December 15, 2025 • 24 mins
Patrick Knight has entered the crowded field of Republicans who want to kick Tim Walz out of the Governor's mansion. He is a retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel who attended Georgetown Law and Harvard Business schools. He has been the CEO of food processing company... and he's coached youth hockey. Can he add Governor to his resume?
Michele Tafoya is a four-time Emmy award-winning sportscaster turned political and cultural commentator.
Record-setting, four-time Sports Emmy Award winner Michele Tafoya worked her final NBC Sunday Night Football game at Super Bowl LVI on February 13, 2022, her fifth Super Bowl. She retired from sportscasting the following day. In total, she covered 327 games — the most national primetime TV games (regular + postseason) for an NFL sideline reporter.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's roughly eighty thousand Somalies in Minnesota, and less than
one hundred have been convicted of the fraud, but it
is the vast majority have been Samalies. And I go
back to and by the way, you know, in the
having worked in the food manufacturing sector for twenty years
and oftentimes in operating plants, I've worked with a lot
(00:22):
of immigrants.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
From all over the world.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And my grandmother was born in Naples, and probably all
of us to a certain extent, unless we're Native Americans
our products, we're immigrants at some point. So I am
pro immigrant in that respect. For as far as the
Somali population or any population, I think what we need to.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Do is just follow the law and enforce the law.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And I think one thing that causes me, let's say,
great frustration is it's at the federal level sometimes but
also at the state level. People just need to stay
in their lane and do their job the best they can.
The legislature needs to pass the laws, the executive needs
to faithfully execute the laws. The police need to enforce
the law, and the prosecutors need to prosecute the laws.
(01:09):
And we get into problems when let's say a governor
or a mayor, and the executive looks at the law
as almost like a menu or a buffet line, like,
all right, I'm gonna follow this law. I'm going to
disregard that one. It just messes up the whole system.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Welcome to a brand new episode of the Michelle ta
Foya Podcast. Please do me a favor, just one little favorite,
click that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.
We're in the midst of a series that we've been
dropping here for the last month or so. Of the
gubernatorial candidates running against Tim Walls in Minnesota, so these
are all Republicans. Obviously, Tim Walls is running on the
(01:52):
Democrat ticket. He has not accepted an invitation to join us,
but all of the Republican candidates had, And today is
Patrick Knight, a guy with an extraordinary background. Grew up
in Plymouth, Minnesota, which is a suburb in Hanniman County.
You know, public school guy, ended up in the Armed Services,
was a judge advocate in Okinawa, Japan, later an infantry
(02:16):
officer deployed in the Middle East, retired as a lieutenant colonel,
and then became the CEO of an agribusiness company here
in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
He's a dad of four.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
He's got one kid who, as you'll hear, actually interned
for Amy klobash Ar, the Democrat senator from Minnesota, one
of the two Democrat senators. But this guy is running
as a Republican for governor. So meet Patrick Knight again.
This is one more in our series of interviews with
the Republican gubernatorial candidates here in Minnesota. Patrick Knight our
(02:49):
guest next. Patrick, I gave people, first of all, welcome.
I gave people sort of an overview. You've got an
incredible resume, and this is such an interesting time. There
are so many people jumping into this gubernatorial race on
the Republican side here in Minnesota. Clearly people see an
(03:10):
opportunity given the struggles of the current governor and his administration.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Why do you want to be governor?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, you know that's the first question I get why
I'm running, and the second question is specifically why governor.
So let me ask you the first one why I'm
running is I love Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I'm from here, I grew up here.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I've always taken it as a point of pride to
be a Minnesotan, and I think the state's going in
the wrong direction, and I think people are hurting and
it feels like nobody's.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Doing anything about it.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
And that's before we even talked about the fraud or
the size of the government. And I was taught if
something isn't working, step up and do something about it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And that's why I'm running.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And as far as why governor, you know, it's a
people say, well, that's a big job with a lot
of leadership requirements and a lot of responsibility, and I say, well,
that's what I've been doing for the last thirty years.
