Tad Jude Explains What Election Integrity Requires

The fastest way to break a state is to let people believe the system is rigged, sloppy, or untouchable. That’s why we brought in Tad Jude, a Minnesota attorney and former district court judge who has seen how “process” turns into real consequences for families, neighborhoods, and trust in government. We talk about his time handling everything from criminal cases to civil disputes, what juries actually do, and why consistency matters more than political messaging when the stakes are high.

From there, we get specific about Minnesota elections and the Secretary of State’s role. Tad lays out why he supports photo ID for voting, tighter verification of eligibility, and cooperation to clean up voter rolls. We also unpack the friction points voters argue about every year: vouching, long early voting periods, and whether late campaign forums mean anything when a big share of ballots are already cast. If you care about election integrity, ballot security, and clean voter rolls, you’ll hear the practical case and the pushback it invites.

We also go places most political interviews avoid. We talk about the Minnesota state flag controversy and what it would take to put a flag vote on the ballot with clear, honest wording. Then we dig into government fraud and “fraud tourism” through nonprofits, the strain of concentrated group homes on local police and fire budgets, and the uncomfortable reality of jails and homelessness filling gaps left by closed institutions. Finally, we tackle emerging tech like deepfakes, AI regulation, and Flock cameras, weighing privacy against stopping violent crime and trafficking.

Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with someone who cares about Minnesota politics, and leave a review with the one issue you think state government must fix first.

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Transcript

Cold Open And Guest Arrival

SPEAKER_05 0:10

Because we're recorded from deep inside the bowls of a decommissioned missile silo. We bring the man, one single man, who wants to bring light to the darkness and dark to the lightness. Although it's not always right, it is always certain. So now, with security protocols in place, the protesters have been forced back behind the barricades and the blast doors are now sealed. Without further delay, let me introduce you to the host of Hotcast, Mr. Tim Hutner.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Thank you, Sergeant at Arms. You can now take your post. The views and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the individual and participants. These views and opinions expressed do not represent those of the host or the show. The opinions in this broadcast are not to replace your legal, medical, or spiritual professionals. Welcome to Hutcast. Today is 8 9 2026. I've been off the air for a little bit, had a brief run with things. But dare I say, we have some royalty in our studio today, actually in studio, not on the phone. And his name is Tad Jude. He's a Minnesotan. He's an awesome guy who is just Republican. He's a he's a he's an attorney. He's a I mean, Tad, tell him what you do real quick.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Well, I'm an attorney. I'm married to Jackie. We live in Maple Grove, Minnesota, and uh served 11 years on the district court bench in the 10th district. That's kind of central Minnesota. Most of that time was out in Stillwater. During those 11 years, we'd hear cases, jury cases, cases without jury, civil cases, criminal cases, juvenile cases, you name it. And uh anything that would walk in the door. And oftentimes during the pandemic, I was the only judge around. I mean, I would be in the courthouse, I'd be handling anything that came in the door.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

You're the guy. Hold on, let me get through the intro here, and I want everybody to stand by for Hutcast. We'll be right back.

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SPEAKER_00 2:21

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Tad Jude’s Courtroom Backstory

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Okay, welcome back to Hutcast. Wow, what an intro, wasn't it? Crazy. This guy's done everything. Okay, Tad, you were saying before we left that you've seen about every case there is. Is that where we were at?

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Well, just about every type of case. Not every specific case, but every type of case. And uh, you see people, um, there are a couple times when they're very happy at the courthouse. One would be if they ever got married or if they adopted children. Um, but there are many times when people are at loggerheads and and you've got a court case. And um it it's just incredible um when you sit there and and have to consider evidence and you compare the evidence then according to what the law says and according to what the Constitution says. And uh hopefully you come out with a a decent result, and oftentimes you had you do have the help of a jury. A jury could be either six people or twelve people, and it's supposed to be a jury of your peers. So you go through a whole process of uh choosing people who will be impartial and be able to consider evidence and come up with the facts. That's basically what a jury's job is to do, is to come up with what they what they consider to be the facts. So that that's what I did for eleven years, and and before that I I have been an attorney. I am an attorney right now. And um I'm also a small business owner. I own a little building that was my law office and uh take care of that building. And I grew up in central Minnesota, in Maple Lake, Minnesota, the oldest of eleven children.

