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Speaker 1: Minnesota should be the last place that criminals want to

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Speaker 1: do any type of criminal activity whatsoever. That is not

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Speaker 1: the case. Fraud has gone on for too long. It

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Speaker 1: has exploded under governor walls. And yet now because of

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Speaker 1: the help from the federal government, as you're seeing the

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Speaker 1: ones that are actually prosecuting the fraud and really shining

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Speaker 1: a light on it. That's why we're seeing national attention

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Speaker 1: and getting this changed here in the state. But clearly

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Speaker 1: there is a large number of employees that have come

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Speaker 1: out on x and said that they've tried to make

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Speaker 1: changes or report things and they were retaliated against. That

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Speaker 1: is not right in any job, let alone in the

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Speaker 1: state government. That itself needs to be investigated further. In

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Speaker 1: this last legislative session, though, we did add whistleblower protections

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Speaker 1: to kind of expand what was already happening to help

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Speaker 1: uncover the fraud and end it.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another brand new episode of the Michelle Tafoya

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Speaker 2: podcast Quick Thing. Do you see that little subscribe button

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Speaker 2: wherever you're listening or watching, Just click it please. That

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Speaker 2: helps us grow and we want to be a podcast

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Speaker 2: that you enjoy three times a week, every single week.

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Speaker 2: So just hit subscribe. We really appreciate it. I've been

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Speaker 2: interviewing all of the Republican gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota. It's

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Speaker 2: clear by the breadth and depth of this group of people.

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Speaker 2: I think we're up to nine or ten now that

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Speaker 2: want to run for governor against Tim Walls. They see

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Speaker 2: a path, They see an administration under Tim Walls that

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Speaker 2: has not served Minnesota well, and they want to be

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Speaker 2: the ones to break through and finally get a Republican

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Speaker 2: back in the governor's mansion. Will it happen. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: find out. But I've been talking to all of them today.

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Speaker 2: Speaker Lisa Damus, she is Speaker of the House in Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: She's already picked a running mate, and she's joining us

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Speaker 2: to talk about her vision for the state of Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: And a lot of people may have seen her on

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Speaker 2: national television. She's been interviewed about the fraud of Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: And there's a lot of mispronunciation about her last name.

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Speaker 2: The first time I met her, she said, Michelle. It

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Speaker 2: rhymes it sounds like Joe Namath. Lisa Damoth. So, Lisa Damoth,

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Speaker 2: the Speaker of the House, is our guest. Next Speaker daymoth.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for taking the time to join me. This

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Speaker 2: is a crowded field, and it seems to be getting

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Speaker 2: more crowded by the day or by the week. Why

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Speaker 2: do you think so many Republicans want to jump in

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Speaker 2: for governor?

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Speaker 1: Well, thanks for having me on your podcast, Michelle, I

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Speaker 1: appreciate the opportunity to talk with you. I think you're

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Speaker 1: seeing a crowded Republican field because of what we've seen

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Speaker 1: under too long of Democrat control here in the state

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Speaker 1: of Minnesota, specifically under Tim Walls and his seven years

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Speaker 1: as governor of this state, where we've watched our state

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Speaker 1: budget explode, we watch an eighteen billion dollars surplus be spent,

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Speaker 1: all of our taxes and fees have been raised, Only

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Speaker 1: half of our kids can read at grade level, and

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Speaker 1: of course, as you and most people have heard, we

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Speaker 1: have record fraud here in the state of Minnesota. This

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Speaker 1: is a wonderful opportunity in twenty twenty six for Republicans

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Speaker 1: to take over and get the state back on track.

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Speaker 1: That's why you're seeing a crowded field. Clearly, it's going

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Speaker 1: to narrow as time goes on, but it is time

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Speaker 1: for Republicans, Conservatives and all Minnesotans to pull together and

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Speaker 1: change the direction of our state.

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Speaker 2: Independents are always really crucial in Minnesota as well. There's

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Speaker 2: a good chunk of independents who probably aren't decided right now.