That's spent twenty years in the Marine Corps, active duty
and reserves, deployed to the Middle East, retired as a
(04:17):
lieutenant colonel. Originally started as a judge advocate, but switched
to infantry and the best job I ever had was
a rifle company commander in charge of about two hundred people,
and I quickly learned the value of leadership. Thankfully, I
had some really good mentors. But if you cannot lead,
you're quickly ushered out and somebody will replace you because
(04:38):
there's a lot of good leaders as you can imagine
in the Marine Corps.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Yeah, I got to ask you, what is a judge advocate.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
It's a well, it's an attorney, so I'd gone.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Out kind of like Jagger exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
In the Marine Corps they call them judge advocates. In
the Navy they call them jags.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
There's a slight difference. In the Marine Corps. You have
to be a line officer first, so you go through
six months of infantry training before you go to Naval
Justice School.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So got it?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, what did you like so much about the best
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sale through December fifth at Best hotgrill dot com. What
did you like so much about the best job you
ever had and leading a group of two hundred.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Men, Well, I just it was to me it was
like the ultimate in leadership. Is a small enough unit
that you got to know a lot of the Marines,
but it was big enough that you had a lot
of tool in your arsenal, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
There's a lot of different moving parts.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
There'd be some line three typically three rifle platoons, a
weapons platoon, headquarters, and support platoon, all different functions.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So it really.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Required the broad range of skill sets to understand how
to not only lead and manage the organization, but then
how to use those tools, those assets, whether it's the
people or the equipment.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
It was just very fulfilling.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So right now in Minnesota, you talked about the state
going in the wrong direction. What would be your top
three priorities if you were to become governor?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, you know, I think of the it's a fairly
simple equation, and a flourishing society needs three things. A
strong economy, a good education system, and the rule of law.
And that's not me just making it up. It starts
with Aristotle, it goes through the Roman replace public, goes
(08:00):
through the founding fathers in the Federalist papers James Madison,
and comes to today. And I think of it as
a very powerful equation, which is, you need economic growth
that creates opportunity, and they need education that allows people
to capture that opportunity, and they need the rule of
law that allows people to protect and nurture that opportunity.
(08:21):
And if they're all working, you get a virtuous cycle
that reinforces everything.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
But those are the three elements. So the three things
I do, I'd start.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
To improve the economy, whether it's regulatory reform, tax reform,
permitting reform. I'd focus on improving schools and Minnesota schools
unfortunately I've been falling over the last eight years despite
us having a governor who has a lengthy experience in education.
So I would get us back to core curricula, improve
(08:52):
school choice, reduce mandates, and then on prime.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I think that's a fairly easy fix. If the city it's.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Particularly in Minneapolis and the more broader counties of Hennepin
and Ramsey. I think that's something that can be fixed
fairly quickly if the city wanted to, but where the
county wanted to.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
But if not, the state has tools to address that
as well.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So the state can say, hey, Hannepe County, which is
for people who don't live in Minnesota, it encompasses a
great deal of the metro Minneapolis and the suburbs. If
Hennebec County says no, you know, we don't want to
cooperate with you, what do you do then, as governor.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Well, the governor does have the state patrol, and if
you look at the areas on the map, and Minneapolis
are more broadly, Hannepan County. There's certain areas that are
high crime and so the state patrol can surge into
those areas. The governor also controls the Bureau of Criminal
Apprehensions the BCA, which is almost like the state's FBI,
(09:52):
the investigatory resources.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
The governor can plus that up. There's also state in
county and federal task.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Forces that can be deployed if the city in this
case isn't going to do their job, let's say, and
staff up the police.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Department and enforce the laws.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So I think those are at least three things that
the government the governor could have a pretty quick impact
on Right now.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
If you say the word, if you utter the term Minnesota,
almost anywhere in the country, people are going to say, oh, fraud,
Tim Walls and fraud. How responsible do you think Tim
Walls is for what's transpired here? And again for people
who may not know, probably well over a billion dollars
(10:39):
of taxpayer money funneled to fraudulent groups who never provided
the services they said they were providing, and much of
that money going to Kenya, China and Somalia yep.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And that's a billion with a B is to emphasize
that point, and it all stops with Governor Walls. I mean,
that's part of the role of leadership, and I'm sure
Governor Walls learned it in the first day.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Of boot camp. I know he was in the National Guard.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
That if something is going well, you give the credit
to your team if you're the leader. And if you're
the leader and something is not going well, in fact
it's gone wrong, even if it wasn't your fault, you
take responsibility.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
That's like a coach or a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, exactly, And Governor Walls seems to be doing the
exact opposite. And I think of my role as most recently,
I was CEO of a food manufacturing company a little
over one hundred employees. We're selling you know, different food,
snack foods, and so forth, competing against big multinational companies.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And you know, as a.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Role of CEO, you're supposed to be the steward of
your company's resources. And part of that is putting in
proper accounting controls and compliance mechanisms and so forth. And
if a private company CEO would misspend anything outside the norm, you.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Would be fired.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And out of that, you'd be sued for liability for
reaching the duty of care or sometimes called the fiduciary duty.
