December 16, 2025 • 41 mins
Jon continues with an interview with Kendall Qualls and explains why Walz is WACO.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hour two for a Tuesday Twenna City's news Talk Am
eleven thirty and one oh three five FM. Joining us
on the phone. Gubernatorial candidate and straw pole winner from
the party state to Central Committee meeting over the weekend.
Kendall Qualls, Good morning, Kendall. How we doing this morning, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm great, John, great to have it's great to be here,
grateful for having me. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I uh, I had to have a chuckle. I just
now noticed this in the Minnesota Reformer article Kendall that
I pulled for our conversation today, the headline perennial candidate
Kendall Qualls wins Minnesota GOP gubernatorials troupple. But the first
sentence in here they have a chuckle over it, said
Kendall Qualls, an army veteran. Of course, we thank you
(00:52):
for your service, former healthcare executive and anti anti racist activist.
Were you were you were aware that you are an
anti anti racist to activists. I'm not sure how that works.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Kendall qual Oh, yeah, yeah, they took a pot shot
at me at that and the parentual candidate as well.
So yes, anything they can do to to mock and
bring us down. The last thing they won, especially the
Democrat Party, is for me to be the talk to
that ticket. It'll put fear in the hearts of God
and those Democrat leaders. If I was on the top
(01:25):
of that ticket.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Qualls, you won ninety three. You won votes from ninety
three delegates. Is followed by Lisa Damoth at ninety Mike
Lindell at forty nine. According to the State Party. How
much how much weight do you put into this? We
have had circumstances where individuals had weak showings in the
draw hole that have gone on to get the nomination.
I'm just curious what your takeaway from winning this a
(01:48):
straw pole was after Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, the biggest thing is like, like your listeners who involved,
I know, I appreciate their support. We have a great
ground game with our staff, our team on a campaign.
But anything what this is is the voters, the listeners,
the delegates, they're they're they're echoing a strong voice, just
like we have with our president. We want an outsider
(02:12):
from out, someone from outside to Saint Paul the sixth
Saint Paul, if you notice that the you know, actually
beating the sitting speaker of the House is a pretty
big deal. And so I have no title behind my name.
I'm not a former you know, representative or anything like that.
Pure outsider started my my my career in the business world.
(02:35):
After after I served in the Army, leading sales and
marketing teams from from major companies, from small companies turning around,
you know, declining businesses. That's exactly the stereo we have here.
If Minnesota was a stock traded on the New York
Stock has changed, most people would have sold their stock
years ago. We have a turnaround issue and intervention issue,
(02:56):
and we need someone from outside the world of politics
to help this the helpers turn around.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, I'm actually going to be talking about something along
these lines coming up in just a moment. There's a
great piece out of American experiment talking about Minnesota's structural
budget deficit is not driven by federal uncertainty or the tariffs.
Like Governor Tim Walls has been touting. Kendall, I'm curious.
You know this was you know, the victory over in
(03:21):
this straw pole ninety three. Dell gets followed by Lisa
Damoth at ninety You know, she's got quite a bit
of name id. You've ran for office before. I'm wondering
if you're seeing anything within your messaging that may have
provided the difference that brought you to the top of
this straw pole versus the other candidates. Is there anything
you think you're zeroing in on that perhaps is being
(03:44):
lost from the other candidates as to that may have
led you to your winning this pole.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, you know this is beyond the message. But this
has to do with message, messenger, and money, the three ms,
and you've got to have all three. Yes, the message
works that we're focus on the economy. We're going to
get the crime back. They we're going to get Minneapolis back.
Well as I get the crime back, we get the
crime back where it belongs, not near the zero. We
never used to be a Detroit or a Chicago. In Minneapolis,
(04:13):
it used to be ready to number one safety city
in the country by Forest Magazine. We're going to get
it back. And our public schools never used to be
a sesspool of indoctrination. We used to have the top
tier of public schools and the nation prideful about that,
and as well as our economy. So those three issues
are the three legged killer or the three pillars that
we're going to focus on. Wrapped around all of that
(04:36):
is strong leadership. The fraud, the waste that we're seeing
right now has everything to do with poor leadership. It's
a symptom of weak, unaccountable leadership. Strong companies, strong leaders
don't allow that kind of stuff to happen. So that's
going to We'll take care of that piece. But the
other piece of this is the vision for it for
a Minnesota that people are are wanting and design in
(05:00):
their lives. So those are the things that I share
when I'm on the road is what what the future
look like. And when I share that, John and real quick,
what I tell people is despite the Democrats nearly ruining
this whole state and that they can sold everything the media,
the higher ed and all the levels of power, they
only have a one seat majority in the Senate and
(05:23):
we're tied in the House. And I believe if my
campaign with the top of the ticket, we can get
a down ballot windfall where we get the Senate, the House,
the governor's feat and we can actually have our own
trifecta and we really make the changes we need to make.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Kendall Qualls again, congratulations on your winning this drophole from
over the weekend. Where would you like people to go
just check out more about what your campaign is all about.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, absolutely so. Our website is KQ for m N
dot com has KQ f O r m man dot
com and we're on x as well as Facebook. People
follows off social media. We're really cranking there and we
want to continue to help save our state. That's the
ultimate objective, save this state and for the next generation
(06:10):
of Minnesota's Ken Kendall Quills.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope you have
a fantastic of New Year's as well. Thank you so
much for the time this morning, and I look forward to
the next time we have a chance to talk in
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Thanks Sean. Marry Christmas to you.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Can to a few of your talkbacks. Got off the
phone a moment ago or offline, I should say, with
David gartan Stein Ross, our AI expert. I had asked
him about his favorite to movie most Realistic regarding AI.
Had a talkback that rolled in brought to you off
the iHeartRadio app by Lyndall Realty.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Hey John, good morning. My opinion of what you asked
to be there about his favorite or what he thinks
the most realistic movie for AI. As much as I
would love it to be something crazy like Terminator Ready
Player one, it's most likely going to be Her with
Joaquin Phoenix, where the guy basically falls in love with
this freaking AI and starts your relationship with it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
That's kind of work. Yeah, No, I agree with you.
I also think like if my default would have been
most likely like x Macina, I can see that scenario
playing out. Early enjoyed that movie, Brett? Have you seen
Next Mancina?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
No?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Okay? Should I?
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You like sci fi?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Eat?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Enjoy it?
Speaker 6 (07:21):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
It's a good watch. It's a good watch and not
what I recommend. Gets a little racy. I'll say that much,
but I think you can handle it. Brett, just saying, Okay,
I gotta put I'm a big boy pants so I
can watch it. All right, let's go, let's go here.
Speaker 7 (07:36):
Good morning, John and Justice as itself from eaton Prairie. Say,
do you denounce your great leader of Donald Trump for
his instensive remarks about Rob ryan is death being caused
by Trump the arrangement syndrome? That sure, their leader stand
by what you said about Charlie Kirk. Anybody that talked
about Charlie Kirk negatively, you denounced him, So denounce Trump
(08:00):
on air.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Have a good day. Tell me that you weren't listening
to the opening segment of the show without telling me
you weren't listening to the opening segment of the show,
Phil get up earlier. I shared my thoughts in the
first segment. So go check out the podcast there, dude,
all right? Coming up, Minnesota, structural deficit is not driven
(08:25):
by tariffs or federal uncertainty, according to American experiment, and
they are right. When you hear Governor Tim Walls blame
the budget crisis here in Minnesota that we are facing
on Washington, chaos caused by Trump, he's lying to you
once again. I'll give you details on this a little
bit more than an hour from now. I have amazing
stats to take down liberal arguments relating to frustrations over
(08:48):
ice enforcement here in Minnesota. Also coming up, why Walls
is Waco Walls always chickens out as he signs new
executive orders guns to establish a state wide safety council.
I'll share with you the details on this ridiculous nonsense
next right here on Twinsday's news Talk AM eleven thirty
(09:09):
and one h three five FM. So why is Governor
Tim Walls Waco Walls always chickens out? I'll explain here
in just a moment. Look, it's dumb. I know that
it's dumb, but so is Taco when Trump always chickens out.
