Tina Smith’s “Me Too” Double Standard

May 15, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn – U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis released the following statement on Senator Tina Smith’s double standard regarding recent allegations of sexual misconduct claims against Joe Biden.

“Senator Tina Smith has made it very clear how she feels about allegations of sexual misconduct. ‘Believe all women’…unless the allegations are made against a Democrat, apparently.

During Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, Democrats took the allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford very seriously, even though her story lacked basic details. At the time, Senator Smith praised Ford’s ‘honesty, courage, and conviction’ and called for a ‘thorough’ FBI investigation into the allegations.

But now the tables have turned. As Tara Reade has accused Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, of sexual assault, Senator Smith refuses to even acknowledge the allegations. There has been no call for an investigation, no praise for Reade coming forward even though others have actually corroborated how she felt. Nothing but silence.

The double standard is shocking. Senator Smith either owes Justice Kavanaugh an apology, or she should stand by her ‘believe all women’ principle and call for an investigation into the allegations against Biden. You can’t have it both ways! Pick a side, Senator Smith.”

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Lewis Dubs Senator Tina Smith the “Senator From China” After Q1 Reviewing Finance Report

May 14, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn. — U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis released the following statement slamming Senator Tina Smith for taking massive campaign donations from corporations that outsource to China. Just this cycle, Smith has received over $40,000 in contributions from corporations with direct ties to China. It is no wonder Smith refuses to hold China accountable when she is beholden to companies that profit from sending American jobs overseas.

“China is responsible for this pandemic. This isn’t xenophobic – these are simply the facts. And every day China’s failures in handling the virus become more apparent, with new reports that this virus escaped from a lab.

From day one, the Chinese Communist Party intentionally deceived the world on the extent and severity of the virus. And now there is growing evidence that the virus didn’t just start in China but was unintentionally let out of a lab in Wuhan. If this is indeed the case, China is responsible for every single life lost because of the virus and every dollar spent fighting this virus.

China’s culpability is obvious to most Americans. And we must hold them accountable. One way we can punish China for their actions is by bringing our supply chains home. There is no reason we should be dependent on China for vital industries. Let’s end our reliance on China and bring those jobs back to the United States.

For example, we import 80% of rare-Earth minerals from China, while potential copper and nickel mines sit idle on the Iron Range, thanks to environmental radicals like Tina Smith.

Tina Smith supports sending our jobs overseas, plain and simple. Ultimately Tina would rather line her campaign’s pockets than ensure Minnesotans the jobs they deserve. The fact is that Tina is reliant on donations from corporations who insist on outsourcing their manufacturing to foreign countries. Just this cycle she has received over $40,000 in campaign contributions from companies with direct ties to China. No wonder she refuses to hold China accountable – she is happily taking cash from companies who outsource American jobs there.

Tina Smith is acting more like the Senator from Manchuria, not the Senator from Minnesota. That’s why I’m calling on her to return all donations she has received from companies who outsource to China. Minnesotans need someone in the United States Senate that represents Winona not Wuhan. When I’m your United States Senator, I will always put Minnesota and America first.”

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Lewis Shines Spotlight on Tina Smith’s Pandemic Stock Sell-Off as Burr Receives Increased Scrutiny

May 14, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn. — U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis released the following statement Wednesday afternoon calling out Senator Tina Smith for selling stocks amid the coronavirus pandemic. Financial disclosures show Senator Smith and her husband sold up to $1,000,000 in stock holdings as the stock market started to crash due to pandemic concerns. The issue became even more relevant Wednesday night when Senator Richard Burr came under increased scrutiny over stock sales made in late January and early February as the FBI seize his phone in insider trading investigation.

“Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Minnesotans have been told to sacrifice their own needs for the betterment of all. Unfortunately, Senator Tina Smith, like so many ‘leaders,’ hasn’t been following her own advice—attempting to personally profit amid the economic turmoil surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic.

As the stock market started to crash in reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic, Smith’s first thought was how to protect her own financial interests. According financial disclosures, she dumped between half a million dollars’ worth and one million dollars’ worth of personal stock holdings. And let’s not forget, shortly thereafter Senator Smith voted twice to block the much-needed coronavirus economic relief bill. 