So there's real world consequences in the private sector, of course,
there is in the public sector. That's elections, and that's
why twenty twenty six is so important.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
It's a midterm election. It's already tough for Republicans in Minnesota.
We all know that for a variety of reasons. But
at the moment it looks like there might be an opening.
We've had single party rule here in Minnesota. Right now,
our state Assembly is split at the house level, so
(12:36):
it's closer than it's been in a while. But why
do you think a Republican has a shot at winning
the governor's mansion in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, I think the path to victory is fairly clear
for a Republican and I think it's focus on the
core issues that unfortunately for the state of Minnesota, we
are going the wrong direction, and that's affordable the economy, crime,
and education, which is focused like the laser on those
because Minnesota families, regardless of how they vote, or what
(13:07):
they look like or where they live, those are the
issues that matter, and that's where they're suffering.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
The number two is we have to win the middle.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Governor Polenti, who's a last statewide Republican to win state office.
He often says, and I agree with him that if
you look at the percentages in Minnesota, Governor Walls has
about forty six percent approval, Republican Republicans generically forty two percent,
so it leads twelve percent undecided, and typically about two
(13:38):
thirds break against the incumbent. So that then puts us
at fifty to fifty. And so the Republican candidate for
state wide office, whether it's for governor or any other
statewide seat, needs to get more of those independents, more
than two thirds if he or she wants to win.
But then the third piece is it's not enough just
(14:00):
to win. We need a candidate that can credibly, not
only incredibly win, but can make the very hard leadership
decisions to peel away at least eight years of bad
policy and get education going on the right direction, the
economy and so forth.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
When we talk about we were talking about fraud in
Minnesota a moment ago, and Tim Walls and the Somali
community has come under great scrutiny and disproportionately the number
of people involved in feeding our future, in the autism
scandal and the housing scandal have been part of the
Somali community.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
So it's not.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Necessarily unfair to say that this community, again disproportionately by
a mile, committed this fraud. They've become a powerful voting block,
which is why many people think Tim Walls and Company
turned the other way and said, fine, we're going to
let you do this because we need your votes. You know,
we need your votes in Heneman County and wherever else.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
What do you think about how do you address that community?
I mean, Jacob Fry.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Decides to speak to them in their own language. A
lot of people would like to see all immigrants to
this country assimilate and join in being part of what
is the great American experiment. So how do you approach that.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Well, I mean, that's partly a federal issue, but from
the state level, there's roughly eighty thousand Somalies in Minnesota.
In less than one hundred have been convicted of the fraud,
but it is the vast majority have been Samales. I
go back to and by the way, you know, in
the having worked in the food manufacturing sector for twenty years,
(15:51):
and oftentimes in operating plants.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I've worked with a.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Lot of immigrants from all over the world, and my
grandmother was born in Naples, and probably all of us,
to a certain extent, unless we're Native Americans, are products.
We're immigrants at some point. So I am pro immigrant
in that respect. But as far as the Somali population
or any population, I think what we need to do is.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Just follow the law and enforce the law.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And I think one thing that causes me, let's say,
great frustration is it's at the federal level.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Sometimes but also at the state level.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
People just need to stay in their lane and do
their job the best they can. The legislature needs to
pass the laws, the executive needs to faithfully execute the laws.
The police need to enforce the law, and the prosecutors
need to prosecute the laws. And we get into problems
when let's say a governor or a mayor and the
executive looks at the law as almost like a menu
(16:49):
or a buffet line, like all right, I'm gonna follow
this law. I'm going to disregard that one. It just
messes up the whole system.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Judges as well, I think we can throw judges in there,
we've got a true one, a pen and Marry Moriarity
who has decided to let some even a murderer walk,
you know, because of her ideology. So this is again,
you're right, it'd be nice if people stayed in their lanes.
It's gotten to the point where, you know, this is
(17:17):
why I think there's so much public mistrust for the
judicial system, for politicians, for the government is people not
staying in their lanes and people not being held accountable
in that sector. Whereas, as you mentioned earlier, if you're
a CEO, if you're a you know, part of any
company and you do something illegal, you're not going to
(17:38):
last in that company and you might wind up in jail.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So I don't know why this is so difficult.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And the election is the public sector way to address
these things for at least people in public office, but
it does not work as efficiently when there's not let's say,
aggressive news coverage. And that's one thing where I think
Minnesota is benefiting is now there is national news coverage
on the problems because a lot of Minnesotans, this has
(18:08):
been brewing for a few years. A lot of us
who have been following it, but to the majority of Minnesotans,
it is because it has not been in the local press.
