speaker 3: And I'm hearing you know that even still some of

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Speaker 3: the network nightly news shows are not focusing on this,

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Speaker 3: and so it is interesting. But people are getting their

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Speaker 3: news a lot of different ways. I'm curious as to

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Speaker 3: how you look at that. Because social media has become

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Speaker 3: a major cog in the political wheel of getting to

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Speaker 3: reach voters, talking to voters, communicating your whole campaign. How

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Speaker 3: aggressive are you going to be social media wise?

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Speaker 1: Well, it's uh, I've got four kids, two in college,

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Speaker 1: and to do it.

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Speaker 3: For you, what's that they can do it for you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. Well, and I'm with their thumbs. Yes,

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Speaker 2: it's amazing.

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Speaker 1: And we try to, you know, particularly the younger ones

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Speaker 1: that they've been growing up, is try to restrict their

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Speaker 1: phone use, but that's where they get their information.

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Speaker 3: It sure is.

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Speaker 1: And I was at an event last night and I

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Speaker 1: was talking to one of my colleagues who's late twenties,

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Speaker 1: and he doesn't watch any of the nightly news. He

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Speaker 1: couldn't tell you what channel Fox News is on or CNN.

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Speaker 1: He gets it all to Twitter or all the different platforms.

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Speaker 1: That is now the landscape for the majority of the country.

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Speaker 3: I think it is, it is, and it's it's it's interesting,

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Speaker 3: and uh, you know, we've just got to We've got to.

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Speaker 3: Anyone who's running for office has to kind of figure

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Speaker 3: out a way to maximize that for themselves, because that

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Speaker 3: sure is the way as you usually when people get

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Speaker 3: into a race, and particularly this one, Like I said,

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Speaker 3: I've been interviewing all the Republican gubernatorial candidates because Tim

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Speaker 3: Wallas won't come on.

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Speaker 4: But the list keeps growing.

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Speaker 3: Like I think, I've okay, we're done, we can start

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Speaker 3: rolling out this series.

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Speaker 4: And then somebody else gets in.

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Speaker 3: And usually people get in because they see the pool

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Speaker 3: of candidates and they think not good enough, there's no

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Speaker 3: one in there that can do the job.

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Speaker 4: I think I can do it better.

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Speaker 3: So when you look at the pool of candidates, why

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Speaker 3: do you think you're uniquely positioned?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, incidentally, last night there was a candidate forum,

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Speaker 1: and nine of us were on the stage, and you

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Speaker 1: just very good people, well intentioned, many different qualifications and

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Speaker 1: sets of backgrounds, and so I think the more of

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Speaker 1: the area, it's going to provide better options for the

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Speaker 1: delegates and the voters to compare a contrast about who

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Speaker 1: would be the better candidate. You know, I think all

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Speaker 1: the candidate see the same issues they have to because

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Speaker 1: it's so glaring issues facing our state. If you look

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Speaker 1: at all of our websites, we basically say the same thing.

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Speaker 1: So I think the differentiator is, all right, who can

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Speaker 1: lead in get this done and make the hard decisions

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Speaker 1: because as I mentioned earlier, it's not enough just to win,

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Speaker 1: is to actually be able to drive results. And that's

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Speaker 1: where I fall back on, not just my Marine Corps experience,

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Speaker 1: but my experience running a food manufacturing company and as

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Speaker 1: a CEO, and you know, basically the last three years

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Speaker 1: my job has been in one form or another, to

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Speaker 1: drive results and make hard decisions and lead teams and

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Speaker 1: build teams, create jobs, manage budgets and so forth.

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Speaker 2: And I think the only went in the race that's

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Speaker 2: got that experience.

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Speaker 4: Interesting.

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Speaker 3: You also have four kids, and how do they feel

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Speaker 3: about Dad?

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Speaker 4: Running for governor.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, we talked about it for good six months,

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Speaker 1: and you know, my family's very diverse politically. My oldest daughter,

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Speaker 1: who is a senior in college, actually worked for Amy

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Speaker 1: Klobachar on Capitol Hill last summer. So you'd imagine we've

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Speaker 1: got very good conversations we have.

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Speaker 2: You know, we have very similar values.

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Speaker 1: I would say we rank the values somewhat differently, but

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Speaker 1: we want the same results and we try.

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Speaker 2: To live by civil dialogue.

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Speaker 1: And so I think it's a I think the kids,

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Speaker 1: they're behind me and energized, and my wife's behind me.

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Speaker 1: That's the most important thing. And it's been a fruitful

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Speaker 1: experience so far.

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Speaker 3: All Right, before I let you go, i'd love to

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Speaker 3: hear your elevator pitch on why Patrick Knight should be

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Speaker 3: the next governor of Minnesota.

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Speaker 1: Well, because we need to turn it around, and we

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Speaker 1: need results, and we need to deliver for Minnesotan's, regardless

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Speaker 1: of where they live, or what they look like, or

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Speaker 1: even how they vote. Our once great state, the state

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Speaker 1: that produced the nineteen eighty miracle on ice hockey team.

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Speaker 1: We're eleven of the twenty players were Minnesotan's and the

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Speaker 1: head coach was a Minnesotan and beat the best hockey

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Speaker 1: team in the world. We can roll up our sleeves,

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Speaker 1: grit our teeth, get back to work and start delivering

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Speaker 1: results for the people of Minnesota. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: I have to say this, nightgov dot com kN i

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Speaker 1: ghtgov dot com.

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Speaker 2: That's my website.

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Speaker 3: If you want to go check them out nightgov dot com.

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Speaker 3: You've seen it also on the screen there as we've

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Speaker 3: been talking to Patrick Knight. We appreciate your service. I

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Speaker 3: always like to thank veterans for their service. I think

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Speaker 3: it's one of the most unbelievable gifts a human can

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Speaker 3: give to a.

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Speaker 4: Society, to a country.

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Speaker 3: And I end every podcast by saying, be brave and

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Speaker 3: do good. I think it takes a whole hell of

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Speaker 3: a lot of guts to run for office. And it

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Speaker 3: seems to me that everyone that I've interviewed really wants.

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Speaker 4: To do some good here.

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Speaker 3: So we appreciate that. Patrick, Thank you so much for

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Speaker 3: your time.

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Speaker 4: We'll see you down the road, my pleasure.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 3: You can keep up with the Trump administration when you

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Speaker 3: com slash Trump