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Speaker 2: What's your message to them? I have often told you

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Speaker 2: on sale through December fifth at best hotgrill dot com.

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Speaker 2: Independents are always really crucial in Minnesota as well. There's

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Speaker 2: a good chunk of Independence who probably aren't decided right now.

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Speaker 2: What's your message to them?

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Speaker 1: My message to Independence, Republicans and Democrats is that I

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Speaker 1: am the best candidate to lead Minnesota going forward. I

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Speaker 1: have a proven track record of being able to work,

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Speaker 1: as my responsibility has shown in order to get our

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Speaker 1: state budget done. As I've served as Speaker of the House,

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Speaker 1: I have had the responsibility of negotiating directly with Governor Walls,

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Speaker 1: and I have a proven track record that I have

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Speaker 1: delivered a five billion dollar reduction in state spending. I

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Speaker 1: ended the taxpayer funded illegal immigrant healthcare, and then we

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Speaker 1: protected our non public schools from major cuts added in

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Speaker 1: fraud protection by adding FTEs to the OLA. Those were

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Speaker 1: the things that I did as Speaker of the House

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Speaker 1: with a TIEDE house, I am the best one to

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Speaker 1: lead us forward.

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Speaker 2: FTE with the OLA translate that for our lay people

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Speaker 2: will absolutely so.

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Speaker 1: An FTE is a full time equivalent employee. The OLA

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Speaker 1: is a nonpartisan Office of Legislative Auditor. What the OLA

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Speaker 1: does is they have looked into agencies and programs within

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Speaker 1: the state and again nonpartisans, so not Democrat, not Republican,

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Speaker 1: but looking at the functioning of those programs. They produce

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Speaker 1: reports and they have been showing through many agencies in

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Speaker 1: DHS specifically, but in all different agencies Department of Revenue,

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Speaker 1: Department of Education where we have seen the most fraud.

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Speaker 1: We've also seen that a number of those agencies have

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Speaker 1: a lack of internal control. So when I talk about

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Speaker 1: an FTE or two additional full time equivalent equivalent employees

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Speaker 1: added to the Office of Legislative Legislative Auditor, clearly I

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Speaker 1: have put a focus on wanting to make sure that

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Speaker 1: our tax dollars are protected here in Minnesota, because we've

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Speaker 1: seen over a billion dollars go out in fraud.

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Speaker 2: The fraud story is massive it's all over the place.

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Speaker 2: Tim Walls is deciding to blame others for it, but doesn't.

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Speaker 2: Why does the buck stop with the governor?

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Speaker 1: It absolutely stops with the governor. He is when you

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Speaker 1: think of it as a business, the governor of the

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Speaker 1: state is the CEO of the state. He chooses commissioners

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Speaker 1: and puts them into office to run all of the

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Speaker 1: different departments. But when there has been numerous allegations of

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Speaker 1: fraud under Governor Walls, there's been over twenty five scandals

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Speaker 1: of fraud just in seven years. His respect responsibility is

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Speaker 1: to make sure that tax dollars are protected, that services

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Speaker 1: are deployed to those that need it the most, and

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Speaker 1: to oversee everything. Not a single employee has lost their

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Speaker 1: job during this time. Michelle, It absolutely is the governor's

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Speaker 1: responsibility for the well working of our state.

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Speaker 2: Well, he says he doesn't take responsibility for anything except

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Speaker 2: putting people in jail. But I would note that the

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Speaker 2: people who have been put in jail have been done

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Speaker 2: so because of federal prosecutions, not because of Tim Walls.

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Speaker 2: So how do you answer him on that point beyond

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Speaker 2: what I just pointed out.