It wasn't really until the national news picked it up
that that people are reading about it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Right. It took a New York Times article for really,
for this to gain quote unquote credibility with the mainstream press.
And I'm hearing you know that even still some of
the network nightly news shows are not focusing on this,
and so it is interesting. But people are getting their
news a lot of different ways. I'm curious as to
(18:43):
how you look at that. Because social media has become
a major cog in the political wheel of getting to
reach voters, talking to voters, communicating your whole campaign. How
aggressive are you going to be social media wise?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Well, it's uh, I've got four kids, two in college,
and to do it.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
For you, what's that they can do it for you?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, I know. Well, and I'm with their thumbs. Yes,
it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And we try to, you know, particularly the younger ones
that they've been growing up, is try to restrict their
phone use, but that's where they get their information.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It sure is.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
And I was at an event last night and I
was talking to one of my colleagues who's late twenties,
and he doesn't watch any of the nightly news. He
couldn't tell you what channel Fox News is on or CNN.
He gets it all to Twitter or all the different platforms.
That is now the landscape for the majority of the country.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I think it is, it is, and it's it's it's interesting,
and uh, you know, we've just got to We've got to.
Anyone who's running for office has to kind of figure
out a way to maximize that for themselves, because that
sure is the way as you usually when people get
into a race, and particularly this one, Like I said,
(20:02):
I've been interviewing all the Republican gubernatorial candidates because Tim
Wallas won't come on.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
But the list keeps growing.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Like I think, I've okay, we're done, we can start
rolling out this series.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And then somebody else gets in.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
And usually people get in because they see the pool
of candidates and they think not good enough, there's no
one in there that can do the job.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I think I can do it better.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
So when you look at the pool of candidates, why
do you think you're uniquely positioned?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, you know, incidentally, last night there was a candidate forum,
and nine of us were on the stage, and you
just very good people, well intentioned, many different qualifications and
sets of backgrounds, and so I think the more of
the area, it's going to provide better options for the
delegates and the voters to compare a contrast about who
would be the better candidate. You know, I think all
(20:59):
the candidate see the same issues they have to because
it's so glaring issues facing our state. If you look
at all of our websites, we basically say the same thing.
So I think the differentiator is, all right, who can
lead in get this done and make the hard decisions
because as I mentioned earlier, it's not enough just to win,
is to actually be able to drive results. And that's
(21:22):
where I fall back on, not just my Marine Corps experience,
but my experience running a food manufacturing company and as
a CEO, and you know, basically the last three years
my job has been in one form or another, to
drive results and make hard decisions and lead teams and
build teams, create jobs, manage budgets and so forth.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And I think the only went in the race that's
got that experience.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
You also have four kids, and how do they feel
about Dad?
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Running for governor.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, you know, we talked about it for good six months,
and you know, my family's very diverse politically. My oldest daughter,
who is a senior in college, actually worked for Amy
Klobachar on Capitol Hill last summer. So you'd imagine we've
got very good conversations we have.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
You know, we have very similar values.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I would say we rank the values somewhat differently, but
we want the same results and we try.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
To live by civil dialogue.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And so I think it's a I think the kids,
they're behind me and energized, and my wife's behind me.
That's the most important thing. And it's been a fruitful
experience so far.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
All Right, before I let you go, i'd love to
hear your elevator pitch on why Patrick Knight should be
the next governor of Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Well, because we need to turn it around, and we
need results, and we need to deliver for Minnesotan's, regardless
of where they live, or what they look like, or
even how they vote. Our once great state, the state
that produced the nineteen eighty miracle on ice hockey team.
We're eleven of the twenty players were Minnesotan's and the
(23:10):
head coach was a Minnesotan and beat the best hockey
team in the world. We can roll up our sleeves,
grit our teeth, get back to work and start delivering
results for the people of Minnesota. And by the way,
I have to say this, nightgov dot com kN i
ghtgov dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
That's my website.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
If you want to go check them out nightgov dot com.