This raises serious questions about what sensitive information Tina Smith may have received in her role as Senator which precipitated her decision to sell so many of her holdings. Voters deserve to know what Tina Smith knew, and when she knew it.

It is unbelievable that a sitting Senator would put her own financial well-being above those she is supposed to serve. Minnesotans put their lives on hold and hunkered down in order to save lives knowing their sacrifice would come with financial difficulties. The extended lockdown has cost them even more than they thought. But not Senator Smith—she was busy looking out for her own financial interests.

Tina Smith should be ashamed of herself in the way she’s mishandled the COVID crisis—from holding up relief for partisan purposes to how her role as Senator may have factored into this stock sale. Minnesotans deserve better from our elected officials.”

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Lewis Seeks to Help Struggling Business Owners in Crosslake

May 4, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn — On Saturday, U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis held a small business roundtable in Crosslake. Nearly two dozen business owners were in attendance, representing a wide variety of businesses in the Brainerd Lakes region. The roundtable was hosted by Mike and Ruth Schweiters at their resort, Boyd Lodge. Founded in 1934, Boyd Lodge has been in their family for three generations.

“Here in the ‘land of 10,000 lakes,’ cabin season is a part of our way of life. For over 60 years, my family has enjoyed summers in Crosslake on the Whitefish Chain. Sadly, many of the great mom-and-pop resorts here in Crosslake and around the state are on the brink of bankruptcy due to this government-mandated shutdown,” Lewis said.  

“I spoke with business owners in the Brainerd Lakes region on Saturday, and they all share the same concern. Summers in Minnesota are short, and resorts and small businesses rely on the summer tourism to keep their doors open. If we don’t get Minnesota re-opened soon, they might have to close their businesses for good. Many of these resorts have been in the family for generations—lifetimes of work could go down the drain if we don’t get Minnesota working again. We can’t let that happen,” Lewis added.

“This next two-week extension of the stay-at-home order needs to be the end of this. Resorts need to be able to re-open. Restaurants should be able to have their outdoor patios open for dining. People should be able to get out and enjoy their favorite Minnesota lake. All these things are possible to do safely and responsibly, while making certain we protect the vulnerable. Senator Tina Smith needs to stop cowering in place and stand up for Minnesotans who risk losing their life’s work. To deprive Minnesotans of the right to earn a living is not being a good leader,” Lewis concluded. 

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Lewis Meets with Doctors & Farmers on Re-Open MN Tour, Blasts Smith & Walz

Lewis Announces Plan to Help Struggling Pork Farmers,
Demands Ending Ban on “Non-Essential” Medical Procedures

April 30, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn — U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis met with dozens of medical professionals, farmers and small business owners as his “Re-Open Minnesota for Business” tour continued today with stops in Chaska and Albert Lea.

The first stop was a tour of a medical clinic in Chaska and a press conference with State Senator Dr. Scott Jensen.

“It’s unfathomable that the Governor is not taking action to lift the ban on what he considers “non-essential” medical procedures. Having recently visited numerous clinics and surgeons around the state, I can tell you firsthand that people are waiting in pain to get procedures such as biopsies and orthopedic surgeries. Why is Tina Smith M.I.A. on this issue? Minnesotans are in dire pain and suffering, and I am deeply troubled by her willingness to sit idly by while people are denied life-saving medical procedures like biopsies,” Lewis said.

The second stop was a roundtable discussion with numerous small business owners in Albert Lea at Robert Hoffman Realty.

“Farms here in Freeborn County and surrounding areas are struggling. Just last week I met with several pork farmers who told me they are having to euthanize countless hogs because all the processing plants are shuttered. Just today before this meeting, a farmer who was supposed to attend called us to say he can’t make it because he has to euthanize 1,000 animals. It’s heartbreaking. It’s not right to ask farmers to euthanize hundreds, if not thousands, of animals per day and bury them in a field because of a top-down government edict.

We need to re-open the processing plants immediately, even if only with limited staff to help farmers euthanize the animals which the plants are not able to process and get to market. We then need to invoke the agricultural provisions in the CARES Act so the USDA can expand their assistance to a wider range of agricultural producers, including pork farmers. It’s also time to examine the possibility of extending crop insurance to livestock farmers.

This can’t wait, and Senator Tina Smith has failed to deliver for Minnesota farmers, it’s that simple,” Lewis concluded. 