So don't hate the player, you hate the game. I
(09:37):
thought Brett was gonna chick Oh, you're waiting for me?
I was, but I didn't really. I thought it was
just a dramatic pause. I should have put more emphosis
on the salable to make sure that I grabbed your attention.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
There.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You're fascinating to talk to. Thank you very much. I
appreciate that. All right, before we get to uh, Walls
always chickening out, let's go here center, the American Experiment
Tariff's federal policy. Regardless of your views on both, Minnesota's
budget deficit has very little, if anything, to do with
what's going on in Washington, DC, as some claim. Looking
(10:11):
at you, Walls, Minnesota's fiscal problem is not only worse
than the headline numbers show, but it has been going
on since the end of the twenty twenty three session.
The state's persistent and widening structural deficit is self inflicted
and was wholly avoidable. I'm gonna get to the details
(10:33):
what I really want to do here, and I'm going
to I'm gonna jump to the end before I lay
out the direction. Why. If Minnesota were a family, the
twenty twenty three session was the equivalent of using a
one time Christmas bonus to move into a bigger house
while expecting a new baby. The baby being Medicaid spending
(10:56):
that was already projected to grow even before a new
policy change. Is the bonus was always temporary, but the
costs of the house and the child are permanent, and
they continue to rise, just like a family that is
spending above its means. Nothing short of returning to a
more affordable lifestyle will fix the state's conundrum. Legislators who
(11:18):
are serious about budget reformed me to look at the
history twenty twenty three budget session for a session for
budget fixes. All right, so how do we get here?
It goes like this. In twenty twenty three, the session
was started with an eighteen billion dollar surplus, and.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Averaging that.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
On a long enough timeline, we lose sight of that.
It just becomes a number, it just becomes a talking point.
Eighteen billion dollars should never just be a number or
a talking point, I mean either should a billion dollars
in the fraud that could be somewhere upwards of six
to seven billion dollars. So in the twenty twenty three session,
(12:03):
the legislature spent the majority of the one time surplus
expanding government programs. Welfare programs Medicaid got a substantial portion
of the new funds. Not only did the legislature raise
the baseline welfare spending, but also accelerated future growth rates
by adjusting inflation calculations in certain Medicaid programs such as
(12:24):
disability waivers. Minnesota's budget for twenty four and twenty five
the Buyennium group from fifty five billion in February of
twenty twenty three to sixty nine point five billion by
the end of the twenty three session, and in November's
twenty three forecast it was up by another billion dollars. Welfare,
(12:47):
health and Human services that grew from under eighteen billion
dollars in February of twenty three to twenty point six
billion by the end of the session. November twenty three
forecast it exceeded twenty one billion dollars. The twenty twenty
five session addressed some of the growth by capping the
(13:11):
disability waivers. However, reform did not go far enough. Looking
only at the baseline numbers, Minnesota will spend sixty eight
point four billion in twenty twenty six and twenty seven's
by AUM. That is over nine billion, or fifteen percent,
higher than was estimated in February of twenty three. Spending
(13:33):
is also up by one point seven billion since the
July end of session estimates. Minnesota is living above its means.
That is the issue. So while we appropriately focus on
the fraud, well, actually, before I get to that, let
(13:53):
me just say this upfront. Whenever you hear Walls blame
the budget crisis on Trump's chaos in Washington as he
describes it, he's lying. These are the facts. Minnesota is
living above its means. That is the issue. And while
we focus appropriately on the fraud, and we should, it's
(14:15):
the headline grabber. It's more interesting. These numbers tend to
get eye rolls. People don't really follow. I get it,
I understand it. It's boring by comparison, But make no mistake,
there's another fraud that's been perpetuated. It may not be
criminal like autism center fraud or feeding our future daycare centers,
(14:40):
potential transportation, you name it, No, but it is still
a fraud being perpetuated. It's a waste of your taxpayer
dollars by the Democrats that are destroying the economy because
they're forcing Minnesota to live above its means. And again,
while it's not flashy and it's not gonna grab headlines
(15:00):
and a lot of times it's boring, make no mistake
when we look at the budget deficit, while fraud is
going to be a part of that, No, it's what
Democrats did in their time in office that has us
in the fiscal pending disaster that we are in. And
it's not because of Trump. It's not because of DC. No,
(15:22):
it's because of the DFL. It's because of Governor Tim Walls.
So today Walls is expected to sign two executive orders.
These executive orders will be aimed at reducing gun violence.
According to the article that I have from Channel five
in front of me. According to the announcement from the
Governor's office, the orders will establish a state wise Safety Council.
(15:49):
It will forever be known as the State Wide Safety Council.
By the way, for the sake of argument, now, the
State Wide Safety Council will produce data on the costs
of gun violence and promote education on safe storage. Now,
the article from Channel five appropriately makes this point. In
the wake of the mass shooting an Annunciation Catholic church
(16:11):
school that killed two children and injured thirty other people,
Walls was keen on calling a special session to introduce
stricter gun regulations. Those discussions faded when it became clear
Republicans who controlled the House floor wouldn't budge budge on
measures to ban assault style weapons or high capacity magazines.
So this is where Channel five gets it wrong. It
(16:32):
wasn't the Republicans here, it was Walls in his own party.
He didn't have the votes in the Senate three two
to three dflers that were not going to go along
with a ban on scary looking guns. They weren't going
to go along with the ban on high capacity magazines.
So this is where Walls always chickens out. It started
(16:54):
with the Annunciation Schools shooting press conference, wherein in a
knee jerk reaction that he couldn't get himself out of
he said he would call a special session on gun control.
Then he proceeded to go and blame Republicans for not
taking a vote on gun control, even though he was
the only one that could call a special session in
(17:16):
order to take that vote. Then he chickened out on
the special session and decided to go with town halls.
The town halls doing that thing with my fingers. You
had to basically fill out an application if you wanted
to go and attend, So he did his town halls.
Those didn't accomplish anything. So he abandoned the town halls,
and now he has his new statewide Safety Council, a
(17:39):
completely unnecessary new colouncil to form. There are plenty of
activist gun grabbing groups out there that are producing data
on the costs of gun violence, and there's no need
for an executive order for a clouncil with the education
on safe storage. So you could go the taco like Trump.
(18:02):
Trump always chickens out, Jim Tim always chickens out. I
prefer wacko because I think walls is kind of wacko.
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus chimed in on this, writing
yesterday on X I guess the governor finally read our
tweets realize he doesn't actually have the power to do
what he wanted to do. Yeah, he chicking out why
(18:23):
because the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus passed helped to pass
a twenty fifteen law that stripped the governor's emergency powers
when it comes to gun control. Now, instead of sweeping
gun bands or emergency declarations, we get a statewide safety
council and some gun control talking points dressed up as
public health. All bark, no bite, helped by the Minnesota
(18:46):
gun Owner's foresight back in twenty fifteen. All right, we'll
get you to your thoughts on this statewide safety council
that Walls is proposing. Also, I haven't had a chance
to cover this yet. We'll do it. So last week actually,
I think it was not this past weekend, but the
weekend prior to Minnesota Star Tribune had put out this
(19:07):
article trying to express how or explain how in their
mind the fraud was only like one hundred and fifty
two million, not the billion plus that's being touted by
so many individuals. They got raked over the coals over
this particular issue. Even local media outlets typically friendly to
Democrats pushback on the Star Tribune's analysis, so much so
(19:31):
that they ended up putting out a piece last week
attempting to explain how they reached those numbers. Also, Minnesota
reportedly sent inaccurate data on SNAP to the federal government.
There's another way to look at this article, or to
lead the headline. I'll share it with you coming up.
But it's not so much they reported to inaccurate data.
(19:53):
But one could also say that they lied. Hey, John,
A good.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
Way to visualize eighteen billion dollars. It was essentially the
US Bank Stadium cost a billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Eighteen of tholes could be built and.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
That would pretty much take up the entirety of downtown Have.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
A good day? Would that mean eighteen other opportunities to
make the playoffs? Wow? They say, I take shots. Come on,
it was necessary, it was necessary. I'm glad we're doing better.