You've seen it also on the screen there as we've
been talking to Patrick Knight. We appreciate your service. I
always like to thank veterans for their service. I think
it's one of the most unbelievable gifts a human can
give to a.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Society, to a country.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
And I end every podcast by saying, be brave and
do good. I think it takes a whole hell of
a lot of guts to run for office. And it
seems to me that everyone that I've interviewed really wants.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
To do some good here.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
So we appreciate that. Patrick, Thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
We'll see you down the road, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
You can keep up with the Trump administration when you
subscribe to the Trump Report. It's an email that brings
you daily highlights from the Oval Office, right to your
inbox five days a week. Subscribe today at salempodcastnetwork dot
com slash Trump
There's roughly eighty thousand Somalies in Minnesota, and less than
one hundred have been convicted of the fraud, but it
is the vast majority have been Samalies. And I go
back to and by the way, you know, in the
having worked in the food manufacturing sector for twenty years
and oftentimes in operating plants, I've worked with a lot
(00:22):
of immigrants.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
From all over the world.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And my grandmother was born in Naples, and probably all
of us to a certain extent, unless we're Native Americans
our products, we're immigrants at some point. So I am
pro immigrant in that respect. For as far as the
Somali population or any population, I think what we need to.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Do is just follow the law and enforce the law.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And I think one thing that causes me, let's say,
great frustration is it's at the federal level sometimes but
also at the state level. People just need to stay
in their lane and do their job the best they can.
The legislature needs to pass the laws, the executive needs
to faithfully execute the laws. The police need to enforce
the law, and the prosecutors need to prosecute the laws.
(01:09):
And we get into problems when let's say a governor
or a mayor, and the executive looks at the law
as almost like a menu or a buffet line, like,
all right, I'm gonna follow this law. I'm going to
disregard that one. It just messes up the whole system.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Welcome to a brand new episode of the Michelle ta
Foya Podcast. Please do me a favor, just one little favorite,
click that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.
We're in the midst of a series that we've been
dropping here for the last month or so. Of the
gubernatorial candidates running against Tim Walls in Minnesota, so these
are all Republicans. Obviously, Tim Walls is running on the
(01:52):
Democrat ticket. He has not accepted an invitation to join us,
but all of the Republican candidates had, And today is
Patrick Knight, a guy with an extraordinary background. Grew up
in Plymouth, Minnesota, which is a suburb in Hanniman County.
You know, public school guy, ended up in the Armed Services,
was a judge advocate in Okinawa, Japan, later an infantry
(02:16):
officer deployed in the Middle East, retired as a lieutenant colonel,
and then became the CEO of an agribusiness company here
in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
He's a dad of four.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
He's got one kid who, as you'll hear, actually interned
for Amy klobash Ar, the Democrat senator from Minnesota, one
of the two Democrat senators. But this guy is running
as a Republican for governor. So meet Patrick Knight again.
This is one more in our series of interviews with
the Republican gubernatorial candidates here in Minnesota. Patrick Knight our
(02:49):
guest next. Patrick, I gave people, first of all, welcome.
I gave people sort of an overview. You've got an
incredible resume, and this is such an interesting time. There
are so many people jumping into this gubernatorial race on
the Republican side here in Minnesota. Clearly people see an
(03:10):
opportunity given the struggles of the current governor and his administration.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Why do you want to be governor?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, you know that's the first question I get why
I'm running, and the second question is specifically why governor.
So let me ask you the first one why I'm
running is I love Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I'm from here, I grew up here.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I've always taken it as a point of pride to
be a Minnesotan, and I think the state's going in
the wrong direction, and I think people are hurting and
it feels like nobody's.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Doing anything about it.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
And that's before we even talked about the fraud or
the size of the government. And I was taught if
something isn't working, step up and do something about it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And that's why I'm running.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And as far as why governor, you know, it's a
people say, well, that's a big job with a lot
of leadership requirements and a lot of responsibility, and I say, well,
that's what I've been doing for the last thirty years.
