Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz delivered his first State of the State address Wednesday evening.
In an uncommon approach, Walz didn’t actually write out a speech, so the traditional remarks “as prepared” didn’t exist.
Below is a rough transcript provided by Walz’s office, which hired a stenographer to memorialize the speech. Disclaimer: This is rough; expect typos.
FULL TEXT OF WALZ’S SPEECH
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Speaker and Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Mr. President and members of the Minnesota Senate, Madam Chief Justice and distinguished members of the Minnesota Supreme Court, my fellow constitutional officers, my Cabinet, staff, Governor Dayton. To our sovereign leadership of our indigenous nations, vice president (Chk) Grace Goldfield, Prairie Island Indian Community President Shelley Luck, and band of Chippewa chairwoman Kathy Shavers. Lieutenant Governor Flanagan of the White Earth Nation, escorts in the Minnesota National Guard, some of whom are with the field artillery the 1 and the 125. Steel (inaudible) rang. And to the first lady, Gwen. My daughter, Hope, my son, Gus, who is absent as a 12-year-old with pinkeye, and my fellow Minnesotans, who serve as the foundation of this great state and the reason we’re here tonight. Tonight gathering together for the first time all of us together gives us an opportunity to reaffirm why we are here. I know for certain that we’re not here to have petty arguments against one another. I’m absolutely certain we’re not here to send out mean tweets towards one another. And I know, and I think this is especially true of our new members, we’re not here to be actors in a story that is already written for us, one that tells us how we’re supposed to act and this is the way it’s always been done and we’re supposed to butt heads on this and men May 20th will come around and we will become friends. I am not naive, my friends. I served in the house of representatives. I believe there’s one other person in this room who is at the pleasure of both serving bone until United States congress and being here in the attorney general. I will tell you, don’t write that story. Write this story right here. That’s why you came here. That is why you worked so hard to come and bring your talents and bring your experience and more importantly, to bring the stories of your constituents. That’s what this is really about. Those stories that inform who we are. The policy proposals that we put forward, those are not something that comes from us as our personal ideology. They are things that come from our con still went in the stories they tell us about their lives. Whether they tell us about health care and what they need or what can be done or they talk about education and if working and what’s not. Or they talk about what makes Minnesota such a special place. Tonight I’m going to tell you a few of those stories. You’ll recognize some of them because the name might be different but it will be the same story you’re hearing. Some of them you won’t know. Some come from friends. Some come from people who told me the story since I have become governor and so many of you sometimes just step back when you hear the story and think, that need to be retold and something needs to be done. And tonight I’ve got a lot of stories mainly because I spent many, many years teaching and I taught thousands of students, two of whom are with us tonight. Will and Ross are here with me tonight. They’re twins if you can’t tell. I never could tell you apart. It was the dirty shoes, the dirty shoes were the giveaway.