(20:37):
It's just sad. It's just sad. They knew and they
let it happen. They've been officially eliminated. If you didn't know,
I do. That's why. That's why, that's why I made
that comment. Because they had that win and then I
saw they were official eliminated, and then I got sad.
When's first NASCAR raight h February. I don't know when
they had to move it because they moved the Super Bowl.
(21:00):
Did you hear that? Yeah? Because now it would have
typically when it happens, it would have fallen on Super
Bowl weekend, which just lends credence. Do it all do
the game on Saturday and then do the NASCAR Daytona
five hundred on Sunday. Okay, hey, that's better than That's
better than my split it up at halftime idea, which
(21:21):
I don't think it's awesome. Nobody got on board with that. Like,
nobody got on board with that when I suggested you
did play the first half on Saturday, then you end
with the halftime show on Saturday night, and then you
restart the game on Sunday morning. I can't imagine why
no one thought it was a good idea. I think
just think it outside the box. They certainly are. Why
(21:43):
so I get paid the big bucks? What if they
do this and fifty laps on Saturday and then the
next two hundred fifty laps on Sunday. That's happened? Well, wined, Like, yeah,
all right, let's go h here, Hey, John, I agree
with you on Walls. Walls is lying.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
He's responsible for signing the bills that come from the
other branches of government in Minnesota. He's the last stop,
the last approval. The person who approved all of those
increases was Tim Walls.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I have a great day.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
The left has been trying to destroy the nuclear family
for decades, and now they wonder why we have a
mental health crisis which includes people shooting each other. It's
all part of the plan. They've been doing it for years.
Let's address the root of the problem and not the symptom.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
If plans can be executed like that, then can we
do Can we do a plan to make things better?
Like if it's all part of the plan to ruin
everything and turn us into a socialist Marxist society, and
we should be able to put together plan that embraces
freedom and liberty over tyranny. Right, I would, I would?
(23:06):
I would think.
Speaker 8 (23:07):
Yet again, I'd like to point out the irony of
Tim jong Waltz there sitting and calling Republicans Nazis and
his federal officers a gestapo or gaspacho, as Tim would
say it to Eaven Moron.
Speaker 9 (23:23):
Yeah, and yet.
Speaker 8 (23:24):
He's doing the exact same thing the actual Nazis did
before they disarmed the Austrians. You know, it's for public safety,
it's for the kids.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
We must take your weapons and remember. Less than one
hour from now, I have amazing facts to share with
your liberal friends upset about immigrations and customs enforcement here
in the Twin Cities. You do not want to miss it.
That'll be after my conversation with gubernatorial candidate Lisa Damuth
at eight o'clock this morning.
Speaker 10 (23:56):
Morning, John Ala trucker here shut down due to high
winds in north in Wyoming. Hey, the double standards here
are absolutely amazing. Guns scare people. We can't have them
anywhere around, We can't have them visible. We don't like
the cops. However, out on the East coast in Providence,
we're blanketing the city with cops because it's the only
(24:16):
way to make them feel more comfortable. Make it make sense.
This sort of thing makes my brain fold in half
and slide down my neck.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Makes my brain fold in half and slide down my
neck and think they're running for talk back of the
back at the day. It's quite the visual.
Speaker 9 (24:35):
Hey, good morning, say I get a kickout of Walls
issuing more executive orders while he's claiming Trump is the
threat to the Constitution. Every chance he gets, he goes
after the Second Amendment, and I am just waiting for
the day like COVID where he declares a state wide
emergency due to public health and issues, more gun executive
(24:59):
or because of public safety. The man is a fraud?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
What the other aspect to this? And then I want
to get to the Star Tribune trying to do their
own CYA move is that it is so blatantly obvious
with Walls making the announcement of his fraud prevention program
last week, these new executive orders on a statewide safety
council on gun control, again, they're both completely unnecessary, but
(25:30):
they also highlight his own failures. If he was good
at his job, if he held people accountable, if he
didn't apparently in my view, turn a blind eye to
the rampant fraud taking place here in Minnesota, if he
actually carried through on his own promises, he wouldn't have
(25:51):
to do any of this. But he's a coward. He
said he was an to call a special session on
gun control and then he didn't do it. Why because
he was too afraid that he was gonna end up
looking dumb. But that's the problem. It would not have ended,
in my opinion, if he had called the special session,
(26:12):
they had moved through on these gun control ordinances that
they were talking about. They allowed the House in the
Senate to take these votes, and the vote fails in
the Senate because a couple of holdout dfllers don't go along.
It's on those holdout dfellers. Waltz can still take the
leadership stance and do the right thing. If he genuinely
(26:33):
cared about the issue, it would fail and he would go. Unfortunately,
some of my Democrat colleagues didn't agree with me. I
wish that they did. I don't agree with them. It's unfortunate,
but I did what I was going to do. But
he's too much of a coward to go and do
that because he doesn't really care about the issue. He
(26:55):
just cares about scoring political points, and right now he
cares about shoring up support because right now he's losing it.
Don't forget it was just a matter of a week ago,
two weeks ago that we had a handful of different
articles coming out from publications like the Star Tribune, like
the Minnesota Reformer, showing like the Minneapolis Times showing that
(27:18):
Governor Tim Walls was losing support behind closed doors from Democrats.
And suddenly now he comes forward with all these different
executive orders and new councils and fraud prevention programs, and
I have a new fraud zar. He's an integrity Zar.
And you know it's super important, guys, because I put
integrity in his title. How the Minnesota Star Tribune analyzed
(27:47):
fraud totals in Minnesota. The Trump administration said fraud totals
are in the billions, but the evidence doesn't meet the claim.
Here's how we did our analysis. Speaking of Cya Moves,
this is the Star Tribute late last week after being
lambasted by multiple news outlets over their ridiculous assertion that
(28:08):
it was like one hundred and fifty two million dollars
and it even changed in the article. So I'll give
you just a portion of this. There's no doubt that
the schemes involved huge amounts of public money, but was
it billions with a B? To answer that question, we
conducted our own accounting based on court records, criminal charges
(28:33):
and convictions across dozens of cases that have dominated headlines
in the state. For recent years. Our tally was two
hundred and seventeen point seven million to date, which is
really funny because I thought the initial number that they
gave last week was like one hundred and fifty two million.
That number is likely to grow as the fraud investigations continue,
(28:53):
but it is currently far short of Trump's claim and
the figures commonly cited by prosecutor and widely reported by
some local national media outlets. You know, could you imagine?
I mean, I can I'm surprised it hasn't happened, but
can you imagine? We were just talking about the fiscal
(29:18):
disaster that we're facing. The American Experiment article going through
the twenty three to twenty four legislative sessions, the eighteen
billion dollars Minnesota is spending way above above its means.
You know what those are? Those are projections. Those haven't
occurred yet, Like we're not down the road, but we're
projecting out we have X amount of billions now, but
(29:40):
that is going to be a deficit by this year
coming up, based on our calculations. And everybody sits back
and goes, yeah, that is very distressing. That is an
accurate assessment of what the future fiscal outlook of Minnesota
is that's all that anybody is doing with the fraud.
It's exactly the same thing. So this would be what
(30:02):
the Star Tribune is attempting to do here. This would
be like them going, well, you know what, right now,
I know that we have as a matter of fact,
let me see if I can't to here we go.
I got the note. I'll just I'll pull from the
actual data. You know, Minnesota has coming up nine billion
(30:22):
dollars in a surplus on the way, so we're in
the good based off our calculations, and then just completely
ignoring the fact that the data says there's going to
be a deficit in the following years based off of
the spending. Now, the Star Tribune was trying to go
and cover for Governor Tim Walls, because Steve Grove, who
runs the failing Minnesota Star Tribune, is Governor Tim Walls's buddy,
(30:46):
and I'm sure Walls is looking for all the help
that he can get right now. In the article, they
go on to say, what we counted and didn't first,
we set some ground rules and I'm gonna stop here.