That's spent twenty years in the Marine Corps, active duty
and reserves, deployed to the Middle East, retired as a
(04:17):
lieutenant colonel. Originally started as a judge advocate, but switched
to infantry and the best job I ever had was
a rifle company commander in charge of about two hundred people,
and I quickly learned the value of leadership. Thankfully, I
had some really good mentors. But if you cannot lead,
you're quickly ushered out and somebody will replace you because
(04:38):
there's a lot of good leaders as you can imagine
in the Marine Corps.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Yeah, I got to ask you, what is a judge advocate.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
It's a well, it's an attorney, so I'd gone.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Out kind of like Jagger exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
In the Marine Corps they call them judge advocates. In
the Navy they call them jags.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
There's a slight difference. In the Marine Corps. You have
to be a line officer first, so you go through
six months of infantry training before you go to Naval
Justice School.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So got it?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, what did you like so much about the best
job you ever had and leading a group of two
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(06:33):
sale through December fifth at Best hotgrill dot com. What
did you like so much about the best job you
ever had and leading a group of two hundred.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Men, Well, I just it was to me it was
like the ultimate in leadership. Is a small enough unit
that you got to know a lot of the Marines,
but it was big enough that you had a lot
of tool in your arsenal, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
There's a lot of different moving parts.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
There'd be some line three typically three rifle platoons, a
weapons platoon, headquarters, and support platoon, all different functions.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
So it really.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Required the broad range of skill sets to understand how
to not only lead and manage the organization, but then
how to use those tools, those assets, whether it's the
people or the equipment.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
It was just very fulfilling.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So right now in Minnesota, you talked about the state
going in the wrong direction. What would be your top
three priorities if you were to become governor?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Well, you know, I think of the it's a fairly
simple equation, and a flourishing society needs three things. A
strong economy, a good education system, and the rule of law.
And that's not me just making it up. It starts
with Aristotle, it goes through the Roman replace public, goes
(08:00):
through the founding fathers in the Federalist papers James Madison,
and comes to today. And I think of it as
a very powerful equation, which is, you need economic growth
that creates opportunity, and they need education that allows people
to capture that opportunity, and they need the rule of
law that allows people to protect and nurture that opportunity.
(08:21):
And if they're all working, you get a virtuous cycle
that reinforces everything.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
But those are the three elements. So the three things
I do, I'd start.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
To improve the economy, whether it's regulatory reform, tax reform,
permitting reform. I'd focus on improving schools and Minnesota schools
unfortunately I've been falling over the last eight years despite
us having a governor who has a lengthy experience in education.
So I would get us back to core curricula, improve
(08:52):
school choice, reduce mandates, and then on prime.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I think that's a fairly easy fix. If the city it's.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Particularly in Minneapolis and the more broader counties of Hennepin
and Ramsey. I think that's something that can be fixed
fairly quickly if the city wanted to, but where the
county wanted to.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
But if not, the state has tools to address that
as well.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
So the state can say, hey, Hannepe County, which is
for people who don't live in Minnesota, it encompasses a
great deal of the metro Minneapolis and the suburbs. If
Hennebec County says no, you know, we don't want to
cooperate with you, what do you do then, as governor.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Well, the governor does have the state patrol, and if
you look at the areas on the map, and Minneapolis
are more broadly, Hannepan County. There's certain areas that are
high crime and so the state patrol can surge into
those areas. The governor also controls the Bureau of Criminal
Apprehensions the BCA, which is almost like the state's FBI,
(09:52):
the investigatory resources.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
The governor can plus that up. There's also state in
county and federal task.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Forces that can be deployed if the city in this
case isn't going to do their job, let's say, and
staff up the police.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Department and enforce the laws.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So I think those are at least three things that
the government the governor could have a pretty quick impact
on Right now.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
If you say the word, if you utter the term Minnesota,
almost anywhere in the country, people are going to say, oh, fraud,
Tim Walls and fraud. How responsible do you think Tim
Walls is for what's transpired here? And again for people
who may not know, probably well over a billion dollars
(10:39):
of taxpayer money funneled to fraudulent groups who never provided
the services they said they were providing, and much of
that money going to Kenya, China and Somalia yep.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And that's a billion with a B is to emphasize
that point, and it all stops with Governor Walls. I mean,
that's part of the role of leadership, and I'm sure
Governor Walls learned it in the first day.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Of boot camp. I know he was in the National Guard.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
That if something is going well, you give the credit
to your team if you're the leader. And if you're
the leader and something is not going well, in fact
it's gone wrong, even if it wasn't your fault, you
take responsibility.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
That's like a coach or a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, exactly, And Governor Walls seems to be doing the
exact opposite. And I think of my role as most recently,
I was CEO of a food manufacturing company a little
over one hundred employees. We're selling you know, different food,
snack foods, and so forth, competing against big multinational companies.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And you know, as a.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Role of CEO, you're supposed to be the steward of
your company's resources. And part of that is putting in
proper accounting controls and compliance mechanisms and so forth. And
if a private company CEO would misspend anything outside the norm, you.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Would be fired.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And out of that, you'd be sued for liability for
reaching the duty of care or sometimes called the fiduciary duty.