SPEAKER_05 5:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

Go around with my uh my mom and dad would deliver grocery supplies to a lot of businesses in central Minnesota. So I I got to know a little bit about owning a business, operating a business because my mom and dad were doing that. We basically served bus uh businesses too, and and that was the job that uh that I had. Went on, I was a member of the Army Security Agency for six years. Went to St. Thomas College University now and and uh got a degree there. And went on to Lee Mitchell, got my law degree there, and ran for the legislature, was elected to the House, the Senate, and a pin county board, and then finally uh served the eleven years as a judge.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Wow. I was reading your bio and I'm like, I I don't know if I got enough time to read this. It was huge.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Well, it's um I enjoy visiting with people door to door. I I really do enjoy the jobs I've had. Uh you know, I've been blessed with many good opportunities to try to solve problems, and I think we've done a decent job of it. Um I worked on a on a couple bills that were notable. Well one of the bills had to do with criminal law and it said that you know, if you're an unborn child, you'd be protected by Minnesota criminal law, and that is a situation that people say, Well, what does that mean? It means that like if you're an expecting mom and somebody assaults you but your baby dies, then it's a homicide. Uh that's something that is charged out in Minnesota as a crime. So I I worked on that. I I worked on a number of different bills. Um worked on a bill to set up the 911 system in Minnesota. I worked on a bill coming up with these graphic license plates, different types of license plates that we have in Minnesota. And um So I I've had a hand on you know, this and that and the other thing, but uh what I'd like to do as Secretary of State is clean

Photo ID And Shorter Voting Season

SPEAKER_03 7:35

up our voting system. Nice. Make sure that when you go to vote, you have a photo ID when you go vote, that you're a legal U.S. citizen when you go vote. Absolutely. Um lot of the things that were proposed in what they call the Save America Act, of course that didn't pass in Washington, but we can do that in Minnesota. And beyond that we have some problems in our voting system we need to address. One is vouching, where you go in and and just vouch for someone and and nobody checks it out. Your ballot goes in the ballot box but nobody checks it out until maybe a week or two later. And if it doesn't check out, you can't call that ballot back. You know, the ballot's already cast. So that that's a problem. I I'd like to see our forty-six-day voting season compressed so that you can focus more on election day. I mean, we've had cases where you have candidate meetings like in Minneapolis and St. Paul when they ran for mayor last year. You had candidate meetings a week before the election day. Half the people had already voted. Right. Right. You know, so it didn't do a lot of good to have these candidate meetings, you know, where you have issues discussed and and um you really clarify focus on a race, but half the people have already voted. So I'd like to see that uh focused on an election day.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

We had a th race here in our work. It was a special race. I mean you might have heard something about it, but how how do you when do you start putting out signs? And there was so much involved with that. We didn't have any support by the SOS because it wasn't a special election.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

Usually you can put out signs. It used to be like June 1st, you June 1st, and we've got a kind of crazy election season in Minnesota right now, because we've got a primary going on. Primary is actually Tuesday, August 11th. And then we have a short time between us eleventh and November 3rd, which is our general election in Minnesota.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

And uh you know, we've got you know high fluent cases of a race for US Senate in both the Democrat and Republican parties.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

And you've got it in the Republican Party for governor. All the pieces are going to have to be put back together after Tuesday, after August eleventh. Doesn't leave a lot of time to try to get the issues discussed, take a candidate meetings, have a good back and forth, have a vigorous campaign. But that's what we have.

Campaign Signs And Free Speech Fights

SPEAKER_00 10:06

We had a situation in uh our underground bunker location city, that's what we call our state our city here, that speaking of signs, w one of the candidates used a electronic sign. Well within the period of operation, you know, the whole SOS stuff. And the city made an ordinance against using uh limiting signs for uh a campaign use. You ever hear of that?

SPEAKER_03 10:32

I haven't. No, I haven't, you know. You get all kinds of signs um for campaigns, and I I've seen, you know, like you have t-shirts, you have uh signs on a hat or a cap, yeah, uh, you have stickers, and you have all kinds of signs and all kinds of literature. Um in fact, there was a case, one one of the candidates running for governor actually was throwing out pillows. Yes. Yes, you know, so um, you know, that became a case that went before an administrative law judge, and the law judge said, Well, you know, that's uh not kosher, it's uh something of value. You can't give away some but I I haven't heard of an electronic sign. In fact, I I've seen today, I saw a little button that was an electronic button, yeah, and it would flash a candidate's name. Sure. You know, it'd get attention. And um this this sign was trailer mounted. Yeah, yeah. So um I don't think there's a restriction on that that I'm aware of, but I you know, I guess your city uh council is um uh gonna have to address that somehow. I I don't know what the uh reasoning is, but signs have been um allowed in any number of forms.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Yep, any fashion, no limitations, no restrictions.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