I'm not gonna waste time again. They're applying their own
logic to all of this, with our own set of
standards and ground rules as to how they reach that number,
as opposed to doing what everybody else did, including myself,
(31:09):
and that is just looking at the data that's in
front of us and projecting accurately forward how much in
terms of fraud that we are going to see at
least a billion dollars, if not a heck of a
lot more in the future.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Hey John, when we refer to the Star Tribune, can
we call it what it really is? It's printed in
Iowa in Des Moines, can we refer to it as
the Iowa printed Minnesota Star Tribune?
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Hey John?
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Begged to differ a little bit. I think Tim John
Watts is very good at his job. Probably is his job,
isn't what he's elected to do.
Speaker 11 (31:46):
With the job is what he was hired to do
by his Marxists and Communist buddies, and that is to
launder money for his Marxist and Communist causes, so divisions,
so chaos.
Speaker 8 (31:58):
He's very very good.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I don't want to split hairs on this. I understand
what you're saying, and I know it's tongue in cheek,
but This is not the job that people hired him for,
even Democrats. There might be some that want that, but
the majority of Democrats are not electing and having elected
Walls to do what you mentioned here, apart from a few,
so I understand the sarcasm, but good morning, John.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I just think it's funny Tim Walls issues an executive
order for more gun control on the heels of a
mass shooting in Australia, who has the strictest gun control
laws out there, or amongst the top of the strictest
gun control laws.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Let me stop here. You know why he does that,
don't you. He just subconsciously or consciously. The reason he
does that is because he knows the majority of the commentary,
at least the commentary that he watches, and the majority
of Democrats watch, aren't going to be pointing to that fact.
They're simply going to be pointing to the guns, which
is what the Democrats have already been doing. Representative Illhan
omar Angie Craig. They have already been out there talking
(33:01):
about how it's the guns, it's the guns, it's the guns.
They're not focusing on the stringent gun laws that ended
up putting those individuals in danger on the first day
of Hanukkah. So that's why he does that. He's trying
to capitalize on it because he knows that the media
that they follow is not going to stress what you
just did in your talkback. But I do appreciate it.
(33:24):
Channel five the Minnesota Department of Human Services repeatedly reported
incorrect information about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the
federal government. Or another way to look at it is
they lied. The state's Department of Children, at Youth and
Families DCYF moving forward in the piece, took over the
(33:46):
administration of SNAP in twenty twenty four, then continued to
rely on that flawed data to answer questions about one
of the state's largest public assistance programs. Think they did
it intentionally, One may never know. The revelations raised questions,
(34:08):
according to Channel five, about the validity of key data
points the state is sending to the federal government on
a safety net program that serves more than four hundred
and forty thousand Minnesotans and distributes nearly seventy million dollars
each month. I'm really glad that there is reporting being
done by all the different local media outlets on this
is finally getting covered. They need to make sure they
(34:29):
stay on top of it. I just want to encourage
all of them. Will we get into next year and
paid family medical leave kicks in. I hope that they
are as comprehensive in their investigations. That is going to
be a disaster. The State Activity Report from fiscal year
twenty one showed snap issuance in Minnesota jumped to a
whopping one hundred and seventy three point nine to six
(34:51):
from twenty twenty to twenty twenty one. Between twenty and
twenty twenty one, when it jumped a whop being basically
one hundred and seventy four percent, did anybody within DHS
bat and eye? More specifically, did anybody who whistled blue
or showed concern over this in DHS? Did they get
(35:12):
any intention from their superiors questioning why this jumped one
hundred and seventy four percent? A screenshot of the table
showing the spike was posted on social media by state
Representative Pam Altendorth in early November. We talked about it
on the show, prompted speculation about potential fraud in the program.
(35:33):
Four days after the post, the Department of Children and
Youth Families d CYF issued a statement that the state
mistakingly included pandemic EBT in its forms submitted to the
federal government, and that those funds were included on two
lines of the report in a way that double the
counted that double counted the expenditures. Julie Blaha, who enjoys
(35:54):
White Claw and serves on the miss Minnesota State Auditor,
said the SNAP issuance reporting is surprising. When you have
a brand new program and you have some very very technical,
get very precise ways of categorizing the data, that's not
a surprise to have something that's miscategorized. This is just
a word salad with no substance. However, Blah did say
(36:15):
the agency needs to correct the errors. We're going to
check it, she said, we're going to fix it because
there are people who depend on that data to make decisions.
DCYF Commissioner Ticky Brown further characterized the mistake as a
mathematical error. So during that interview, the Commissioner Brown was
asked about the prevalence of fraud and SNAP here in Minnesota,
(36:38):
and she said, oh, it's less than one percent of
the program participants are found to have committed the fraud
in the program. Don't misunderstand that number, by the way,
one percent of program participants, okay? When it has to
be more specific, the commissioner said the state had one
and forty three intentional program violations, which can lead to
(37:03):
an administrative hearing or criminal prosecution. She was unable to
identify the time period that number covered or answer other
questions about the investigations. So listen, one percent and go on.
It's one percent, well, one percent of what it's a
program that exploded in twenty twenty to twenty twenty one,
about one hundred and seventy four percent. How much has
(37:24):
it grown since then? And of the one hundred and
forty three intentional program violations, how much money did they
take from the taxpayers? One percent or not? That could
actually go in total a lot. Four days after the
interview and multiple attempts to clarify from the DCYF on
the information, a spokesperson said the figure came from a
(37:47):
twenty twenty one USDA State to Activity report and admitted
that the numbers we shared in the interview are inaccurate,
like the snap issuance data in the report, department later
confirmed that SNAP issuance data and fraud numbers in the
last three USDA State Activity reports were also incorrect. DCYF
(38:08):
could not say if any other data submitted to the
USDA was incorrect because they have not reviewed every data
point in the federal reports now. A spokesperson then declined
to follow up with any interview requests to speak again
with Commissioner Brown. Instead, they were answering via emails. The
department did not offer up any other specifics and said
(38:28):
it did not have a timeline form when the federal
reports would be updated. Audits of federal spending by Minnesota
agencies found that in twenty twenty and twenty three, the
Department of Human Services did not perform required security reviews
of the computer system that determines SNAP eligibility. DHS cited
(38:51):
oh a lack of staff resources, and department constraints as
reasons the reviews were not completed. I don't believe any
of this, just turning a blind eye, and they're pleading ignorant. Again,
there's another way to tell the story. Did the Minnesota
state government specifically lie about DCYF? Are they stone walling
(39:14):
the truth? They are? In my opinion. You ride this
out long enough for any outside pressure to lift off
of this situation, So why not put out some false data?
What does it matter? Who's going to be held accountable? Nobody?
Do you think anybody is going to be held accountable
for giving out false data and just claiming ignorance like, oh,
(39:36):
we reported the numbers wrong. Sorry, guys, we'll get back
to you right away on what those numbers actually are.
With no set timeline or accountability in place for any
of this, No, it's a tactic. It's a tactic. And
even if this ends up proving that there were lies
(39:57):
being told, not just inaccurate information, that they are indeed,
as I believe, simply stonewalling, you know what will happen.
Governor Tim Wallas will just make an announcement on some
Friday afternoon that he's developed some new program relating to
Snap integrity, or he'll roll this into his fraud prevention
which is another reason why he announced this last week,
(40:19):
because now when stuff like this comes out, he's be like,
you know, see, when he's interviewed by the media, he
can go into his word salid nonsensical rants and spike
in there, you know, and it's reasons with all these
inaccuracies and incorrect information that we need to go and
make sure that we clear up on this. This is
why I put together the fraud Prevention Program and we
(40:39):
have our new Fraud Integrity Program Director, O'Malley to go
and oversee this because of issues just like this, you
see we're on top of it. Coming up, we'll get
to your talkbacks from the iHeartRadio apples are brought to
you by Lyndall Realty, and we will talk with Lisa Damuth,
who came in second in the weekends Draw a Pole
(41:00):
with Kendall Qualls coming out on top by three votes.
We'll talk with a gubernatorial candidate next here on t
Wenesday's News Talk AM eleven thirty and one oh three
five FM.