So there's real world consequences in the private sector, of course,
there is in the public sector. That's elections, and that's
why twenty twenty six is so important.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
It's a midterm election. It's already tough for Republicans in Minnesota.
We all know that for a variety of reasons. But
at the moment it looks like there might be an opening.
We've had single party rule here in Minnesota. Right now,
our state Assembly is split at the house level, so
(12:36):
it's closer than it's been in a while. But why
do you think a Republican has a shot at winning
the governor's mansion in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, I think the path to victory is fairly clear
for a Republican and I think it's focus on the
core issues that unfortunately for the state of Minnesota, we
are going the wrong direction, and that's affordable the economy, crime,
and education, which is focused like the laser on those
because Minnesota families, regardless of how they vote, or what
(13:07):
they look like or where they live, those are the
issues that matter, and that's where they're suffering.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
The number two is we have to win the middle.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Governor Polenti, who's a last statewide Republican to win state office.
He often says, and I agree with him that if
you look at the percentages in Minnesota, Governor Walls has
about forty six percent approval, Republican Republicans generically forty two percent,
so it leads twelve percent undecided, and typically about two
(13:38):
thirds break against the incumbent. So that then puts us
at fifty to fifty. And so the Republican candidate for
state wide office, whether it's for governor or any other
statewide seat, needs to get more of those independents, more
than two thirds if he or she wants to win.
But then the third piece is it's not enough just
(14:00):
to win. We need a candidate that can credibly, not
only incredibly win, but can make the very hard leadership
decisions to peel away at least eight years of bad
policy and get education going on the right direction, the
economy and so forth.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
When we talk about we were talking about fraud in
Minnesota a moment ago, and Tim Walls and the Somali
community has come under great scrutiny and disproportionately the number
of people involved in feeding our future, in the autism
scandal and the housing scandal have been part of the
Somali community.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
So it's not.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Necessarily unfair to say that this community, again disproportionately by
a mile, committed this fraud. They've become a powerful voting block,
which is why many people think Tim Walls and Company
turned the other way and said, fine, we're going to
let you do this because we need your votes. You know,
we need your votes in Heneman County and wherever else.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
What do you think about how do you address that community?
I mean, Jacob Fry.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Decides to speak to them in their own language. A
lot of people would like to see all immigrants to
this country assimilate and join in being part of what
is the great American experiment. So how do you approach that.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Well, I mean, that's partly a federal issue, but from
the state level, there's roughly eighty thousand Somalies in Minnesota.
In less than one hundred have been convicted of the fraud,
but it is the vast majority have been Samales. I
go back to and by the way, you know, in
the having worked in the food manufacturing sector for twenty years,
(15:51):
and oftentimes in operating plants.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I've worked with a.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Lot of immigrants from all over the world, and my
grandmother was born in Naples, and probably all of us,
to a certain extent, unless we're Native Americans, are products.
We're immigrants at some point. So I am pro immigrant
in that respect. But as far as the Somali population
or any population, I think what we need to do is.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Just follow the law and enforce the law.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And I think one thing that causes me, let's say,
great frustration is it's at the federal level.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Sometimes but also at the state level.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
People just need to stay in their lane and do
their job the best they can. The legislature needs to
pass the laws, the executive needs to faithfully execute the laws.
The police need to enforce the law, and the prosecutors
need to prosecute the laws. And we get into problems
when let's say a governor or a mayor and the
executive looks at the law as almost like a menu
(16:49):
or a buffet line, like all right, I'm gonna follow
this law. I'm going to disregard that one. It just
messes up the whole system.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Judges as well, I think we can throw judges in there,
we've got a true one, a pen and Marry Moriarity
who has decided to let some even a murderer walk,
you know, because of her ideology. So this is again,
you're right, it'd be nice if people stayed in their lanes.
It's gotten to the point where, you know, this is
(17:17):
why I think there's so much public mistrust for the
judicial system, for politicians, for the government is people not
staying in their lanes and people not being held accountable
in that sector. Whereas, as you mentioned earlier, if you're
a CEO, if you're a you know, part of any
company and you do something illegal, you're not going to
(17:38):
last in that company and you might wind up in jail.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So I don't know why this is so difficult.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And the election is the public sector way to address
these things for at least people in public office, but
it does not work as efficiently when there's not let's say,
aggressive news coverage. And that's one thing where I think
Minnesota is benefiting is now there is national news coverage
on the problems because a lot of Minnesotans, this has
(18:08):
been brewing for a few years. A lot of us
who have been following it, but to the majority of Minnesotans,
it is because it has not been in the local press.