Will and Ross were students of mine in Mankato West, and like tens of thousands across Minnesota, they came to our schools eager. They took advantage of every opportunity and every club we had and they wanted to find out what life could give them. They went out and furthered their education and they decided they would pursue the two things that they were really, really excited about: Athletics and sport and eat. And they came together and got three of their other friends and since they’re very literal people, they created a little company called five friends, so it made sense. And they decided that nutrition and granola bars were too expensive and they weren’t made with a lot of natural ingredients, so the five friends who had everything from marketing degrees to sports science degrees, came together, crafted, started cooking granola bars and they will admit, the first ones were terrible. You guys have told me that. And stuck with it and finally got a store to carry them. Then they got the second store. Then they got the 100th store. Then they got the 600th store. That’s the dream that Minnesotans want, an opportunity to get the background and create the life that you want. When I ask them, what drove them, what made the difference and they didn’t blink. They said it was the teachers who had each of us believing that we could do anything we wanted to. That experience they had in that classroom. And with those teachers and after school in those clubs inspired them to be the best they can. That’s what we ask, that’s what we want of every single one of our schools and our teachers. But unfortunately, it’s not true across the state. All too often that success or that opportunity might be dictated by a ZIP code or it might be dictated by race. We’ve got a teacher here with me tonight, Amanda Fjeld is here from Floodwood. Amanda is one of those people that we need in the classroom. Amanda grew up and went to Floodwood schools. Some of you are familiar in here. I know some folks in here know Floodwood in St. Louis county that they know where it’s at. Floodwood is a town of about 525. Amanda and I, who had the smaller class than each other before this. I had 24 in mine, 12 of whom were cousins, but I would not change that experience for anything. The ability and the teachers that I had influenced me in a profound way. They influenced Amanda enough she went up and got her teaching degree and went back to Floodwood to teach. But here’s the problem. As flood’s demographics changed a little bit, the property tax basis is big enough and as Minnesota started to shift for funding in the state formula property taxes, it left communities like Floodwood, they’ll go to a doubt next Tuesday. If their referendum fails, they will consolidate classes, close programs and lay of off a quarter of their teachers. They have no option. Those are where we were putting people in into those positions. What that does, it stops the opportunity that Will and Ross were given. It makes a difference based on geography for the out comes we’re going to get. It weakens our economic strength across the state and we have the capacity to do something about it. That’s the reason when we talk about education funding, it’s not a game. It’s not numbers. Local school boards have informed us about the decisions they need. I’m asking and when we put a budget together, yes, it’s a fiscal document but it’s a moral document and what these schools have said is they need to get 3 and 2 percent on their funding formula. That’s — we can debate that and we will. Healthy. But keep in mind, behind every one of the debates we have here are real people. Being impacted by them. Real people.
I want to be clear. We need to be smart on how we do this. We need to be creative on how we do it and we need to stop seeing as a lieutenant governor so often says and my next guest who’s with me, Dr. Nathan Chomilo is with us in the audience tonight. Dr. Chomilo is a pediatrician and an internist and he has the same saying that lieutenant governor always says to me: Children do not come in pieces. He has spent his lifetime providing care as a peds preventive care for those students, for those patients. But he didn’t see them just his parity. He also has a program where he gets a book to every single one of his patients because what he understands is that whole child, if they get to a good start where they have their opportunities to get their checkups, but they’re there in a place with someone and a professional that ties everything together. If that child is healthy physically and mentally, if that child is ready for kindergarten. If that child has a home, a safe home to put their head on the pillow at night, the chances of success in that classroom and going on and accomplishing what students do across this state increase greatly. Dr. Chomilo knows most of the children he sees in his practice are dependent on the health care access fund. So I come to you not with — it’s not my idea. I would like to claim credit for what Minnesota did. Nearly three decades ago we said it makes sense to get our children care before they get sick. It makes sense as to put them into that place. And it is not by chance that because of what they did and that was Republican and DFL and reform party governor and everyone in this room, some of you sitting here remember this, they crafted a system that not only provided and insured more people than any other state. Our health care comes rocketed to the top. What that does is provides the opportunity for that child for a good start, it saves us money, and it makes the sense that we know we can start moving in a direction where every single person, not just every child, has those same opportunities.
So when I come to you and ask you, it’s not to pick a fight. It’s not because I believe that I’ve cornered the market on the health care access fund. I believe it is the best solution that is out there and it gives us a foundation to work from there.
And the reason — and let me be clear, the respect I have, and I want to be absolutely clear about this, I know that every single person in this chamber wants every child to get that care. They want the outcome that Dr. Chomilo is getting to happen for every child. The difference might be in the approach that we go about it. What I am asking you, though, is, let us have this open debate about a 27-year-old program that is foundational to the health care of this state. It has survived countless administrations, countless members who have set, reset, come and gone and has still continued to deliver. And if we get to that, then we can move forward about how do we talk about retaining and making sure that we keep costs down, we make sure that care is available in all of our communities and we move forward to a better system. Because I am here to tell you, don’t wait for a minute with a partner who is unreliable. The federal government has added more certainty and we were told today that there will be no movement on health care until after the 2020 election, and the reason that that is a problem is my next guest will tell you, we don’t have until 2021. Deborah Mills is with me tonight up in the audience and Deborah I just recently met. Deborah is a dairy farmer from Lake City. I don’t think she would have ever imagined being in this space or being thrust into this debate. Her family is the quaint American and Minnesota dairy farmers. Three generations on the farm. They have about 280 head they hill being. They reach corn tore silage. Their daughter Maggie was a finalist for Princess Kay of the Milky Way. This is just what Minnesota — yeah. It’s just what people do.