Hour two for a Tuesday Twenna City's news Talk Am
eleven thirty and one oh three five FM. Joining us
on the phone. Gubernatorial candidate and straw pole winner from
the party state to Central Committee meeting over the weekend.
Kendall Qualls, Good morning, Kendall. How we doing this morning, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm great, John, great to have it's great to be here,
grateful for having me. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I uh, I had to have a chuckle. I just
now noticed this in the Minnesota Reformer article Kendall that
I pulled for our conversation today, the headline perennial candidate
Kendall Qualls wins Minnesota GOP gubernatorials troupple. But the first
sentence in here they have a chuckle over it, said
Kendall Qualls, an army veteran. Of course, we thank you
(00:52):
for your service, former healthcare executive and anti anti racist activist.
Were you were you were aware that you are an
anti anti racist to activists. I'm not sure how that works.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Kendall qual Oh, yeah, yeah, they took a pot shot
at me at that and the parentual candidate as well.
So yes, anything they can do to to mock and
bring us down. The last thing they won, especially the
Democrat Party, is for me to be the talk to
that ticket. It'll put fear in the hearts of God
and those Democrat leaders. If I was on the top
(01:25):
of that ticket.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Qualls, you won ninety three. You won votes from ninety
three delegates. Is followed by Lisa Damoth at ninety Mike
Lindell at forty nine. According to the State Party. How
much how much weight do you put into this? We
have had circumstances where individuals had weak showings in the
draw hole that have gone on to get the nomination.
I'm just curious what your takeaway from winning this a
(01:48):
straw pole was after Saturday.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, the biggest thing is like, like your listeners who involved,
I know, I appreciate their support. We have a great
ground game with our staff, our team on a campaign.
But anything what this is is the voters, the listeners,
the delegates, they're they're they're echoing a strong voice, just
like we have with our president. We want an outsider
(02:12):
from out, someone from outside to Saint Paul the sixth
Saint Paul, if you notice that the you know, actually
beating the sitting speaker of the House is a pretty
big deal. And so I have no title behind my name.
I'm not a former you know, representative or anything like that.
Pure outsider started my my my career in the business world.
(02:35):
After after I served in the Army, leading sales and
marketing teams from from major companies, from small companies turning around,
you know, declining businesses. That's exactly the stereo we have here.
If Minnesota was a stock traded on the New York
Stock has changed, most people would have sold their stock
years ago. We have a turnaround issue and intervention issue,
(02:56):
and we need someone from outside the world of politics
to help this the helpers turn around.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, I'm actually going to be talking about something along
these lines coming up in just a moment. There's a
great piece out of American experiment talking about Minnesota's structural
budget deficit is not driven by federal uncertainty or the tariffs.
Like Governor Tim Walls has been touting. Kendall, I'm curious.
You know this was you know, the victory over in
(03:21):
this straw pole ninety three. Dell gets followed by Lisa
Damoth at ninety You know, she's got quite a bit
of name id. You've ran for office before. I'm wondering
if you're seeing anything within your messaging that may have
provided the difference that brought you to the top of
this straw pole versus the other candidates. Is there anything
you think you're zeroing in on that perhaps is being
(03:44):
lost from the other candidates as to that may have
led you to your winning this pole.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, you know this is beyond the message. But this
has to do with message, messenger, and money, the three ms,
and you've got to have all three. Yes, the message
works that we're focus on the economy. We're going to
get the crime back. They we're going to get Minneapolis back.
Well as I get the crime back, we get the
crime back where it belongs, not near the zero. We
never used to be a Detroit or a Chicago. In Minneapolis,
(04:13):
it used to be ready to number one safety city
in the country by Forest Magazine. We're going to get
it back. And our public schools never used to be
a sesspool of indoctrination. We used to have the top
tier of public schools and the nation prideful about that,
and as well as our economy. So those three issues
are the three legged killer or the three pillars that
we're going to focus on. Wrapped around all of that
(04:36):
is strong leadership. The fraud, the waste that we're seeing
right now has everything to do with poor leadership. It's
a symptom of weak, unaccountable leadership. Strong companies, strong leaders
don't allow that kind of stuff to happen. So that's
going to We'll take care of that piece. But the
other piece of this is the vision for it for
a Minnesota that people are are wanting and design in
(05:00):
their lives. So those are the things that I share
when I'm on the road is what what the future
look like. And when I share that, John and real quick,
what I tell people is despite the Democrats nearly ruining
this whole state and that they can sold everything the media,
the higher ed and all the levels of power, they
only have a one seat majority in the Senate and
(05:23):
we're tied in the House. And I believe if my
campaign with the top of the ticket, we can get
a down ballot windfall where we get the Senate, the House,
the governor's feat and we can actually have our own
trifecta and we really make the changes we need to make.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Kendall Qualls again, congratulations on your winning this drophole from
over the weekend. Where would you like people to go
just check out more about what your campaign is all about.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, absolutely so. Our website is KQ for m N
dot com has KQ f O r m man dot
com and we're on x as well as Facebook. People
follows off social media. We're really cranking there and we
want to continue to help save our state. That's the
ultimate objective, save this state and for the next generation
(06:10):
of Minnesota's Ken Kendall Quills.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope you have
a fantastic of New Year's as well. Thank you so
much for the time this morning, and I look forward to
the next time we have a chance to talk in
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Thanks Sean. Marry Christmas to you.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Can to a few of your talkbacks. Got off the
phone a moment ago or offline, I should say, with
David gartan Stein Ross, our AI expert. I had asked
him about his favorite to movie most Realistic regarding AI.
Had a talkback that rolled in brought to you off
the iHeartRadio app by Lyndall Realty.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Hey John, good morning. My opinion of what you asked
to be there about his favorite or what he thinks
the most realistic movie for AI. As much as I
would love it to be something crazy like Terminator Ready
Player one, it's most likely going to be Her with
Joaquin Phoenix, where the guy basically falls in love with
this freaking AI and starts your relationship with it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
That's kind of work. Yeah, No, I agree with you.
I also think like if my default would have been
most likely like x Macina, I can see that scenario
playing out. Early enjoyed that movie, Brett? Have you seen
Next Mancina?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
No?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Okay? Should I?
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You like sci fi?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Eat?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Enjoy it?
Speaker 6 (07:21):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
It's a good watch. It's a good watch and not
what I recommend. Gets a little racy. I'll say that much,
but I think you can handle it. Brett, just saying, Okay,
I gotta put I'm a big boy pants so I
can watch it. All right, let's go, let's go here.
Speaker 7 (07:36):
Good morning, John and Justice as itself from eaton Prairie. Say,
do you denounce your great leader of Donald Trump for
his instensive remarks about Rob ryan is death being caused
by Trump the arrangement syndrome? That sure, their leader stand
by what you said about Charlie Kirk. Anybody that talked
about Charlie Kirk negatively, you denounced him, So denounce Trump
(08:00):
on air.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Have a good day. Tell me that you weren't listening
to the opening segment of the show without telling me
you weren't listening to the opening segment of the show,
Phil get up earlier. I shared my thoughts in the
first segment. So go check out the podcast there, dude,
all right? Coming up, Minnesota, structural deficit is not driven
(08:25):
by tariffs or federal uncertainty, according to American experiment, and
they are right. When you hear Governor Tim Walls blame
the budget crisis here in Minnesota that we are facing
on Washington, chaos caused by Trump, he's lying to you
once again. I'll give you details on this a little
bit more than an hour from now. I have amazing
stats to take down liberal arguments relating to frustrations over
(08:48):
ice enforcement here in Minnesota. Also coming up, why Walls
is Waco Walls always chickens out as he signs new
executive orders guns to establish a state wide safety council.
I'll share with you the details on this ridiculous nonsense
next right here on Twinsday's news Talk AM eleven thirty
(09:09):
and one h three five FM. So why is Governor
Tim Walls Waco Walls always chickens out? I'll explain here
in just a moment. Look, it's dumb. I know that
it's dumb, but so is Taco when Trump always chickens out.
