Newsmakers: Rep. Kristin Robbins Talks Governor’s Race, Fraud

Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove) has stepped away from her campaign for governor.

She’s also leaving her seat in the House of Representatives at the end of this legislative session. In this edition of Newsmakers, which is transcribed below, she reflects on that decision and considers her work as chair of the House Fraud Committee.

Reporter Kevin Miller: I’m here with Representative Kristin Robbins of Maple Grove. Kristin, you decided recently to step away from your run for the governor’s seat. Can you tell us what went into that decision?

Kristin Robbins: Sure. I had such a wonderful ten months that I was in the race. I loved going all over the state talking to so many amazing Minnesotans. But as the race progressed, it just became clear that I wasn’t getting the traction I needed to really run a fantastic campaign. And we need to be all in on this race, and since I wasn’t seeming to get the traction, I decided to pull out. But I’m filled with gratitude. It was the best opportunity a small-town girl from Crookston—I never thought I’d get to run for governor and it was a huge blessing.

Kevin Miller: Sure. And now you’ll be stepping away from your seat after this term. Your Senate counterpart Warren Limmer is retiring. Do you have any thoughts on what the future looks like for Republicans in Maple Grove?

Kristin Robbins: Oh, it’s great! We have two great candidates. I’m very excited. I plan to work hard for both of them, and they’ll be fantastic.

Kevin Miller: So you’re confident that you can hold on to these seats for the Republican Party?

Kristin Robbins: Absolutely. Yes.

Kevin Miller: Okay. And as we’re coming to the end of the session here, can you give us an update on the fraud committee? What’s going on there?

Kristin Robbins: Yes, we just had our last official hearing yesterday, and we brought back some of our key whistleblowers who are so courageous and I’m so grateful for all the whistleblowers, but especially those who are willing to testify publicly. And, you know, broke new ground again. I mean, there are so many failures of leadership and failures for internal controls and accountability in these agencies that that is what has led to the staggering amount of fraud we have seen. So, we got new information that I hope we can continue to follow up on once session is over. And then we also tried to subpoena Representative Ilhan Omar because she is named in court documents between emails in her office with some of the defendants in the case and text messages. And we think it’s really important to understand the role she may or may not have played in the Feeding Our Future scandal. She has not showed up to testify, she has not responded to our letters, so we subpoenaed her. Unfortunately, the subpoena vote fell along party lines. We needed six votes to subpoena her; we only had the five Republicans. The three Democrats voted against it. So, we are not able to do that. So, I hope our federal partners will pick up the ball because we still need to understand how this happened.

Kevin Miller: Sure. And do you have any bills left on the table that you’re hopeful you can still get passed this session?

Kristin Robbins: Oh, absolutely. We’re working really hard on the Office of Inspector General bill, extending the statute of limitations for charging fraud crimes. I have a bill that deals with use of prison labor in the public safety bill. I have—there’s several bills where I’m a co-author or chief author on internal control issues to clamp down on fraud. So, yeah, and bonding projects for our district. So, I hope we get those over the finish line. So, yeah, there’s a lot of work to get done.

Kevin Miller: Great. Well, thank you for your time, Representative. We’ll keep an eye on that. 

Related: Rep. Robbins Suspends Campaign for Governor

Maple Grove

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