Grand Portage Tribal Chairman Norman Deschampe takes notes while he listens to Minnesota Governor-elect Tim Walz (DFL) before Walz spoke to about 75 people in Grand Portage. Walz’s overriding message is that Minnesotans must work together to make a good state great. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Norman Deschampe, Chairman of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, introduced Minnesota Governor-Elect Tim Walz to an appreciative crowd as he visited Grand Portage on Monday, Dec. 3.
Meeting in the log schoolhouse, Walz received a warm reception and a standing ovation before he began speaking for about 15 minutes, introducing himself, his hopes, and his dreams for the state before taking questions.
This visit to Grand Portage was his second to last stop of his “One Minnesota” listening tour in which he visited 22 sites across the state.
After sharing his vision for Minnesota, Walz, a school teacher who served six terms as a congressman from Mankato, listened to questions about a broad range of issues, including the opioid crisis, education, lack of affordable housing, mental health, health care, mining, wild rice sulfide standards, tribal rights, energy, logging, and the state budget.
On the topic of using the state funds, he said, “The budget is a fiscal and moral document.”
To this point Walz said he would form committees made up of Republicans, independents, Democrats, rich and poor, all genders and races, who would work to solve a myriad of issues including homelessness or the drug crisis.
“They will (committees) be made up of people smarter than me. We have to find ways to communicate better, bring down the silos between us.” These committees will not stay in St. Paul but send representatives into communities and work with them to solve problems, he added.
As a teacher, he noted that kids who were homeless and slept in cars and then came to school, “Didn’t care much about my geography class. Why would they?”
Homelessness, a lack of affordable housing, the drug crisis, affordable health care, good paying jobs, these are topics brought up throughout the state. “They aren’t unique to this area.”
Walz, who will become Minnesota’s 41st governor on January 7, received more votes than any other previous governor and he won in a landslide.
But, he said, “This isn’t a winner-take-all race. One million people didn’t vote for me, and I’m their governor, too. There’s strength in differences of opinion. We are in transition as a nation. We are very divided but I see this as an incredible opportunity in how we reset government to become more accountable, efficient and effective for the public.”
Too often, said Walz, the party in power undoes the work of the other party and, when the other side wins, the power shifts again, repeating the process.
“We have to get out of the mindset that if one side wins, the other side loses,” he added.
On the opioid crisis, Walz said in 2007 he came before the legislature with a plan outlining not only the treatment, but also included a plan for how that patient would be weaned from the powerful drugs. “I said if we don’t do this, in a few years we would be awash in an opioid crisis.”
Now in 2018, more than 115 people in the U.S. die each day after overdosing on opioids.
And those people hooked on these drugs, if caught, tend to be locked up and not receive help for mental heath issues. “We have to stop criminalizing mental health,” he said.
“Did you know that Minnesota is the only state in the country with a divided House and Senate? I see this as a great opportunity. We as a state are in a great position to show the country what true compromise and true government looks like.
“We can solve our problems in education, health care, mental health, affordable housing etc., if we can respect one another and reach across the aisle and work together.”
When asked about first people’s rights and the treaties between the U.S. and tribes, Walz mentioned that he started his career in education as a teacher near the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota adding, “if our indigenous children are doing well, the entire community is doing well.”
Lt. Governor- Elect Peggy Flanagan, said Walz, is a member of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe. She is now the highest elected Native American in Minnesota, said Walz. He also noted that just because she was native, she didn’t speak for all Indians.
Several members of the audience asked Walz what his thoughts were about cooper sulfide mining and the impacts of mining on the environment. He stated he has been learning all he can about the process to mine copper and nickel, and said the mining companies have a long litany of permitting, rules and regulations to go through before they can mine.
He promised to be a “fair arbiter” in the mining debate while protecting the environment and still growing the economy.
On the issue of energy, Walz said the U.S. imports one billion dollars a day of oil from countries that hate us. “We can solve that energy issue at home and not import any oil and those countries will still hate us,” he said to laughter.
Walz promised to be a servant leader, a listener and communicator. He promised to make continuous visits throughout the state to learn what the issues are. He asked people to speak up and become involved during the transition and make recommendations for state department commissioners during the transition period as new state government is installed.
“If you don’t like what I am doing, don’t vote for me,” he said, adding that America was one of the few places on earth where people could meet and openly express ideas and opinions in a free society.
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