So don't hate the player, you hate the game. I
(09:37):
thought Brett was gonna chick Oh, you're waiting for me?
I was, but I didn't really. I thought it was
just a dramatic pause. I should have put more emphosis
on the salable to make sure that I grabbed your attention.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
There.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
You're fascinating to talk to. Thank you very much. I
appreciate that. All right, before we get to uh, Walls
always chickening out, let's go here center, the American Experiment
Tariff's federal policy. Regardless of your views on both, Minnesota's
budget deficit has very little, if anything, to do with
what's going on in Washington, DC, as some claim. Looking
(10:11):
at you, Walls, Minnesota's fiscal problem is not only worse
than the headline numbers show, but it has been going
on since the end of the twenty twenty three session.
The state's persistent and widening structural deficit is self inflicted
and was wholly avoidable. I'm gonna get to the details
(10:33):
what I really want to do here, and I'm going
to I'm gonna jump to the end before I lay
out the direction. Why. If Minnesota were a family, the
twenty twenty three session was the equivalent of using a
one time Christmas bonus to move into a bigger house
while expecting a new baby. The baby being Medicaid spending
(10:56):
that was already projected to grow even before a new
policy change. Is the bonus was always temporary, but the
costs of the house and the child are permanent, and
they continue to rise, just like a family that is
spending above its means. Nothing short of returning to a
more affordable lifestyle will fix the state's conundrum. Legislators who
(11:18):
are serious about budget reformed me to look at the
history twenty twenty three budget session for a session for
budget fixes. All right, so how do we get here?
It goes like this. In twenty twenty three, the session
was started with an eighteen billion dollar surplus, and.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Averaging that.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
On a long enough timeline, we lose sight of that.
It just becomes a number, it just becomes a talking point.
Eighteen billion dollars should never just be a number or
a talking point, I mean either should a billion dollars
in the fraud that could be somewhere upwards of six
to seven billion dollars. So in the twenty twenty three session,
(12:03):
the legislature spent the majority of the one time surplus
expanding government programs. Welfare programs Medicaid got a substantial portion
of the new funds. Not only did the legislature raise
the baseline welfare spending, but also accelerated future growth rates
by adjusting inflation calculations in certain Medicaid programs such as
(12:24):
disability waivers. Minnesota's budget for twenty four and twenty five
the Buyennium group from fifty five billion in February of
twenty twenty three to sixty nine point five billion by
the end of the twenty three session, and in November's
twenty three forecast it was up by another billion dollars. Welfare,
(12:47):
health and Human services that grew from under eighteen billion
dollars in February of twenty three to twenty point six
billion by the end of the session. November twenty three
forecast it exceeded twenty one billion dollars. The twenty twenty
five session addressed some of the growth by capping the
(13:11):
disability waivers. However, reform did not go far enough. Looking
only at the baseline numbers, Minnesota will spend sixty eight
point four billion in twenty twenty six and twenty seven's
by AUM. That is over nine billion, or fifteen percent,
higher than was estimated in February of twenty three. Spending
(13:33):
is also up by one point seven billion since the
July end of session estimates. Minnesota is living above its means.
That is the issue. So while we appropriately focus on
the fraud, well, actually, before I get to that, let
(13:53):
me just say this upfront. Whenever you hear Walls blame
the budget crisis on Trump's chaos in Washington as he
describes it, he's lying. These are the facts. Minnesota is
living above its means. That is the issue. And while
we focus appropriately on the fraud, and we should, it's
(14:15):
the headline grabber. It's more interesting. These numbers tend to
get eye rolls. People don't really follow. I get it,
I understand it. It's boring by comparison, But make no mistake,
there's another fraud that's been perpetuated. It may not be
criminal like autism center fraud or feeding our future daycare centers,
(14:40):
potential transportation, you name it, No, but it is still
a fraud being perpetuated. It's a waste of your taxpayer
dollars by the Democrats that are destroying the economy because
they're forcing Minnesota to live above its means. And again,
while it's not flashy and it's not gonna grab headlines
(15:00):
and a lot of times it's boring, make no mistake
when we look at the budget deficit, while fraud is
going to be a part of that, No, it's what
Democrats did in their time in office that has us
in the fiscal pending disaster that we are in. And
it's not because of Trump. It's not because of DC. No,
(15:22):
it's because of the DFL. It's because of Governor Tim Walls.
So today Walls is expected to sign two executive orders.
These executive orders will be aimed at reducing gun violence.
According to the article that I have from Channel five
in front of me. According to the announcement from the
Governor's office, the orders will establish a state wise Safety Council.
(15:49):
It will forever be known as the State Wide Safety Council.
By the way, for the sake of argument, now, the
State Wide Safety Council will produce data on the costs
of gun violence and promote education on safe storage. Now,
the article from Channel five appropriately makes this point. In
the wake of the mass shooting an Annunciation Catholic church
(16:11):
school that killed two children and injured thirty other people,
Walls was keen on calling a special session to introduce
stricter gun regulations. Those discussions faded when it became clear
Republicans who controlled the House floor wouldn't budge budge on
measures to ban assault style weapons or high capacity magazines.
So this is where Channel five gets it wrong. It
(16:32):
wasn't the Republicans here, it was Walls in his own party.
He didn't have the votes in the Senate three two
to three dflers that were not going to go along
with a ban on scary looking guns. They weren't going
to go along with the ban on high capacity magazines.
So this is where Walls always chickens out. It started
(16:54):
with the Annunciation Schools shooting press conference, wherein in a
knee jerk reaction that he couldn't get himself out of
he said he would call a special session on gun control.
Then he proceeded to go and blame Republicans for not
taking a vote on gun control, even though he was
the only one that could call a special session in
(17:16):
order to take that vote. Then he chickened out on
the special session and decided to go with town halls.
The town halls doing that thing with my fingers. You
had to basically fill out an application if you wanted
to go and attend, So he did his town halls.
Those didn't accomplish anything. So he abandoned the town halls,
and now he has his new statewide Safety Council, a
(17:39):
completely unnecessary new colouncil to form. There are plenty of
activist gun grabbing groups out there that are producing data
on the costs of gun violence, and there's no need
for an executive order for a clouncil with the education
on safe storage. So you could go the taco like Trump.
(18:02):
Trump always chickens out, Jim Tim always chickens out. I
prefer wacko because I think walls is kind of wacko.
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus chimed in on this, writing
yesterday on X I guess the governor finally read our
tweets realize he doesn't actually have the power to do
what he wanted to do. Yeah, he chicking out why
(18:23):
because the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus passed helped to pass
a twenty fifteen law that stripped the governor's emergency powers
when it comes to gun control. Now, instead of sweeping
gun bands or emergency declarations, we get a statewide safety
council and some gun control talking points dressed up as
public health. All bark, no bite, helped by the Minnesota
(18:46):
gun Owner's foresight back in twenty fifteen. All right, we'll
get you to your thoughts on this statewide safety council
that Walls is proposing. Also, I haven't had a chance
to cover this yet. We'll do it. So last week actually,
I think it was not this past weekend, but the
weekend prior to Minnesota Star Tribune had put out this
(19:07):
article trying to express how or explain how in their
mind the fraud was only like one hundred and fifty
two million, not the billion plus that's being touted by
so many individuals. They got raked over the coals over
this particular issue. Even local media outlets typically friendly to
Democrats pushback on the Star Tribune's analysis, so much so
(19:31):
that they ended up putting out a piece last week
attempting to explain how they reached those numbers. Also, Minnesota
reportedly sent inaccurate data on SNAP to the federal government.
There's another way to look at this article, or to
lead the headline. I'll share it with you coming up.
But it's not so much they reported to inaccurate data.
(19:53):
But one could also say that they lied. Hey, John,
A good.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
Way to visualize eighteen billion dollars. It was essentially the
US Bank Stadium cost a billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Eighteen of tholes could be built and.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
That would pretty much take up the entirety of downtown Have.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
A good day? Would that mean eighteen other opportunities to
make the playoffs? Wow? They say, I take shots. Come on,
it was necessary, it was necessary. I'm glad we're doing better.
