Minnesota Governor Tim Walz Under Scrutiny for Campaign Donations from State Vendors
By Jeremy Portnoy for RealClearInvestigations
Topline: A recent report from OpenTheBooks has revealed that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepted a total of $890,000 in campaign donations from employees of 434 state vendors between 2019 and 2022. These vendors, in turn, received nearly $15 billion in payments from the state during the same period.
Key Facts: The donations were all directed towards Governor Walz’s reelection campaign before he became the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Notably, CEOs, presidents, and other executives of 86 state vendors were among the donors.
One such example is the law firm Blackwell Burke, whose employees contributed $4,750 to Walz’s campaign while receiving almost $200,000 from the state. Co-founder Jerry Blackwell, a prosecutor in the Derek Chauvin trial, was involved in this donation scheme.
Ted Mondale, from Atomic Data, donated $2,250 to Walz, with his company receiving $169,310 from the state. Kinsale Communications, which received $160,583 in state spending, also had its president and family members donate $3,000 to the campaign.
Other major companies like Target, General Mills, 3M, Wells Fargo, and U.S. Bank were also listed as donors to Walz’s campaign while benefiting from state business.
Background: The lack of transparency in the Minnesota checkbook makes it difficult to determine potential conflicts of interest. Even after a freedom of information request, the state failed to provide detailed transaction information, unlike neighboring states.
As of December 31, 2023, Governor Walz had over $627,000 in campaign funds. While he cannot transfer this money to a presidential campaign, he could potentially refund the contributions and redirect them to the Harris-Walz ticket.
Summary: While it’s possible that many vendors would have received state business regardless of campaign donations, any preferential treatment raises concerns about accountability and transparency. Taxpayers deserve to know if there are any conflicts of interest in these transactions.
The information in this article is syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.
