Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) was caught in another misrepresentation during his 2006 run for Congress, Alpha News reported Friday.
Walz, who was born and raised in Nebraska and enlisted in the Nebraska National Guard at seventeen, falsely claimed he had been named “Outstanding Young Nebraskan” by the Nebraska Chamber of Congress. After the chamber’s president sent a scathing letter to the Walz campaign a few days before the 2006 election, the campaign blamed a typographical error and claimed the award actually came from the Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce:
In early 2006, when Walz ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, his campaign website stated that he had received an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for his contributions to the business community. This claim was refuted by Barry L. Kennedy, then-president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, who confirmed in a letter that Walz had never been the recipient of any such award.
“We researched this matter and can confirm that you have not been the recipient of any award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce,” Kennedy wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Alpha News.
Kennedy then requested that Walz remove the inaccurate claim.
“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 of small business issues,” Kennedy wrote in a letter dated Nov. 1, 2006.
Walz’s website was later updated, replacing “Nebraska Chamber of Commerce” with the “Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce.” His campaign manager at the time called the flub a “typographical error,” according to a 2006 Rochester Post Bulletin report.
The letter was reposted Saturday by the Trump campaign’s Tim Murtaugh:
Some of the stuff Tim Walz has lied about is pretty nuts.
Check out this rundown: https://t.co/1SyUccSgLx
but first read this letter: pic.twitter.com/TJ3Vq5kC16
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) August 24, 2024
The Washington Free Beacon found the false claim in a cache of the 2006 Walz campaign bio at this link.
Upon his return to the U.S. in 1990, Walz served full-time in the Army National Guard. He subsequently accepted a position teaching and coaching in Nebraska where he met his wife, Gwen Whipple. In 1993, Walz was named the Outstanding Young Nebraskan by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for his service in the education, military, and small business communities
The Free Beacon also reported another exaggerated claim was taken down by the 2006 Walz campaign (excerpt):
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.
The episode fits a pattern of lies and embellishment by Walz to further his political career. Walz has been called out for lying about his retirement rank in the National Guard, falsely claiming to have served in war, allowing others to falsely claim he served in a war zone, lying about the timing of his retirement as his unit was put on notice of a deployment to Iraq, lying about his DUI arrest and lying that he children were conceived via IVF when they were actually conceived with Intrauterine insemination.
The Harris campaign has corrected to two of Walz’s lies (about his retirement rank and serving in war) and has acknowledged knowing about his lies about his 1995 DUI arrest before he was chosen by Kamala Harris to be her running mate this month.