(20:37):
It's just sad. It's just sad. They knew and they
let it happen. They've been officially eliminated. If you didn't know,
I do. That's why. That's why, that's why I made
that comment. Because they had that win and then I
saw they were official eliminated, and then I got sad.
When's first NASCAR raight h February. I don't know when
they had to move it because they moved the Super Bowl.
(21:00):
Did you hear that? Yeah? Because now it would have
typically when it happens, it would have fallen on Super
Bowl weekend, which just lends credence. Do it all do
the game on Saturday and then do the NASCAR Daytona
five hundred on Sunday. Okay, hey, that's better than That's
better than my split it up at halftime idea, which
(21:21):
I don't think it's awesome. Nobody got on board with that. Like,
nobody got on board with that when I suggested you
did play the first half on Saturday, then you end
with the halftime show on Saturday night, and then you
restart the game on Sunday morning. I can't imagine why
no one thought it was a good idea. I think
just think it outside the box. They certainly are. Why
(21:43):
so I get paid the big bucks? What if they
do this and fifty laps on Saturday and then the
next two hundred fifty laps on Sunday. That's happened? Well, wined, Like, yeah,
all right, let's go h here, Hey, John, I agree
with you on Walls. Walls is lying.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
He's responsible for signing the bills that come from the
other branches of government in Minnesota. He's the last stop,
the last approval. The person who approved all of those
increases was Tim Walls.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I have a great day.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
The left has been trying to destroy the nuclear family
for decades, and now they wonder why we have a
mental health crisis which includes people shooting each other. It's
all part of the plan. They've been doing it for years.
Let's address the root of the problem and not the symptom.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
If plans can be executed like that, then can we
do Can we do a plan to make things better?
Like if it's all part of the plan to ruin
everything and turn us into a socialist Marxist society, and
we should be able to put together plan that embraces
freedom and liberty over tyranny. Right, I would, I would?
(23:06):
I would think.
Speaker 8 (23:07):
Yet again, I'd like to point out the irony of
Tim jong Waltz there sitting and calling Republicans Nazis and
his federal officers a gestapo or gaspacho, as Tim would
say it to Eaven Moron.
Speaker 9 (23:23):
Yeah, and yet.
Speaker 8 (23:24):
He's doing the exact same thing the actual Nazis did
before they disarmed the Austrians. You know, it's for public safety,
it's for the kids.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
We must take your weapons and remember. Less than one
hour from now, I have amazing facts to share with
your liberal friends upset about immigrations and customs enforcement here
in the Twin Cities. You do not want to miss it.
That'll be after my conversation with gubernatorial candidate Lisa Damuth
at eight o'clock this morning.
Speaker 10 (23:56):
Morning, John Ala trucker here shut down due to high
winds in north in Wyoming. Hey, the double standards here
are absolutely amazing. Guns scare people. We can't have them
anywhere around, We can't have them visible. We don't like
the cops. However, out on the East coast in Providence,
we're blanketing the city with cops because it's the only
(24:16):
way to make them feel more comfortable. Make it make sense.
This sort of thing makes my brain fold in half
and slide down my neck.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Makes my brain fold in half and slide down my
neck and think they're running for talk back of the
back at the day. It's quite the visual.
Speaker 9 (24:35):
Hey, good morning, say I get a kickout of Walls
issuing more executive orders while he's claiming Trump is the
threat to the Constitution. Every chance he gets, he goes
after the Second Amendment, and I am just waiting for
the day like COVID where he declares a state wide
emergency due to public health and issues, more gun executive
(24:59):
or because of public safety. The man is a fraud?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
What the other aspect to this? And then I want
to get to the Star Tribune trying to do their
own CYA move is that it is so blatantly obvious
with Walls making the announcement of his fraud prevention program
last week, these new executive orders on a statewide safety
council on gun control, again, they're both completely unnecessary, but
(25:30):
they also highlight his own failures. If he was good
at his job, if he held people accountable, if he
didn't apparently in my view, turn a blind eye to
the rampant fraud taking place here in Minnesota, if he
actually carried through on his own promises, he wouldn't have
(25:51):
to do any of this. But he's a coward. He
said he was an to call a special session on
gun control and then he didn't do it. Why because
he was too afraid that he was gonna end up
looking dumb. But that's the problem. It would not have ended,
in my opinion, if he had called the special session,
(26:12):
they had moved through on these gun control ordinances that
they were talking about. They allowed the House in the
Senate to take these votes, and the vote fails in
the Senate because a couple of holdout dfllers don't go along.
It's on those holdout dfellers. Waltz can still take the
leadership stance and do the right thing. If he genuinely
(26:33):
cared about the issue, it would fail and he would go. Unfortunately,
some of my Democrat colleagues didn't agree with me. I
wish that they did. I don't agree with them. It's unfortunate,
but I did what I was going to do. But
he's too much of a coward to go and do
that because he doesn't really care about the issue. He
(26:55):
just cares about scoring political points, and right now he
cares about shoring up support because right now he's losing it.
Don't forget it was just a matter of a week ago,
two weeks ago that we had a handful of different
articles coming out from publications like the Star Tribune, like
the Minnesota Reformer, showing like the Minneapolis Times showing that
(27:18):
Governor Tim Walls was losing support behind closed doors from Democrats.
And suddenly now he comes forward with all these different
executive orders and new councils and fraud prevention programs, and
I have a new fraud zar. He's an integrity Zar.
And you know it's super important, guys, because I put
integrity in his title. How the Minnesota Star Tribune analyzed
(27:47):
fraud totals in Minnesota. The Trump administration said fraud totals
are in the billions, but the evidence doesn't meet the claim.
Here's how we did our analysis. Speaking of Cya Moves,
this is the Star Tribute late last week after being
lambasted by multiple news outlets over their ridiculous assertion that
(28:08):
it was like one hundred and fifty two million dollars
and it even changed in the article. So I'll give
you just a portion of this. There's no doubt that
the schemes involved huge amounts of public money, but was
it billions with a B? To answer that question, we
conducted our own accounting based on court records, criminal charges
(28:33):
and convictions across dozens of cases that have dominated headlines
in the state. For recent years. Our tally was two
hundred and seventeen point seven million to date, which is
really funny because I thought the initial number that they
gave last week was like one hundred and fifty two million.
That number is likely to grow as the fraud investigations continue,
(28:53):
but it is currently far short of Trump's claim and
the figures commonly cited by prosecutor and widely reported by
some local national media outlets. You know, could you imagine?
I mean, I can I'm surprised it hasn't happened, but
can you imagine? We were just talking about the fiscal
(29:18):
disaster that we're facing. The American Experiment article going through
the twenty three to twenty four legislative sessions, the eighteen
billion dollars Minnesota is spending way above above its means.
You know what those are? Those are projections. Those haven't
occurred yet, Like we're not down the road, but we're
projecting out we have X amount of billions now, but
(29:40):
that is going to be a deficit by this year
coming up, based on our calculations. And everybody sits back
and goes, yeah, that is very distressing. That is an
accurate assessment of what the future fiscal outlook of Minnesota
is that's all that anybody is doing with the fraud.
It's exactly the same thing. So this would be what
(30:02):
the Star Tribune is attempting to do here. This would
be like them going, well, you know what, right now,
I know that we have as a matter of fact,
let me see if I can't to here we go.
I got the note. I'll just I'll pull from the
actual data. You know, Minnesota has coming up nine billion
(30:22):
dollars in a surplus on the way, so we're in
the good based off our calculations, and then just completely
ignoring the fact that the data says there's going to
be a deficit in the following years based off of
the spending. Now, the Star Tribune was trying to go
and cover for Governor Tim Walls, because Steve Grove, who
runs the failing Minnesota Star Tribune, is Governor Tim Walls's buddy,
(30:46):
and I'm sure Walls is looking for all the help
that he can get right now. In the article, they
go on to say, what we counted and didn't first,
we set some ground rules and I'm gonna stop here.