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Lewis Announces “Re-Open Minnesota for Business” RV Tour

April 16, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn — Today, U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis announced that over the next several weeks, he will be embarking on a “Re-Open Minnesota for Business” RV tour beginning with several stops in the Metro area tomorrow. The tour will consist of Jason Lewis meeting one-on-one with small business owners at their shuttered businesses to hear about the economic hardship that the shutdown is inflicting on their businesses and families. Select stops will be open to the media.

“Several weeks ago I was the first to call for Minnesota to gradually re-open while protecting the vulnerable and defeating the virus, which was met with praise from small business owners. I am pleased to see more and more beginning to call for the economy to re-open, but the time is past due for tone deaf politicians like Senator Tina Smith to take heed, and therefore I am embarking on a ‘Re-Open Minnesota for Business’ tour to help struggling small business owners tell their stories and be heard,” Lewis said.

“Right now there are 22 million Americans out of work, and just today Minnesota-based Best Buy announced they are furloughing 50,000 employees. Enough is enough – Minnesotans desperately need further economic relief. Just today, the Small Business Administration announced they are out of money from the first come, first serve Paycheck Protection Program. This is not a game. Senator Tina Smith twice voted to block economic relief to work in funding for her liberal pet projects like funding the Kennedy Center and the Green New Deal, and we can’t afford for her to play politics any further. Lives and livelihoods are on the line,” Lewis continued.

“I call on Senator Smith to do her job and provide a much-needed lifeline to ailing businesses by funding the Small Business Administration. Then I call on her to stand with me in demanding Minnesota re-open for business when the stay at home order ends on May 4^th. If she is not willing to do so today, perhaps she will be willing to do so after hearing from the many struggling families and small business owners I will be meeting with in the coming weeks,” Lewis concluded.

Media advisories will be made in advance of select tour stops in the coming weeks, and media members can reach Communications Director Christine Bauman ([email protected]) for questions regarding the schedule.

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Lewis Releases TV Commercial: Takes on China & Outsourcing

April 6, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn. — Today, U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis released a television commercial entitled “America First.” 
 
“China is responsible for this pandemic, and we shouldn’t be afraid to say so. When I’m your United States Senator, we are going to launch an unprecedented ‘Buy American’ initiative and break our country’s dependence on China. It is unacceptable that in a time of crisis we can’t depend on domestic supply chains for life-saving medicine and medical supplies.
 
Take Minnesota-based 3M for example. Last week, in response to revelations that their distributors were selling personal protective equipment abroad in the midst of a pandemic, 3M management said they had ‘secured approval from China to export to the U.S. 10 million N95 respirators manufactured by 3M in China.’
 
It’s ludicrous to have American companies begging communist China’s permission to send life-saving equipment back home in the midst of a pandemic. And yet, my opponent Senator Tina Smith, who coincidentally has taken $10,000 dollars from 3M, got on MSNBC this weekend to defend 3M management and defend her worldview that puts outsourcing first, and America second.”
 
The commercial can be viewed by CLICKING HERE, and a transcript can be found below:
 
“Hey Minnesota. We’ve been through a rough couple of weeks. But while you and I have been putting America First, too many politicians have been blocking economic relief, selling their stock, and outsourcing jobs to China. Heck, they won’t even admit that’s where the virus started. We need to buy American, put Minnesota first, and make certain this never ever happens again. As your next senator, I’ll do exactly that.”

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Lewis: It’s Time to Abolish the FISA Court

April 2, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn. — U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis released the following statement calling for the FISA Court to be abolished in light of the new Justice Department report showing systemic abuse of power.

“A new report released by Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirms what we have all feared for quite some time: the FISA Court’s abuse of power is systemic. In a review of 29 different cases pulled from 8 different FBI field offices, not a single one was without error. Four cases were lacking the critical ‘Woods File’ and there was on average 20 issues per case reviewed. This is frightening.

This comes on the heels of the damning December DOJ report which revealed at least 17 ‘errors’ in the Carter Page FISA applications, including omissions of exculpatory information over the use of a wholly fictional ‘Russian dossier,’ and the specter of FISA judges rubber stamping false affidavits while being misled on the operational status of Mr. Page. The FISA Court has since all but admitted the abuse of power, but it was too little too late.

The latest findings show the Page case wasn’t a one-off lapse in judgement – this is clearly a systemic problem. This should alarm all Americans.

