Dr. Scott Jensen

K. Vandervort

ELY – One of several Republicans vying for the Minnesota Governor’s seat spoke to Ely voters this week during a fundraising event hosted by the Minnesota Conservative PAC.
Dr. Scott Jensen, considered the GOP frontrunner looking to defeat Gov. Tim Walz this fall, was joined by Kim Crockett, Republican candidate for Minnesota Secretary of State, and Chad Walsh, who is running for St. Louis County Sheriff.
The candidates spoke before a packed house at the Ely Senior Center on Monday night. Nearly 100 people took part in an enthusiastic fundraising pep rally.
“Joe Biden never told me this, but I’m quite certain that one of his heroes is Forrest Gump,” Jensen said. “Forrest Gump said, ‘Stupid is as stupid does,’ and President Biden really took that to heart,” Jensen said to giggles and applause from the partisan crowd.
Jensen, from Laketown Township, was born and raised in Sleepy Eye, graduated valedictorian of his 1973 high school class, obtained an undergraduate degree in physiology, magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota, and then attended Luther Theological Seminary. He received a medical degree from the U of M in 1981.
A former state senator, Jensen dominated a gubernatorial straw poll held at Republican precinct caucuses earlier this year and joins at least eight other GOP candidates to compete in the Aug. 9 primary to win a spot on the November general election ballot.
“I will take my cue when it comes to leadership, whether you like it or not, from a man who did an incredible amount, and his name started with Donald and ended with Trump,” Jensen said. “You know what, the guy was a leader. He may have done a better job with his Twitter account, but when it came to Supreme Court justices he’s got three rock solids. When it came to policy, when it came to reducing regulations, when it came to the economy, when it came to the income tax in 2017, he drove the dial up. He told America that you are going to engage whether you want to or not.”
Jensen went on to praise the twice-impeached chief executive in his handling of NATO and NAFTA.
“We are going to speak truth to power, regardless of how much pain or trouble I get into, and let me tell you, I find ways to get into trouble. Just ask my mother-in-law,” he added.
Jensen spoke to several issues, including racism.
“We are going to rebel against stupidity,” he said. “Stupidity is Critical Race Theory. Stupidity is saying whatever your children do is because of the color of their skin. Whatever you accomplish is because of the color of your skin. There is a far greater demand for racism than there is supply. We are not racist. Certainly, we can be better. Don’t call us a racist country. We are doing everything we can to be a land that provides opportunity but we are not going to provide equal outcome. That’s up to you.”
Jensen said that as governor he will speak for all Minnesotans, including the unborn and those “fragile folks at the end of their lives who were forced to die alone because of bizarre and foolish COVID policies.”
He said that because he refused to indicate death by COVID-19 for his patient who died of stage four colon cancer, he went “from being the most celebrated family doctor in Minnesota in 2016 to being the most investigated physician in the state. That was not an honor I aspired to, but I will wear it as a badge of courage, because I did nothing wrong.”
Public safety is also on the list of Jensen’s priorities.
“Without question, there is a poison of lawlessness that is spreading across the land, and it isn’t just in Minneapolis,” he said. “There is a disrespect for police. Police aren’t the bad guys. We have to put more cops on the street, but we have to do more than that. We have to go after the liberal judges and liberal prosecuting attorneys. We know that catch and release might have some value for walleyes, but it doesn’t do very well for felons.”
In terms of education, Jensen said kids should be funded rather than broken institutions.
“Let’s not make the mistake of bundling teachers with teachers’ unions, because that’s not fair to the teachers. Teachers don’t go into teaching because they want to make a six-figure salary. They go into teaching because they want to touch kids’ lives,” he said.
In his prepared speech, Jensen did not address the sulfide mining issue that continues to divide the Ely community, nor did he reveal what he would do with a nearly $10 billion state surplus. Near the end of his speech, Jensen laid out a plan for what issues he would tackle in the first 100 days in the Governor’s office:
• Rewrite emergency powers legislation;
• Pass three gun laws, including “stand your ground,” “constitutional carry at the age of 18,” and “castle doctrine;”
• Student choice for education;
• Photo ID requirement to vote.
“When I was asked to come to Ely on a Monday night, I said I would be there,” Jensen said. “We have got to energize one another. We have got to electrify Minnesota. We have mama bears and warrior dads and grandparents and activists across Minnesota who say they have had enough. That’s why I’m here.”
Other candidates stump for votes
Kim Crockett spoke to the Ely crowd about election integrity.
“We can’t achieve change unless we win elections,” she said. “It used to be in America that liberals and conservatives could have a conversation and exchange information and ideas without condemning the other person,” she said.
She is looking to unseat Steve Simon, the current Minnesota Secretary of State.
“We are in our 16th year of a very partisan operation in the office of the Secretary of State,” she said. “This is an office which should be non-partisan in its approach. My goal, should I win, is that Democrats, Independents, Republicans, pot party people, whatever, will say, ‘Crockett runs a clean shop.’”
She is a consultant for a non-profit organization called American Majority, “teaching people about election integrity, here and elsewhere,” and said the last 30 years as a corporate attorney led her to run for the office of Secretary of State.
She asked Ely voters to help her.
“We all want to defeat Walz. We all want to defeat (State Attorney General Keith) Ellison. Everybody knows who they are, but how many of you didn’t know the name of the secretary of state until just recently?” she asked.
“The Democrats are really smart. They focus on elections. We focus on the ‘rah-rah’ of campaigns, and that’s why we’ve been losing over and over again,” she said as she asserted that she “is not a politician but an outsider.”
Crocket implored the audience to sign up to be election judges.
“Vote in person. Let’s starve this chaotic, expensive absentee ballot system,” she said.
Chad Walsh, running to be next sheriff of St. Louis County, was born and raised in Hermantown. He joined the U.S. Army after high school. He served as a law enforcement officer in South Dakota.
He returned to northern Minnesota and started an indoor shooting range business.
“If you want to know where I stand on the Constitution, that’s a clear factor right there,” he said. He also owns a septic company.
Walsh recently served with the Moose Lake Police Department.
“I realized how much I missed (law enforcement),” he said.
“The sheriff is elected by the people and answers directly to the people,” he said. “Therefore, the sheriff doesn’t answer to a mayor. The sheriff doesn’t answer to the governor, or the president, but directly to the citizens. That’s why the sheriff is the most important person in your county. The sheriff has the power to stand up against all those other folks.”
He spoke to the recent mandated COVID-19 public health protocols put in place by the state and the federal government.
“If the government decides tomorrow that you folks can’t go to church, or that you can’t peacefully assemble, is somebody going to stand up for us, the people?” he asked. “Where was our sheriff when the governor said you folks have no right to go to church, and you have no right to peacefully assemble? We the people need to know that whoever is in that position will stand up for us and our Constitutional rights. That is very important.”
Walsh wouldn’t say whether he is Republican or Democrat in his political position.
“I’m an American citizen, my friend. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you’re on. We all live in America. We all want to feel safe,” he said.
He said he was asked if he would make a good sheriff.
“Well, I watched all 290 episodes of the Andy Griffith Show, and I can tell you that 90 of them were in color. I can’t make a great sheriff by myself. The people behind you make a great sheriff, and the communities that you protect.”