And this is not about ascribing blame. This is about outcomes that matter. Because of the way the system worked and Deborah playing by the rules, she does not have access to health care so she has the stress of going without health care. Couple that with historically low milk presses. Couple that with catastrophic weather events that had Deborah to a point and those of you in here, I know many of you grew up on farms, you worked on farms, you know agriculture, you come from different walks of life. But the one thing is this is a proud family who works hard and prides themselves not just on working hard but being tough and then the day came a short time ago where Deborah knew she needed to make a really tough decision and I can tell you the decision she made took courage beyond what you can only imagine. She if I could up the phone and called a mental health counselor and said, I am at wit’s end. What do I do? And the good news is there was somebody to picked up the phone. The good news is there was a plan to put in place. And Deborah started to come back from that.
Now, again, I will leave it to this body and for us to debate where we’re going to get to, but I think we can stand in agreement that all of our citizens should have the basic safety net, the basic security that comes have having access to health care so you don’t get into a mental health crisis. We can agree on that.
I promise you I’ve got a story that will get you on your feet by the end of this. I’ve got number of them here. I’ll keep arming. I’ve got number of them.
But I do want to be clear, I do not take that in any way to the judgment and the care and the empathy that you show and everyone in here shows to Deborah’s family because we can get this right. We have to. And I have to tell you, I believe it will be in this body, the story that we are telling here, we need to tell it differently because if we go down the road and write the same story that’s been written in Washington, we will get the same results. Everybody has talked about one state with divided government. Can one state rise up? I don’t know about any of you. I’m told you did not come here to be an actor in someone else’s script. Let’s write the new script. Let’s write the new way. Let’s respect one another where it comes from. Because if you’re sitting here and you’re so cynical that it will end in the same place, look at what that does. Where do we go from that.
And that includes me of asking the questions of what am I willing to do to try to find that. And the answer is to try to use our best ability and the facts available and the empathy that is central to this decision-making you make in here too ensure that that child gets off to a good start, that those students have the opportunity to learn and that that family has the opportunity to make it on the land where they’ve been for over a hundred years. That’s what we know.
Here’s the good news: None of are in this alone together. There’s great ideas out there. I think most of us come here with a sense of humility. Not all the best ideas are going to come out of this place and they’re not going to come out down on Summit Avenue. They’re going to come out of Minnesota. That’s the stories that matter. We’ve seen this leadership out there. And I know that I completely depend on them and you as legislators have one to depend on, and that’s our local elected officials.
I’ve got Mayor Ben Schierer of Fergus Falls right up here. And Mayor Schierer, first of all, he’s the owner of a brew pub and wood fire pizza place in Fergus Falls, right on Main Street. Yes: I recommend the Thai peanut, so — the pizza, not the beer. The pays Saturday one.
Mayor Schierer understands he can’t debate these things. These are he’ll issues that effect that. The streetlights have to be kept on. They need to be plowed. You need to make decisions about the pool. You need to talk about how o we keep businesses and department together. These mayors come with a very nonpartisan approach because they have to get results. They do not have the luxury of holding on to a tight ideological position and say I’m one of many. They are the mayor of their community and the prosperity of that community depends upon them.
So having a mayor, and I know many of you know this, funny how so many of them are so actively engaged in their community before they took their job. The first thing may juror Schierer had me do before I was elected is come out to Fergus Falls on a cold November night and sat that town hall that went about two and a half hours and heard the hopes and dreams and fears and critiques of the people in Fergus Falls and sat listened to this, listen to them, listened to their stories.
