Townhall, a source for conservative commentary, posts an editorial from the director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance…

Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz struck down two laws in his home state in May that had long helped protect taxpayers from wasteful government broadband projects. These laws limited municipalities that desired to construct their own government-owned broadband networks (GONs) by allowing construction only in the event of a supermajority vote by residents and in areas where a private provider did not already offer service.

Walz doomed these two laws when he signed into law the May 2024 omnibus bill SF 4097. That bill will allow these taxpayer-funded GONs (unfortunately, there is no other kind of GON) to flourish in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. SF 4097 repealed any preemption laws – like the aforementioned two – aimed at preventing the proliferation of these costly projects.

These laws might have seemed like common-sense statutes to protect taxpayers and their tax dollars. Unfortunately, the wisdom behind them was lost on Governor Walz. With the repeal of legislation that helped prevent tax money from being spent on duplicative services, Minnesota taxpayers could be on the hook for millions more in wasteful spending.

I watched and reported on many of the meetings that led to the MN Senate and House passing the legislation.