US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO/WCCO) – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is planning to transform Minnesota government if she wins the race for governor in the fall. That is according to plans unveiled Sunday by Klobuchar, which also includes reducing fraud as her top priority.
“I have a number of proposals. Some of them are pending in the legislature, some are Republican idea, some are Democratic ideas,” Klobuchar said. “I take all ideas, and I will do that as governor. That includes strengthening the criminal penalties, expanding the statute of limitations for fraud so we can put these people in jail.”
Klobuchar also wants the state to track those criminals who were caught abusing state systems.
“Then, also making sure that these people can never come at the state government again after they’re out of jail,” said the senator. “And this means things like a database so they can’t apply for contracts or grants again. Or go under another name or try to go under the back door and get in some other way.”
Klobuchar emphasized that she would be a force of change in the state’s highest elected office, a counter to Republicans who claim she would simply be an extension of current Governor Tim Walz who announced in January he won’t seek a third term.
“Today I announced my plan to transform Minnesota’s government and make it more innovative, effective, and accountable,” Klobuchar announced. “Fixing the government is the foundation for everything else. And there’s more to come. Together, we can get it done.”
Klobuchar also said a top-to-bottom audit of state agencies is going to be necessary to ferret out of the fraud, waste, and abuse that has seemingly taken over the state’s social programs.
“And to make sure that people are getting their money’s worth,” she adds. If it’s working, keep it. If it’s not, fix it or end it, and that starts with making sure we’ve got modern technology. They’ve got these computer systems that have to be improved or we’re not going to be able to use modern technology to help people get whatever they apply for faster. If we don’t have the computer systems, I’m suggesting let’s overhaul that. Some of it’s 40-years old, they still have cursors and blinkers and it’s just a mess. So that has to be changed.”
Klobuchar is also taking aim at efficiencies, saying state government works too slowly.
“Streamlining building codes, deadlines for housing permits, so we can get more housing, and that lowers the cost for people,” Klobuchar tells WCCO. “Using the state’s purchasing power to lower the cost of prescription drugs for the state. And in the end, this is also, of course, about making our government accountable.”
Minnesota Republican Party chair Alex Plechash says Klobuchar is offering vague promises while avoiding hard questions facing the state.
“The obvious question is: where has she been? This plan reads like an indictment of Democrat governance in Minnesota,” Plechash wrote. “If state government is too slow, too outdated, too expensive, too vulnerable to fraud, too hostile to small businesses, too difficult to navigate, and too broken to serve taxpayers, then Amy Klobuchar should say who broke it. The answer is simple: Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Amy Klobuchar’s DFL allies, and the one-party Democrat machine that ran Minnesota into the ground.”
There are still three in the race on the GOP side, after state Rep. Kristin Robbins (Maple Grove) ended her campaign last week. The still somewhat crowded field includes former candidate Kendall Qualls, former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and the presumed front-runner current House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
Demuth did release a statement Sunday criticizing Klobuchar for not being focused on Minnesota since entering the race, and echoing thoughts from Plechash, saying she is just a repeat of Walz.
“Amy Klobuchar returns from a 20-year stint in D.C. to run for governor of Minnesota,” Demuth said. “She waits three months to hold her first campaign press conference. Minnesotans know Klobuchar’s record and see this for what it is – a Walz Third Term.”
Asked about being a continuation of the policies and administration of Walz, Klobuchar said they are very different people and politicians.
“Governor Walz and I have completely different backgrounds,” she said. “I was in the private sector for a number of years. I actually did a lot with technology and cutting edge companies and worked with them, and know this area. Secondly, I ran the biggest prosecutor’s office in our state for eight years, and I expanded the work on fraud and white collar crime. I even once went after a Democratic-appointed judge who stole money from a woman with severe disabilities, and not only got that money back, but put that guy in prison. So that’s my background, very different than Tim Walz.”
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