And after I was done, a gentleman came up and he said, Tim, I did not vote for you and I do not agree with many and any of your positions but it is a parent to me that just like me, this is what he said, that you love Minnesota just as much and we are going to have to find a way forward. I do not want you to fail because Minnesota will fail.
Here’s what I’m telling all of you: I do not want a single one of us in this building to fail because that means Minnesota fails and that gentleman knew it.
I thank you. And this is a place and you can feel it. This is the sense of pride we come here to make a difference. So when we’re putting out proposals, and I say this about community prosperity very clearly, the community prosperity piece that I’m putting out is to talk about local government aid, to talk about some of the things we can do on broadband and working together, to put the tools back into the hands of Mayor Ben, or Mayor ^^^ of Waseca or Mayor Peterson in Winona, to allow local decisions to make a difference in people’s lives because we know that leadership and those ideas are out there but we have to be good partners. And that holds true with leaders who don’t hold elected position.
And my next guest tonight some of you may be familiar with because this is what leadership and community activity starts to look like. My next guest is Houston White. Those of you who don’t know Houston, and Houston, in this moment, I share my deepest sympathies on your loss of (Chk) Don east and you and I have not spoken much since then. But the one thing I can tell you, Houston owns a barbershop in north Minneapolis. He’s a renowned clothing designer with his own retail store there. Got a small restaurant coffee shop. I’m convinced if I bring my car there, he can repair it. And that’s — but he’s got a vision and he’s got an enthusiasm and an entrepreneur spirit that is contagious and he talks about ways that we can revitalize our communities. This is a man who went to school at North High School and he remembers walking down the street with his backpack and someone stopped him and said what’s in your backpack. He said I’ve got a business in my backpack, sir. And he did. He was out selling and working and an entrepreneur went into it. And he has a vision of making that Camden town area of where he’s at a vibrant community, where people can come to live and create their job. And that’s what we partnered together. Houston knows that’s the strength of community prosperity. The mayors of these communities know that there. They’re looking for a reliable partner in us. And I would ask us, let’s be that reliable partner. Let’s don’t model and wait on the unreliable partner we have in the federal government, but what Houston knows is, the community he’s trying to make, we must make sure that the employees coming to him and the people there are able to bring their best selves. That means that this state needs to and has to tackle issues of inequity. Whether they be geographic inequities or racial inequities, we have got to tackle the idea that people need fordable housing, that people need child care so that they can go to work. Those are things that are universal amongst us and if we partner and lay the foundation, the mayors and the entrepreneurs like Ben and Houston will take it and run.
Now, the stories we’re telling are the story of us, the story of Minnesota and the stories of communities. It’s not by mistake that the proposals and the policy proposals and the budget proposals that I put in front of you center around some pretty clear themes because that’s what came to me from people, we want to have health care. We want good education and we want our communities to prosper. And the stories behind the people. And I say this because I have been blessed. My wife and I have our first house that we ever bought in Mankato on the west side of Mankato. And like so many of you, my dearest friends that became family were my neighbors where they butt up against them. Either you become best friends or you build a fence. In my case, we were best friends.
And this is my neighbors, the Ingmans. Mary Ingman, her two sons, Ben and Jake are here tonight, the wonderful sister Katie, we’ll get her back from Washington State, are here tonight. We have shared countless Fourth of Julys, birthdays, refinishing my floors in my house when I would recruit the boys, the same things all neighbors do. That this is how communities are built. And I have the privilege of not only teaching Mary’s children, I had the privilege of coaching Ben and I remember it very clearly. It was a Friday in December, headed towards the holidays back in 1996 and I had — and was coaching middle school basketball and I was downtown at the old Mankato Armory and we were in that floor and it was after school and it was right before Christmas break and it’s a bunch of 12 and 13-year-old boys and we had a tournament coming up. It’s the excitement. It’s fun.