Yeah. Ever, ever have. The other part of that is state law says you can give away things up to five dollars. I mean, so you can throw candy out at a parade and and that type of thing. Okay. Um you can give away things up to five dollars as a as a candidate. Um, but that's what that's what Minnesota law says. Well, the pillows are free then, right? Well, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

I think that candidate gave away pillows free anyway.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

They were you know the the administrative lodge had said, well, that's not kosher, but it can be appealed, and I understand that candidate is appealing it. So I I think they should. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

That's what they're doing. Uh the sign thing they've never had in this underground bunker location. It's never happened ever in the history. The candidate who put it out there was pretty in front of the ball. And the city goes, hey, uh, we're gonna stop this. And I went, I don't think you can do that.

SPEAKER_03 12:49

And I I have to say, sign wars are real interesting in politics because you know it it kind of turns your stomach a little bit when you put up a sign, and then next day somebody has taken it down, and then you try to figure out, well, was that you know a friend or foe, or what what happened to you find and and some people play games with signs, they'll take signs and put them in somebody else's yard, and you know, that kind of thing. So it's uh a little bit of a headache. A little bit of a headache.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Well, this in fact was the candidate sign. Okay. It was put on private property, it was well within the spec rights, and they still voted an ordinance against it, and I think uh that's gonna get challenged.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

And I I can see why. Uh because I've seen electronic signs, in fact, to see billboards, electronic billboards for candidates. Yep. And that's uh something that obviously has been allowed.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

I do believe that same candidate put a uh sign behind an airplane and flew it over the old mayor's house for about a day. Okay.

unknown 13:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Same guy did that too. Yeah. So he he like I said, he was way in front of this eight ball.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

Yeah. And and, you know, I mean, people put out signs for a number of reasons. One is just to show support for a candidate, another is just to get the candidate's name out there so that people are familiar with the name. And sometimes it's to like build momentum. You know, they they want to have more and more signs all toward election day, remind people to go vote. So there are there are a lot of reasons people put out signs.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Right. But again, uh limitations of any sort are against Minnesota state law and federal law.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Yeah, and and you do have free speech. Hey, we do have free speech, thank God.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

And I do believe the city's attorney ruled in favor of the ordinance, by the way. Okay. Which kind of felt like, really?

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Yeah. I I mean you have particularly in the area of politics and the expression of views on issues or candidates, people have a lot of leeway because uh I think the courts have wanted to encourage free speech and f the freedom of uh discussion. And and that's how you get to the best resolution of elections. Right. And and that's something that you don't want to have artificially tamped down.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

For sure. I I believe it was a counter strike by the opposing team that thought that was a really good idea. We should have thought of that. We didn't. And then they started making complaints to the city, crying up and down. I called the SOS, which I hope you win by the way, the SOS, so that you can come back to these kind of people and say, Really?

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Go away. Yeah.

Cleaning Voter Rolls And Flag Backlash

SPEAKER_03 15:36

And and there are a number of issues that come before the Secretary of State. One of the big issues has been whether or not you cooperate with the Department of Justice in cleaning up the voting rolls. So in Minnesota, you need to be 18 years old to vote, you need to be a resident of Minnesota to vote, you need to be a legal U.S. citizen, and you need to be alive. And these are things that are pretty basic. And usually, Secretary of State would work with the Department of Justice for both the counties and with the cities and townships just to make sure that everybody's everything's copacetic. Everybody's got a pulse. And um, yeah, that people are still alive, they haven't moved to Wisconsin, they aren't voting both in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Oh, yeah. You know, this and that, and the other thing. And our Secretary of State won't work with the Federal Department of Justice to clean up our voting roll. So that's um another big thing. I have a difference of opinion with Secretary Simon on. And um I mean, I I look at what the issues are. I mean, issue number one is whether or not you have a photo ID to go vote. I'm for that, Secretary Simon has been opposed to it. Secondly, is cleaning up our voting rolls with the Department of Justice. I've been for that, Secretary Simon has been against that. And finally, Secretary Simon was on this special committee that came up with our version of the state flag that he foisted upon everybody, and cities and counties are refusing to fly Steve Simon's version of the state flag. And it was never voted on by the legislature even. Nope. I mean, the former state flag was voted on in 1983. It honored Native Americans, it honored working men and women, honored our natural resources in Minnesota, and it was discussed and it was voted on by the legislature. That wasn't done with Steve Simons' flag that's come out now. And with the problems we've had in Minnesota, you know, we've had problems with fraud in our social programs, become known as a a flag of fraud. Yes. And uh and that's one of the reasons people aren't interested in flying it. And uh so I've had a petition to have a public vote on it, and um we're gonna keep on pushing that and pushing it and until we get a public vote. At least we'll get a vote in the legislature, if not by the general public.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Now now we just segued pretty quick from voter registration to flags. You pulled you pulled me down this rabbit hole. Okay. Well, and I'm okay with that. Yeah. Because we can take this conversation right through that function, and and I happen to know a lot about a flag issue, by the way. Seeing how we just handled this in a undisclosed bunker location for a city.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