I'm not gonna waste time again. They're applying their own
logic to all of this, with our own set of
standards and ground rules as to how they reach that number,
as opposed to doing what everybody else did, including myself,
(31:09):
and that is just looking at the data that's in
front of us and projecting accurately forward how much in
terms of fraud that we are going to see at
least a billion dollars, if not a heck of a
lot more in the future.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Hey John, when we refer to the Star Tribune, can
we call it what it really is? It's printed in
Iowa in Des Moines, can we refer to it as
the Iowa printed Minnesota Star Tribune?
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Hey John?
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Begged to differ a little bit. I think Tim John
Watts is very good at his job. Probably is his job,
isn't what he's elected to do.
Speaker 11 (31:46):
With the job is what he was hired to do
by his Marxists and Communist buddies, and that is to
launder money for his Marxist and Communist causes, so divisions,
so chaos.
Speaker 8 (31:58):
He's very very good.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I don't want to split hairs on this. I understand
what you're saying, and I know it's tongue in cheek,
but This is not the job that people hired him for,
even Democrats. There might be some that want that, but
the majority of Democrats are not electing and having elected
Walls to do what you mentioned here, apart from a few,
so I understand the sarcasm, but good morning, John.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I just think it's funny Tim Walls issues an executive
order for more gun control on the heels of a
mass shooting in Australia, who has the strictest gun control
laws out there, or amongst the top of the strictest
gun control laws.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Let me stop here. You know why he does that,
don't you. He just subconsciously or consciously. The reason he
does that is because he knows the majority of the commentary,
at least the commentary that he watches, and the majority
of Democrats watch, aren't going to be pointing to that fact.
They're simply going to be pointing to the guns, which
is what the Democrats have already been doing. Representative Illhan
omar Angie Craig. They have already been out there talking
(33:01):
about how it's the guns, it's the guns, it's the guns.
They're not focusing on the stringent gun laws that ended
up putting those individuals in danger on the first day
of Hanukkah. So that's why he does that. He's trying
to capitalize on it because he knows that the media
that they follow is not going to stress what you
just did in your talkback. But I do appreciate it.
(33:24):
Channel five the Minnesota Department of Human Services repeatedly reported
incorrect information about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the
federal government. Or another way to look at it is
they lied. The state's Department of Children, at Youth and
Families DCYF moving forward in the piece, took over the
(33:46):
administration of SNAP in twenty twenty four, then continued to
rely on that flawed data to answer questions about one
of the state's largest public assistance programs. Think they did
it intentionally, One may never know. The revelations raised questions,
(34:08):
according to Channel five, about the validity of key data
points the state is sending to the federal government on
a safety net program that serves more than four hundred
and forty thousand Minnesotans and distributes nearly seventy million dollars
each month. I'm really glad that there is reporting being
done by all the different local media outlets on this
is finally getting covered. They need to make sure they
(34:29):
stay on top of it. I just want to encourage
all of them. Will we get into next year and
paid family medical leave kicks in. I hope that they
are as comprehensive in their investigations. That is going to
be a disaster. The State Activity Report from fiscal year
twenty one showed snap issuance in Minnesota jumped to a
whopping one hundred and seventy three point nine to six
(34:51):
from twenty twenty to twenty twenty one. Between twenty and
twenty twenty one, when it jumped a whop being basically
one hundred and seventy four percent, did anybody within DHS
bat and eye? More specifically, did anybody who whistled blue
or showed concern over this in DHS? Did they get
(35:12):
any intention from their superiors questioning why this jumped one
hundred and seventy four percent? A screenshot of the table
showing the spike was posted on social media by state
Representative Pam Altendorth in early November. We talked about it
on the show, prompted speculation about potential fraud in the program.
(35:33):
Four days after the post, the Department of Children and
Youth Families d CYF issued a statement that the state
mistakingly included pandemic EBT in its forms submitted to the
federal government, and that those funds were included on two
lines of the report in a way that double the
counted that double counted the expenditures. Julie Blaha, who enjoys
(35:54):
White Claw and serves on the miss Minnesota State Auditor,
said the SNAP issuance reporting is surprising. When you have
a brand new program and you have some very very technical,
get very precise ways of categorizing the data, that's not
a surprise to have something that's miscategorized. This is just
a word salad with no substance. However, Blah did say
(36:15):
the agency needs to correct the errors. We're going to
check it, she said, we're going to fix it because
there are people who depend on that data to make decisions.
DCYF Commissioner Ticky Brown further characterized the mistake as a
mathematical error. So during that interview, the Commissioner Brown was
asked about the prevalence of fraud and SNAP here in Minnesota,
(36:38):
and she said, oh, it's less than one percent of
the program participants are found to have committed the fraud
in the program. Don't misunderstand that number, by the way,
one percent of program participants, okay? When it has to
be more specific, the commissioner said the state had one
and forty three intentional program violations, which can lead to
(37:03):
an administrative hearing or criminal prosecution. She was unable to
identify the time period that number covered or answer other
questions about the investigations. So listen, one percent and go on.
It's one percent, well, one percent of what it's a
program that exploded in twenty twenty to twenty twenty one,
about one hundred and seventy four percent. How much has
(37:24):
it grown since then? And of the one hundred and
forty three intentional program violations, how much money did they
take from the taxpayers? One percent or not? That could
actually go in total a lot. Four days after the
interview and multiple attempts to clarify from the DCYF on
the information, a spokesperson said the figure came from a
(37:47):
twenty twenty one USDA State to Activity report and admitted
that the numbers we shared in the interview are inaccurate,
like the snap issuance data in the report, department later
confirmed that SNAP issuance data and fraud numbers in the
last three USDA State Activity reports were also incorrect. DCYF
(38:08):
could not say if any other data submitted to the
USDA was incorrect because they have not reviewed every data
point in the federal reports now. A spokesperson then declined
to follow up with any interview requests to speak again
with Commissioner Brown. Instead, they were answering via emails. The
department did not offer up any other specifics and said
(38:28):
it did not have a timeline form when the federal
reports would be updated. Audits of federal spending by Minnesota
agencies found that in twenty twenty and twenty three, the
Department of Human Services did not perform required security reviews
of the computer system that determines SNAP eligibility. DHS cited
(38:51):
oh a lack of staff resources, and department constraints as
reasons the reviews were not completed. I don't believe any
of this, just turning a blind eye, and they're pleading ignorant. Again,
there's another way to tell the story. Did the Minnesota
state government specifically lie about DCYF? Are they stone walling
(39:14):
the truth? They are? In my opinion. You ride this
out long enough for any outside pressure to lift off
of this situation, So why not put out some false data?
What does it matter? Who's going to be held accountable? Nobody?
Do you think anybody is going to be held accountable
for giving out false data and just claiming ignorance like, oh,
(39:36):
we reported the numbers wrong. Sorry, guys, we'll get back
to you right away on what those numbers actually are.
With no set timeline or accountability in place for any
of this, No, it's a tactic. It's a tactic. And
even if this ends up proving that there were lies
(39:57):
being told, not just inaccurate information, that they are indeed,
as I believe, simply stonewalling, you know what will happen.
Governor Tim Wallas will just make an announcement on some
Friday afternoon that he's developed some new program relating to
Snap integrity, or he'll roll this into his fraud prevention
which is another reason why he announced this last week,
(40:19):
because now when stuff like this comes out, he's be like,
you know, see, when he's interviewed by the media, he
can go into his word salid nonsensical rants and spike
in there, you know, and it's reasons with all these
inaccuracies and incorrect information that we need to go and
make sure that we clear up on this. This is
why I put together the fraud Prevention Program and we
(40:39):
have our new Fraud Integrity Program Director, O'Malley to go
and oversee this because of issues just like this, you
see we're on top of it. Coming up, we'll get
to your talkbacks from the iHeartRadio apples are brought to
you by Lyndall Realty, and we will talk with Lisa Damuth,
who came in second in the weekends Draw a Pole
(41:00):
with Kendall Qualls coming out on top by three votes.
We'll talk with a gubernatorial candidate next here on t
Wenesday's News Talk AM eleven thirty and one oh three
five FM.
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