So Long, and Thanks for All the Learing Centers

It's said that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but what's there to say about a governor who, after two terms, could only make a positive contribution to his state by suffering a retroactive total existence failure?

According to outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, his eight years were filled with "signature accomplishments" on the "things that matter most: children and families, economic opportunity, health and safety, and strong local communities."

Oh, Tim.

Let's set the record straight, shall we?

Walz loves to brag about how much he increased spending on this or that program — with results that are questionable at best — his real signature accomplishment was taking the old public perception of "Minnesota Nice" and turning it into "Land of 10,000 Frauds."

And that's the low end.

So here's a quick look at the Big Three: "Other" Medicaid, Feeding Our Future, and For the Children™.

The Medicaid and social services fraud that somehow just slipped Walz's notice is the biggie, totaling over ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and believed to be some of the worst fraud in American history. The money was supposed to go to services for the autistic, housing, at-home health services, and the like. Mostly, it was pilfered.

Feeding Our Future claimed to have served millions of meals to needy children, but prosecutors say most meals were never provided. Funds went to luxury cars, real estate (including overseas), travel, etc. It was, as some put it, "industrial-scale" fraud involving hundreds of millions of dollars — made possible by COVID slush funds and weak oversight.

Walz was supposed to provide the oversight.

Then there's the massive "Learing Center" fraud, exposed late last year by independent journalist Nick Shirley, with imaginary kids attending fake daycare, and mostly Somalis making off with the money. Again, all made possible by a combination of big spending on "nice" things, conveniently with little or no oversight.

But Walz's most telling accomplishment was just how much he expanded the state government. "Adjusted for inflation," American Experiment reported earlier this year, "Minnesota’s level of state government spending per person increased by 18.5% between 2019 and 2025. This was a greater increase than in 42 other states," including 12 (like Texas) that actually decreased per capita spending.

"In 2025, Minnesota’s state government spent $6,098 per person, an amount higher than in 45 other states."

None of that is free, of course. A matching AE report noted that a "single filing Minnesotan will hand over 4.9% of their 2025 wages to the state government, a higher share than in 43 out of 50 other states." Indeed, "Minnesota is one of just 16 states where the share of the average earner’s wages swallowed up by the state government in income tax has increased over the last decade."

Tim Walz loves his people so much he makes them pay extra for the privilege.

The love is far from mutual. From 2019 through about 2024, the state lost about 48,000 people (net) to out-migration. International migration — i.e., Walz's Somali Learing Center friends — drove much of the state's in-migration.

Then there's the really serious stuff, like Walz turning Minnesota into a virtual police state during the stupid COVID lockdowns, before letting rioters go wild when that became politically convenient in the summer of 2020.

There are other, more personal details about Walz, and even his wife, Gwen. She once admitted that she kept windows at the governor’s residence open to "smell the burning tires" of the St. George Floyd riots. She called the scent "such a touchstone of what was happening."

But instead of being mean or speculative or just petty, I'll conclude by sharing with you once more the greatest tweet of the 2024 presidential election cycle.

This guy is a handful of confetti away from Rip Taylor.
— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) March 19, 2025

Goodbye, Gov. Walz — you won't be missed.