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Speaker 1: You're right, he hasn't put anyone in jail. He is

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Speaker 1: also said in that same interview over the weekend, he

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Speaker 1: said that Minnesota is a prosperous state, a well run state,

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Speaker 1: a generous state. But that's what would attract criminals. Michelle,

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Speaker 1: Let's think about that a little bit. If things are

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Speaker 1: well run, Minnesota should be the last place that criminals

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Speaker 1: want to do any type of criminal activity. Whatso, that

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Speaker 1: is not the case. Fraud has gone on for too long,

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Speaker 1: it has exploded under governor walls. And yet now because

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Speaker 1: of the help from the federal government, as you're seeing

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Speaker 1: the ones that are actually prosecuting the fraud and really

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Speaker 1: shining a light on it, that's why we're seeing national

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Speaker 1: attention and getting this changed here in the state.

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Speaker 2: Well, we know that the City Journal, which is part

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Speaker 2: of the Manhattan Institute, wrote deeply on this topic, and

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Speaker 2: then the New York Times picked it up. And somehow

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Speaker 2: now the New York Times has given the media permission

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Speaker 2: structure to now say, oh, look at Minnesota. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it's been years that this has been going on. People

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Speaker 2: have been calling it out. There have been whistleblowers. What

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Speaker 2: do you know about the whistleblowers and why they weren't

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Speaker 2: listened to.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure why they weren't listened to, but clearly

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Speaker 1: there is a large number of employees that have come

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Speaker 1: out on x and said that they've tried to make

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Speaker 1: changes or report things and they were retaliated against. That

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Speaker 1: is not right in any job, let alone in the

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Speaker 1: state government. That itself needs to be investigated further. In

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Speaker 1: this last legislative session, though, we did add whistleblower protections

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Speaker 1: to kind of expand what was already happening to help

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Speaker 1: uncover the fraud and end it.

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Speaker 2: One of the things about this fraud is it's been disproportionately,

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Speaker 2: I mean massively disproportionately committed by the Somali community. Now

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Speaker 2: you can say, well, there are eighty thousand Somalis in

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Speaker 2: the state of Minnesota, and maybe one hundred were involved

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Speaker 2: in this, but it's been we can agree, disproportionate. And

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Speaker 2: we know that Tim Walls at least looks at and

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Speaker 2: I think our Attorney General, Keith Ellison looks at this

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Speaker 2: group as a significant voting block, and that threatened to say, hey,

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Speaker 2: if you don't support our businesses here that want to

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Speaker 2: do these things which were fraudulent, we're going to call

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Speaker 2: you racist, they succumb to that, they gave into that.

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Speaker 2: How do we deal with this in a way that

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Speaker 2: and when I say we, I mean the state of

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Speaker 2: Minnesota where I live. How do we deal with this

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Speaker 2: in a way that does not attack necessarily an entire community,

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Speaker 2: but points out very clearly that it is prevalent within

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Speaker 2: this community.

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Speaker 1: I think you are exactly right when you think of

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Speaker 1: any community, any population. There are not just completely bad

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Speaker 1: people in any certain community or completely good people. But

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Speaker 1: I think the problem that we're facing here in Minnesota

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Speaker 1: is when someone claims that's racist, don't talk about it.

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Speaker 1: We're actually ignoring the actual fraud that's going on. We

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Speaker 1: have to keep our eye on the fraud itself and

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Speaker 1: how to end it, rather than worried that it's going

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Speaker 1: to be mistaken as as racism and then not do

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Speaker 1: anything about it. That is absentsolutely wrong. In no way

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Speaker 1: would I demonize an entire community. But you're right, Michelle,

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Speaker 1: it is disproportionately. Out of seventy eight defendants and prosecutions,

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Speaker 1: you know, over seventy have been from the Somali community.

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Speaker 1: We have to look at that differently. But we also

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Speaker 1: have a local news channel and a local paper that

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Speaker 1: have quotes from Somali Americans saying, investigate this. We need

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Speaker 1: this to stop in our community too.

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Speaker 2: I have seen those quotes and thank goodness for them.