This is why I went against party leadership and voted against the FISA reauthorization while in Congress. At the time, I pushed for much-needed reforms to FISA, but the reforms didn’t command the support of the majority of the House, despite the much-publicized civil liberties abuses such as warrantless wiretapping. As I said then, I could not in good conscience support the threats to privacy posed by a blanket extension of FISA surveillance without meaningful reforms. Now I think we are beyond the point of reforms. Simply put, it’s time to stand up for civil liberties and abolish the secret court.”

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Lewis Calls on Higher Education To Refund Fees

April 1, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn. — U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis released the following statement calling for all public and private universities to refund all fees, like room and board, that are unrelated to distance learning.

“Officials have ordered institutions of higher education to halt in-person instruction, yet students are still being charged for various fees not associated with online schooling. Some institutions, like Stanford University, have moved to eliminate housing and dining charges going forward, but not for past expenses families have already paid. Others closer to home, like University of Minnesota, are shortchanging students by only refunding a small percentage of the room and board.

Universities, public and private, are sitting on piles of cash. For instance, the University of Minnesota system has an estimated endowment of $3.2 billion. Private institutions are also flush with cash. Carleton College’s endowment has been valued at $800 million and Macalester’s around $750 million. At a time when we’re all tightening our belts, there’s no reason why these wealthy institutions should be charging for services not delivered–unless their lobbyists have a bigger hold on politicians than we’re told. All colleges and universities, both public and private, should immediately refund students for all fees, like room and board, that are not associated with distance learning.” 

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Small Business Owners Support Lewis’ Call To Reopen Minnesota for Business

March 27, 2020

WOODBURY, Minn. — U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis released the following statement as small business owners come out in support of his call to reopen Minnesota for business:

“I have been talking with small business owners across the state of Minnesota and they are all telling me the same thing: it’s time to go back to work,” Lewis said. “I grew up working in a family business and it would have been absolutely devastating to our employees if our revenue collapsed due to a top down government edict. Not all states are handling it this way. There is growing concern that the longer Minnesota stays shuttered, the harder it will be for some of these businesses to be able to bounce back. We need to pivot to the second phase of handling this virus where we start gradually re-opening the economy for folks who wish to return to work, while the most vulnerable among us continue to self isolate. We need to be responsible, use best practices, and protect the vulnerable. But we cannot destroy Minnesota and the country in the process of fighting this virus. Simply put, the cure cannot be worse than the disease.”

Statements from small business owners:

“My wife and I own and operate a small business, more specifically a dance studio. Our business serves almost 500 kids in the Maple Grove area. Since the forced closure of businesses by Governor Walz, we have effectively been shut down. Many of our families are canceling and not planning on attending our virtual classrooms, seriously hurting our business. As of now, and for as long as we can, we will be paying our almost 20 employees, however we can only continue for so long without bringing in income. We can’t keep operating like this indefinitely. Minnesotans who are willing and able should be allowed to go back to work while still going above and beyond to protect the vulnerable.” Alex Huffman, The Dance Complex in Maple Grove

“I am a second-generation concrete and masonry contractor, and this shutdown puts my family business in a very difficult situation. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get the supplies needed for my job, or whether people will even be able to afford to go forward with the projects they’ve already put down payments on. Just like every other small business owner, I have bills to pay and commitments to keep. I’m not fearful—we’ve always managed to get by in times of difficulty. But I do worry that if we prolong this, it could take years to recover. We need to get back to work. If you’re older or have underlying health conditions that makes you more vulnerable, stay home. But the young and healthy should be allowed to go back to their jobs.” Jon Dietrich, Hardline Concrete & Masonry in Inver Grove Heights

“This forced closure of restaurant and bars has been devastating for my family run business. We have had to lay off 12 employees. These are single moms and single dads. It is absolutely heart wrenching. If politicians and members of the media had to walk a day in our shoes, I think they would have a whole different outlook. Of course small business owners are concerned about this virus. But we’re also concerned about the ramifications of shuttering businesses for weeks on end. A lot of small businesses aren’t going to make it. We should be able to save lives while also saving small businesses. We need to find a way to get back to work.” Gidget Bailey, Tin Cups in St. Paul and the Old Clover Inn in Vadnais Heights

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