There certainly looks to be a pattern of issues for Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). He was picked as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate almost three weeks ago, and his credibility issues have been making headlines nonstop since then. On Saturday, the Washington Free Beacon wrote about how Walz claimed in a press packet when launching 2006 congressional campaign that he "was awarded the Outstanding Young Nebraskan by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for his service in the education, military, and small business communities," despite how he was given no such award.
Barry Kennedy, then the president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, wrote to Walz in November 2006 looking to set the record straight. The report shares a copy of the letter, which has also been shared to X, as users made "Walz Credibility Crisis" a trending topic.
WOW.
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) August 24, 2024
The Nebraska Chamber of Commerce had to write a letter to Tim Walz’s Congressional campaign to remove an award he never received from them.
Going on to clarify that the Chamber had endorsed his opponent.
Is there anything Tim Walz hasn’t lied about? pic.twitter.com/oVuu0hYIT8
As Kennedy's November 1 letter read:
It has come to my attention that as part of your campaign for U.S. Congress, you have posted your biography on your website that claims you received an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for your service to the business community.
I have been the President of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce since 2000 and a professional staff person of the Nebraska Chamber of Congress for over 20 years. We researched this matter and can confirm that you have not been the recipient of any award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.
I am not going to draw a conclusion about your intentions by including this line in your biography. However, we respectfully request that you remove any reference to our organization as it could be considered an endorsement of your candidacy. It should be pointed out, however, that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has endorsed your opponent, Congressman Gil Gutknecht, for his support for small business issues.
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Walz ended up defeating now former Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-MN), by 52.7-47.1 percent and was reelected until he left office to run for governor for the 2018 election.
The falsehood in Walz's biography was explained as a "typographical error," as he had won an award from the Junior Chamber of Commerce.
However, this isn't the only error regarding Walz's biography that has been put out there for all to see, only to then have to be corrected thereafter.
The report mentions further forms of puffery mentioned in Walz's biography, including his time in Communist China and Ivy League universities, and also details closer to his military service:
In the same 2006 campaign biography he used to launch his congressional campaign, Walz cites a yearlong stint teaching in China. It’s another credential he has inflated over the years, telling voters that Harvard hand picked him to travel to Asia.
"Harvard University offered Walz an opportunity to gain a new perspective on global education by teaching in the People's Republic of China," the biography claims. His congressional biography, published after Walz had won his seat, said the same thing. Indeed, a 2018 version indicated that Walz taught in China "through a program at Harvard University."
The program in question is the WorldTeach program, a nonprofit founded by Harvard undergraduates, including the Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Kremer, in 1986. For a time, the program was funded by Harvard’s Phillips Brooks House Association, which the Harvard Crimson has characterized as "a student-run community service group" that disburses resources to an array of nonprofit organizations and facilitates volunteerism for Harvard students. WorldTeach, which is currently dormant, does not appear to have ever been an official program of Harvard.
Walz, who is casting himself as a homespun midwesterner and mocks Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance for attending Yale Law School, now omits any mention of Harvard from his biography.
Reached for comment, a spokesman for Harvard could not say whether WorldTeach ever had a formal affiliation with the school. Kremer, the WorldTeach founder, and representatives for WorldTeach did not respond to a request for comment.
Also gone from Walz’s biography is a reference to another award he touted when he launched his congressional bid. In 1989, he said, the year he graduated from college, he "earned the title of Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year."
That is a significant exaggeration that makes it sound like Walz was the sole recipient of an award. In reality, Walz was one of 52 reservists in 1989 who were invited to a brunch in Omaha for the "31st Annual Citizen Soldiers Awards," put on by the Aksarben Foundation, a local non-profit that, at the time, owned a race track and funded community events through horse betting.
A newspaper article on the event said the 52 reservists at the brunch were honored "for military reserve service." The newspaper announcement was followed by an item that said Barnie Calef, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was the sole winner of a duck calling contest.
Walz has been plagued from the start with such concerns, mostly had to do with stolen valor. He spent 24 years with the National Guard, but retired early in 2005 when his unit was to be deployed to Iraq and ran for Congress, which many in his unit have taken issue with. Walz has referred to himself as a "retired command sergeant major," falsely, and the Harris-Walz website did the same. It had to be changed to note he ended up "rising to the rank of," through an unnamed spokesperson.
Nevertheless, the DNC, which took place just last week in Chicago, still referred to Walz by such a title, from an AAPI Caucus meeting, to the introductory video shown at the convention.
Others have also made problematic comments, even and including figures like Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) when she noted "we appreciate his service on the battlefield." The then congressman didn't bother correcting her. He himself has even talked about carrying weapons "in war," which the Kamala HQ even laughably shared to show off his anti-Second Amendment views.
Kennedy wasn't the only one to write to Walz asking him to correct the record. Walz's replacement in the National Guard, Tom Behrends, wrote a letter to him in 2016, asking that he not use the title.
Then there's how Walz lied about the DUI from 1995, when his congressional campaign from 2006 claimed that he hadn't been drinking that night and that he failed a field sobriety test due to hearing loss. He had been drinking though.
The governor has claimed that he and his wife had their two children through IVF, though the Harris-Walz campaign was forced to acknowledge this week that this was not the case. A far less invasive process known as IUI was used.
Mia Ehrenberg, a campaign spokeswoman, defended Walz, claiming that he "talks how normal people talk" and "was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments."
Democrats have talked a pretty big game about IVF lately in order to falsely claim that former and potentially future President Donald Trump and Republicans want to ban the procedure. Trump has repeatedly made clear he supports IVF.
Walz also has ties to Imam Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, even after Zaman shared pro-Hitler propaganda from his social media.
Zaman and his organization also disparaged Israel following the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas against our ally in the Middle East, as well as Democrats who dared to express concern for the Jewish State and those killed or taken hostage by terrorists.
Nevertheless, Walz spoke at an event praising Zaman when he was running for governor in 2018.
As we've pointed out before, many people have wondered if Walz was even vetted. It certainly doesn't look like it when this pattern of scandals has followed the governor nonstop since he was first announced.
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