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Speaker 2: I applaud anyone who steps up and says, you know,

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Speaker 2: let's look at where the fraud is. Additionally, I know

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Speaker 2: that you are looking at and I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of Minnesotans are concerned about the judges in our system,

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Speaker 2: in our legal system in Minnesota. Mary Mori already comes

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Speaker 2: to mind. But there have been a number of cases

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Speaker 2: where people have been released back and we're seeing this

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Speaker 2: really nation and wide, people with long rap sheets released

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Speaker 2: back onto the street for whatever ideological reason. What are

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Speaker 2: you seeing? And what can a governor do about it?

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Speaker 2: A governor, Lisa Damuth, what would she do about it?

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Speaker 1: So a governor is the one that appoints judges to

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Speaker 1: our district courts in the Supreme Court, and we have

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Speaker 1: had nearly a generation of Democrat appointed judges here in Minnesota.

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Speaker 1: We've had a couple of recent cases that are most

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Speaker 1: concerning on the issue of fraud. There was someone that

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Speaker 1: was found guilty by a jury. So you think of

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Speaker 1: regular Minnesotans doing their job their civic duty is serving

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Speaker 1: on a jury. They unanimously found this person guilty of

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Speaker 1: seven point two million dollars in fraud. Not talking about

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Speaker 1: just one hundred, a few hundred, which is bad, but

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Speaker 1: seven point two million dollars of fraud. And a district

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Speaker 1: judge overturned that jury ruling.

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Speaker 2: So it is a unanimous jury that ruled that this

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Speaker 2: person was guilty. Yes, one district judge was able to

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Speaker 2: overturn that. That seems strange to me. What's going on there?

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: All I know is when there are Democrat appointed judges

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Speaker 1: that are willing to do something like that. We clearly

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Speaker 1: have judges, not every judge, but there is a pattern

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Speaker 1: in our state that there is a priority of the

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Speaker 1: criminals over victims. Whether it is fraud or any other

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Speaker 1: type of victim, there is a prioritization. A governor is

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Speaker 1: responsible for appointing the judges.

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Speaker 2: As governor, I.

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Speaker 1: Will make sure and Michelle, I should say this too.

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Speaker 1: I have already chosen my running mate. At this point,

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Speaker 1: I am the only one in the governor's race that

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Speaker 1: has named my running mate, and that is Ryan Wilson.

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Speaker 1: You might remember his name. He ran for state auditor

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Speaker 1: back in twenty twenty two and came very very close.

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Speaker 1: He was the closest race in our statewide races. The

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Speaker 1: reason I chose Ryan though he is also an attorney

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Speaker 1: and has a proven record in constitutional law and the

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Speaker 1: work that he has done. Our ticket is ready to

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Speaker 1: lead Minnesota all the way through with creating policies, but

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Speaker 1: he will be very very much involved in making sure

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Speaker 1: that we have committees that are going to select the

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Speaker 1: correct judges to serve our entire state, to ensure that

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Speaker 1: victims are prioritized rather than criminals, and make sure that

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Speaker 1: the law is upheld all the way through the process.

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Speaker 2: Speaking of the law being upheld, and I've asked other

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Speaker 2: candidates about this, there was, of course in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: the big defund the police movement. There's been a real

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Speaker 2: drop in morale. I know. I've spoken to law enforcement.

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Speaker 2: I've spoken to a lot of Minnesota peacekeepers who just

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Speaker 2: they look downtrodden, they look disheartened. They feel that they

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Speaker 2: don't have the backing of the mayor of Minneapolis or

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Speaker 2: the governor of Minnesota. How do you approach that and

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Speaker 2: if kind of been county or counties or cities don't

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Speaker 2: want to go along with you. What do you do?

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Speaker 1: I have always supported law enforcement and I will continue

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Speaker 1: to do so. When we are talking about safety across

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Speaker 1: our state. We need qualified, excellent law enforcement agents that

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Speaker 1: are able to do their jobs and be respected in

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Speaker 1: those jobs. We need to have people that are deciding

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Speaker 1: on their careers, we need to have them consider being

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Speaker 1: in law enforcement and public safety. We're counting on that, Michelle.