It wasn't really until the national news picked it up
that that people are reading about it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Right. It took a New York Times article for really,
for this to gain quote unquote credibility with the mainstream press.
And I'm hearing you know that even still some of
the network nightly news shows are not focusing on this,
and so it is interesting. But people are getting their
news a lot of different ways. I'm curious as to
(18:43):
how you look at that. Because social media has become
a major cog in the political wheel of getting to
reach voters, talking to voters, communicating your whole campaign. How
aggressive are you going to be social media wise?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Well, it's uh, I've got four kids, two in college,
and to do it.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
For you, what's that they can do it for you?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, I know. Well, and I'm with their thumbs. Yes,
it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And we try to, you know, particularly the younger ones
that they've been growing up, is try to restrict their
phone use, but that's where they get their information.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
It sure is.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
And I was at an event last night and I
was talking to one of my colleagues who's late twenties,
and he doesn't watch any of the nightly news. He
couldn't tell you what channel Fox News is on or CNN.
He gets it all to Twitter or all the different platforms.
That is now the landscape for the majority of the country.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
I think it is, it is, and it's it's it's interesting,
and uh, you know, we've just got to We've got to.
Anyone who's running for office has to kind of figure
out a way to maximize that for themselves, because that
sure is the way as you usually when people get
into a race, and particularly this one, Like I said,
(20:02):
I've been interviewing all the Republican gubernatorial candidates because Tim
Wallas won't come on.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
But the list keeps growing.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Like I think, I've okay, we're done, we can start
rolling out this series.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And then somebody else gets in.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
And usually people get in because they see the pool
of candidates and they think not good enough, there's no
one in there that can do the job.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I think I can do it better.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
So when you look at the pool of candidates, why
do you think you're uniquely positioned?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, you know, incidentally, last night there was a candidate forum,
and nine of us were on the stage, and you
just very good people, well intentioned, many different qualifications and
sets of backgrounds, and so I think the more of
the area, it's going to provide better options for the
delegates and the voters to compare a contrast about who
would be the better candidate. You know, I think all
(20:59):
the candidate see the same issues they have to because
it's so glaring issues facing our state. If you look
at all of our websites, we basically say the same thing.
So I think the differentiator is, all right, who can
lead in get this done and make the hard decisions
because as I mentioned earlier, it's not enough just to win,
is to actually be able to drive results. And that's
(21:22):
where I fall back on, not just my Marine Corps experience,
but my experience running a food manufacturing company and as
a CEO, and you know, basically the last three years
my job has been in one form or another, to
drive results and make hard decisions and lead teams and
build teams, create jobs, manage budgets and so forth.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
And I think the only went in the race that's
got that experience.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
You also have four kids, and how do they feel
about Dad?
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Running for governor.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, you know, we talked about it for good six months,
and you know, my family's very diverse politically. My oldest daughter,
who is a senior in college, actually worked for Amy
Klobachar on Capitol Hill last summer. So you'd imagine we've
got very good conversations we have.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
You know, we have very similar values.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I would say we rank the values somewhat differently, but
we want the same results and we try.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
To live by civil dialogue.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And so I think it's a I think the kids,
they're behind me and energized, and my wife's behind me.
That's the most important thing. And it's been a fruitful
experience so far.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
All Right, before I let you go, i'd love to
hear your elevator pitch on why Patrick Knight should be
the next governor of Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Well, because we need to turn it around, and we
need results, and we need to deliver for Minnesotan's, regardless
of where they live, or what they look like, or
even how they vote. Our once great state, the state
that produced the nineteen eighty miracle on ice hockey team.
We're eleven of the twenty players were Minnesotan's and the
(23:10):
head coach was a Minnesotan and beat the best hockey
team in the world. We can roll up our sleeves,
grit our teeth, get back to work and start delivering
results for the people of Minnesota. And by the way,
I have to say this, nightgov dot com kN i
ghtgov dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
That's my website.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
If you want to go check them out nightgov dot com.
You've seen it also on the screen there as we've
been talking to Patrick Knight. We appreciate your service. I
always like to thank veterans for their service. I think
it's one of the most unbelievable gifts a human can
give to a.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Society, to a country.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
And I end every podcast by saying, be brave and
do good. I think it takes a whole hell of
a lot of guts to run for office. And it
seems to me that everyone that I've interviewed really wants.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
To do some good here.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
So we appreciate that. Patrick, Thank you so much for
your time.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
We'll see you down the road, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
You can keep up with the Trump administration when you
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