Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo....Part Deux

One of my regular readers submitted a comment and while I was already working on a bonus blog for Tim Walz, I think it's worth stating again that I really like the ticket and I still do not think Walz is the perfect politician. There is no perfect politician but in the overall scheme of today's political climate, he's one of the least batshit crazy guys out there. 

There are three areas Feckless Felon and the GOP spin into a pretzel that barely resembles the truth: George Floyd, the post-COVID food distribution scandal, and the $18B surplus spending. These are all real things that happened in this administration. Understanding what they are and how they happened is also important in this Age of Deception.

Let's talk about the aftermath of George Floyd's murder at the hands of Minneapolis cops and the mobilization of the Minnesota National Guard in 2020: 

Governor Walz deployed the MN National Guard on May 28th, the first time it had ever been done in Minnesota. Some claimed Trump deployed the guard, but that is incorrect. The guard was in place until May 30th when things had calmed down.  Since this was the first time the guard was being deployed like this, the request had to come from the mayor, and then the governor could make the request. Some staffers said the guard was requested on the 27th, and there is a chain of messages that support that, but the official request was received on the 28th. Calling up the guard is not instant; it takes some time to get them in place. 

From KARE-11 archive:

Walz would go on to agree he got an informal, verbal request from Mayor Frey late Wednesday, May 27, before the mayor submitted a formal, written request on the morning of Thursday, May 28. The governor maintained it took time to deploy citizen soldiers and a brand new mission with little advance notice. 

 

It does take time.Guard personnel have 12 hours to report for duty. Other sources confirm that the governor actually asked the guard to stand ready for possible deployment on the 30th, but moved it up to the 28th after a night of rioting. A press release announcing the guard had been mobilized was issued by the governor's office at 4pm on the 28th.  

Imagine what would have happened had he not followed the protocol in place at the time. Since that time, processes have been reviewed, adjusted, and realigned to meet more modern needs. That said, the guard, made up of citizen soldiers, still has 12 hours to get to place. This is not a standing army and it will never be an instant process. 

During the riots on May 27th, 2020, the 3rd Precinct was burned out. There are so many conflicting reports about what happened, but the real bottom line is a decision made by Mayor Frey and Chief of Police Arradondo. As per wiki: 

It is a matter of debate whether the decision by city officials to abandon it helped save lives or inspired more violence. Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo, and other city leaders prepared as early as May 27 for the possibility of surrendering the station, which had been the location of tense protests beginning the evening of May 26, a day after Floyd's arrest and murder.[64] According to Frey, after the precinct building was breached the city faced the choice of hand-to-hand combat with demonstrators that could result in more death, or forces could make a hasty departure and leave the building to the crowd, the latter of which happened in dramatic fashion as it was captured on live video

There was a lot of blame to throw around, but it was Walz who shouldered the responsibility for the "abject failure" of the city to respond to the rioting and destruction of property. There was plenty of blame to go around. The city owned the major part of the failure, but Walz took it on the shoulders of the state to get it fixed. 

As COVID hit, so did programs to feed those no longer able to earn a living due to the restriction. No state was prepared for this kind of crisis and Minnesota became embroiled in an incredible rip-off of resources. Again, tons of blame and not enough structure. The people in charge of running the programs within the state structure failed the people of Minnesota spectacularly. 

Based on the FBI reports, and the way our government works (when it does) the lack of oversight is a function of the MInnesota Department of Education. Like any chief executive, the governor cannot be everywhere and see everything, and depends on his cabinet to do their job. That was not the case here, and once again, Walz takes ownership of the problem. You might want to read the article in The Minnesota Reformer. The way I understood it (and the article supports what I thought) the governor's and the attorney general's hands were somewhat tied due to the FBI investigation. The masterminds of this abuse have gone to jail although the MDE has not been charged with any sort of Malfeasance This is not over yet.

And the third thing the GOP is gonna glom onto is the $18B surplus and how it was spent. Below is a line item explanation:

Source: Minnesota Senate

As with many social welfare programs, results are not instant. At the same time, there are issues with bureaucracy and not all programs were well managed. Like many government programs. Still, some of those programs save a whole lotta kids. Inroads (no pun intended) have been made in the transportation and public safety areas. Our roads, bridges, airports, and ports need work. The money was used for improvements. Did they all work out? Probably not, but time and investment provide a learning process for improvements. Spending the surplus on the state itself is not an unreasonable expectation.

It's worth noting that aside from the surplus, Minnesota also has a separate $3.3B "rainy day" fund. Governor Walz is not the slap-happy spender some news outlets make him out to be. 

Then there's the part where they go after him for being ultra-liberal: he is not just a supporter of feminism, civil rights for all, and reproductive freedom, he has built his career as an advocate and ally.

Once upon a time, Walz, a gun owner and hunter, had an A rating from the NRA. No more. On July 27th, he posted on X:

“I had an A rating from the NRA. Now I get straight F’s. And I sleep just fine,” 

I am sure someone will dig up all sorts of stuff about him because that's what political operatives do. Will it change my mind that this guy knows how to do a political job and will be incredibly supportive of Harris as POTUS? No. In the end, Tim Walz cares about his constituency...whether its the people of his congressional district, the state of Minnesota, or We, the People of the United States. I'm okay with a human in the vice president's role. I'm not okay with a reactionary troglodyte in that chair. 

The best thing Harris and Walz can do is to keep smiling and laughing at the competition.  There is a certain amount of joy they currently radiate and I hope it sticks. Always take the high road, Harris and Walz; that makes Feckless Felon and JD Bedbug look like the small, insignificant haters that they are. 

The WP's bonus tip o'the week

If you care about your country,

help to get out the vote.

Not voting is not an option this year.