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Speaker 1: Going back to the peace with the judges, how frustrating

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Speaker 1: for someone in law enforcement to do their job, arrest

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Speaker 1: a criminal and then watch them be spun out early

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Speaker 1: or you know, to really negate the work that they're doing.

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Speaker 1: That doesn't help our communities. It doesn't help the job

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Speaker 1: that they're doing. I will always support law enforcement, have

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Speaker 1: and will continue to do that. But when you think

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Speaker 1: of how a state budget works, especially in our cities

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Speaker 1: of the first class, so our large cities Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Duluth, Rochester,

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Speaker 1: there is a requirement that an adequate number of law

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Speaker 1: enforcement members will be in that community. And that's what

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Speaker 1: part of that local government aid is for so LGA

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Speaker 1: funding that comes from our taxes goes out to communities.

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Speaker 1: Part of that is ensuring public safety. And I had

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Speaker 1: a bill that I was introducing back in February of

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty, so go all the way back in your

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Speaker 1: mind before the world shut down. We knew that the

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Speaker 1: Minneapolis Police Department at that time was short over two

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Speaker 1: hundred officers.

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Speaker 2: My bill at the time.

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Speaker 1: Which didn't get a hearing and it didn't get passed,

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Speaker 1: but it said that we would withhold a portion of

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Speaker 1: your LGA or local government aid if you did not

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Speaker 1: bring your complement of officers up to what is going

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Speaker 1: to be required by law. That didn't get any traction.

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Speaker 1: That was before we saw all of the defunding of

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Speaker 1: police movement. That's how much I supported both our law

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Speaker 1: enforcement but also the communities and the safety. I will

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Speaker 1: continue to work that way as governor of Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: I want to get back to a couple of sort

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Speaker 2: of hot topics here, one being that the President of

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Speaker 2: the United States has come out very strongly against the

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Speaker 2: Somali community. He's I hear frustration out of the White House,

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Speaker 2: out of DC, I hear, but there, you know, some

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Speaker 2: of the language is tough. Where do you stand with

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Speaker 2: him and where do you diverge?

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Speaker 1: You know, I think the language is tough, and I

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Speaker 1: recognize that, but I look back at it this way, Michelle.

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Speaker 1: If Governor Wallace had been taking fraud seriously and ending

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Speaker 1: fraud in the state of Minutes Minesota even while Biden

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Speaker 1: was president, if we needed help from the White House

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Speaker 1: while Biden was in office, we wouldn't be having these

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Speaker 1: same conversations Fraud and Minnesota would be over the fact

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Speaker 1: that it has gone unchecked for over seven years is

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Speaker 1: bringing frustration at every single level. This squarely is on

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Speaker 1: Governor Walls's shoulders for not handling our state budget and

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Speaker 1: the issue of fraud in a proper manner over his

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Speaker 1: time as governor.

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Speaker 2: What about the lieutenant governor? What should she have known

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Speaker 2: and could she have done anything? Or is that just

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Speaker 2: a I mean, you have a ticket, you obviously have

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Speaker 2: decided on who you want to be your lieutenant governor.

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Speaker 2: Does does Peggy Flanagan have any any guilt here? Is

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Speaker 2: any of this on her?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 1: The Walls Flanagan administration should have been handling this from

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Speaker 1: the very beginning, and they haven't. Because this is where

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Speaker 1: we find ourselves. That is why it was very important

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Speaker 1: to me to choose a running mate that was going

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Speaker 1: to be excellent qualifying for lieutenant governor, that we could

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Speaker 1: lead the state together early on, both through the campaigns

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Speaker 1: so people got to know us, but then also as

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Speaker 1: we go forward into actually being elected and then serving

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Speaker 1: in that administration. It has to be a partnership and

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Speaker 1: a priority. That's why you have a governor and lieutenant

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Speaker 1: governor to work together for the betterment of all Minnesota.

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Speaker 1: We haven't necessarily seen that over this current administration.