It’s life. It’s potential. And in walked in two state troopers with Mary. And she’d obviously been crying. And it was at that point that Ben found out and we found out that her husband, Charlie, had been hit head on on Highway 14 and killed with three young children. That same highway has killed 145 people in the last three decades. It is the most dangerous in Minnesota. So I say this with candid and bury my heart to you because each and every one of you, whether you live in Delano or Mankato, you know stories of this happening. So my passion is not to pick a fight with you about transportation. My passion is to make sure what the results say when we’ve got D rated roads that we do something together and I will gladly have the debate with you and a compromise to find out we do that but here’s what I’m telling you: In the 23 years since Charlie has died, that is still a two-lane dangerous road and the time has passed to fix that. We can do that. So we can do that: So I Noah amongst the challenges and again, I remind many of you this: Yes, I am a hopeless optimist but as I tell many of you, I’m also a realist. I supervise the lunge room for 20 years. I am not naive. I do not expect and as my wife good we know says and we believe very strongly in this, hope is the most powerful word in the universe. We named our daughter Hope. But as my wife says and I know it’s true, hope is not a plan. You have to plan not just hope that things get better. And all of us in here have to plan if we want to write a different story. The outcome will remain the same if we do not. And I say this to you because I take very, very seriously and I think all of us see this: The incredible privilege it is to solve govern as free men and women. Literally billions of people around the world can only imagine of sitting where your and making decisions and your con still went being able to come here. But let’s all be very, very clear, that privilege was paid for with the blood of patriots. It was paid for in sacrifice to get there.
Tonight we have one of them amongst you, World War II Veteran Gordy Kirk is with us tonight.
Gordy served with the third army, the fourth army division, Patton’s Vanguard. He landed at Normandy and he fought across Europe from ’43 to ’45. He did that while knowing that when he returned home, he could not sit at the same counter and eat the same food as someone next to him. What Gordy did was come back to his community and say, I’m going to be the change because what he knew was on those beaches of Normandy, that was the pushiest form of democracy. No one in there questioned where someone came from. No one questioned the color of skin. No one questioned their religion. They only knew they stood together in the face of tyranny.
So he came back, became state commander of the VFW, changed how we delivered veterans benefits across this state and continued to build in his community. He gave us the gift and modeled it for the way we need to treat each other. So I hold myself to that standard tonight and if I fall down, I expect to be called on it. Of treating our differences with respect and treating these debates with respect. But with an understanding, we can not allow ideology to get in the way of educating our children for Will, for Ross, and for Amanda teaching. We can not let ideology get in the way of stopping this state from providing basic health care to all of its citizens. We can not let ideology get in the way of holding back our mayors and our entrepreneurs of getting things done and we can not let ideology get in the way of making sure that no one else has to go through what the Ingman family did. And when I look out my back window and I see those grandkids, my heart thinks breaks for thinking that Charlie didn’t get to see that.
So here we go. What are we going to do now? There’s already people written us off. You’ve seen the stories. Are we heading for gridlock? Are we headed for shutdown? Is it all just a fake? Are they getting along? Those are the people that want to see that. They’re reporting some of them, but trust me on this, it’s easier to cover the plane that crashes than the one that lands. But I’ll tell you right now, I’ll tell you right now the story that we’ve told and the story that not just Minnesota needs but the country needs is a bipartisan and a split government that came together in the good of the people and moved things forward for Minnesota. That’s what we need.
So I say to you, Minnesota, the state of our state is strong. And we are at a crossroads. We can choose to follow the same story that was written ahead of time. We can choose to decide who belongs and who doesn’t. We can choose to let ideology drive us before people. Or we can do what Minnesota has always done: Rise up and create a better way of life. Lead the nation in how things could get done, making sure that all of our children, black, white, brown, indigenous, rural, urban, suburban, gets the opportunity to live what is truly a unique and incredible lifestyle of Minnesota.
So here’s my charge to you, and I walk hand in hand with you. Let’s write our own story. Let’s write a new story how this can happen. Let’s do this in a way that others can look at and say, that’s the way out of this. And let’s do it because as Minnesotans, we’ve always done it before. We’ve never feared the future. We create the future. Let’s go write the story.
Thank you.