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Speaker 2: I would agree with that. And you know, as much

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Speaker 2: as people want to talk about the a word affordability

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Speaker 2: and the economy, which are exceedingly important and all part

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Speaker 2: of a big picture, in my mind, to me, it

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Speaker 2: starts with public safety. If you can't feel safe in

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Speaker 2: your neighborhoods, in your schools, in your churches, in your

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Speaker 2: business offices on the streets, how can we possibly have

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Speaker 2: a thriving economy where people want to go out and

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Speaker 2: spend money and shop and go to rest staurants. That

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Speaker 2: to me seems to be the number one If you

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Speaker 2: started any community anywhere on the planet with ten people,

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Speaker 2: with two hundred people, it seems to me that their

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Speaker 2: first concern would be let's keep each other safe.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, and that's what we need here in Minnesota. I remember,

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Speaker 1: you know, I grew up in I was born in Paynesville,

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Speaker 1: and then we moved to the Metro when I was seven,

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Speaker 1: and we lived right off the lake in Chicago for

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Speaker 1: a number of years. But also being from Bloomington. As

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Speaker 1: a teenager, I was allowed to go downtown. I could

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Speaker 1: take the bus. It felt safe. I don't even feel

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Speaker 1: comfortable doing something like that right now as an adult,

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Speaker 1: necessarily because of what we've seen. You know, the work

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Speaker 1: from home and the extension of that has really made

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Speaker 1: our largest cities less populated on the regular. So when

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Speaker 1: you have less people, there is a feeling of less safety.

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Speaker 1: I was speaking earlier today with a group of building

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Speaker 1: owners and they were talking about these exact things. We

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Speaker 1: want people to come back to work in a way

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Speaker 1: that works best for the jobs that they have and

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Speaker 1: the businesses, but we need our communities to be safe.

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Speaker 1: We need our restaurants to be open, and that really

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Speaker 1: goes across the state. It's different in every little corner,

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Speaker 1: but that really grows across the state that if we

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Speaker 1: want a thriving economy, businesses need to be able to grow,

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Speaker 1: expand and stay here in Minnesota. And we know that

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Speaker 1: that also includes safety. It also includes really great schools

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Speaker 1: for families that are looking for great schools and great communities.

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Speaker 1: It's a bigger picture, and that's the part that we've

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Speaker 1: been missing. We can't silo all of these things. We

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Speaker 1: have to look at big picture overall.

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Speaker 2: All, Right, what I've been asking each candidate that I've

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Speaker 2: had on and I don't want to say interviewed because

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Speaker 2: I like to feel like this is just a conversation.

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Speaker 2: But before we let you go, Lisa, Lisa Damoth rhymes

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Speaker 2: with Naymeath, give us your thirty second elevator pitch for

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Speaker 2: you as the next governor of the state of Minnesota.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me on today, Michelle. I believe

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Speaker 1: that Minnesota can be stronger and better than where we

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Speaker 1: find ourselves right now, both for today and for tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: for generations to come. I believe that our kids deserve

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Speaker 1: an excellent education. I believe that our businesses should thrive

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Speaker 1: and not be burdened by high taxes and overregulation. I

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Speaker 1: believe that families should be able to afford their lives,

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Speaker 1: and Minnesota can be an excellent place again. I'm Lisa Damuth.

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Speaker 1: I am running for governor to build a stronger and

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Speaker 1: better Minnesota together, all of us together.

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Speaker 2: Lisa, thank you so much for taking the time. We

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Speaker 2: really appreciate that. And I end every podcast by seeing saying,

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Speaker 2: be brave and do good. I think running for office

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Speaker 2: is one of the most courageous things a person can do,

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Speaker 2: and certainly I think almost everyone I've interviewed is doing

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Speaker 2: it so that they can do good. So I appreciate

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Speaker 2: you and we'll see you down the road.

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Speaker 3: Excellent, Thank you, Michelle.

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Speaker 2: You can keep up with the Trump administration when you

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Speaker 2: subscribe to the Trump Report. It's an email that brings

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Speaker 2: you daily highlights from the Oval Office right to your inbox,

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