No, we've had cities I think Elk River, uh, Ramsey, a number of cities have decided not to fly Steve Simon's flag of fraud. And um what we've got is uh a number of people petitioning, I I would say at least tens of thousands of people. I I know forty thousand petitioned on um on the internet, but we've got tens of thousands of people who've petitioned to have a vote on the flag. And um we need to have that discussion. It is something that's engendered enough public interest that we need to have that discussion and have a vote.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Well, in our location of the world, I was on council at the time. I had a round table, the round table's uh a hundred percent raised their hand, leave the old flag up, and I voted my ward. I did the statesmanlike thing to do. However, we cannot put it on our ballot. Our our city attorney says this is something that cannot go on a um uh a valid vote. How how do you handle that at the state if we can't do it on a at a city level?

SPEAKER_03 19:42

You know, I've I've heard that Secretary Simon likes to say why you can't put it on the ballot. There is nothing that says you can't put it on the ballot as a part of our constitution. I mean, we've had three hundred issues on the ballot. In fact, when you go vote in November, you'll find on the ballot school funding and public lands on the ballot this November. Really? And um and we've had all kinds of issues. We've had you know what it means to get married on the ballot. Okay. We've had um oh, issues like auto ideas been on the ballot. We've had uh all kinds of things about environmental trails and parks and and sales tax uh on the ballot. We've had 300, at least I count, over 300 issues on the Minnesota ballot. And now most of them are in the form of a constitutional amendment. But the legislature can authorize a public vote. I mean the legislature can easily do that. I couldn't as Secretary of State say we're gonna have a vote on it.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:55

I'd have to go to the legislature and and get legislative approval of that. Do you think that'd happen in this mix right now? I think it would. I I think there are so many counties and cities are refusing to fly the the flag of fraud that um and and people want to be proud of their flag. You bet. And uh they they just want it to be something you know they could have even draped over a casket if necessary. Yeah, you know, it's the kind of thing that's very important in people's psyche. People fought under a version of Minnesota's historic flag in the first Minnesota, in the Civil War. Absolutely. So it goes all the way back uh to the Civil War days, and you know, it's been modified, it's been changed, but the essence of it has been the same and it and it tells a story and it's very meaningful. And that's why uh people want to discuss it and have a vote on it.

Nonprofit Fraud And Business Registration

SPEAKER_03 21:56

So, you know, between election uh issues You know, just having a photo ID and voting on the flag. Another issue that comes before the Secretary of State is registering businesses, and that's for-profit businesses and non-for-profit businesses. And we've had a lot of non-for-profit businesses take advantage of the Minnesota taxpayer. In fact, people come here from other states, they want to form a nonprofit business to take advantage of the Minnesota taxpayer. So it's called uh fraud tourism. And we're going to shut that down.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Yeah, we're that's that's something we're gonna do right away is use a lot of the same tools that banks use going after fraud and make sure that businesses aren't taking advantage of the Minnesota taxpayer unfairly. Well, not like we don't pay enough taxes, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Well, we're right up there. Us in California, Chicago, uh Arizona.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Yeah. Yeah, I I know, you know, you go back a few years, uh it was uh incredible that uh you know, we started a sales tax in Minnesota at three percent. That was you know unbelievable to reduce property taxes. That was to make sure our property taxes weren't too high. Now sales taxes ten percent in a lot of cities, and you know, property taxes are still going up. You know, never sold up. Um it hasn't reduced property taxes uh to that extent. And then you get to our income tax, our our income tax is uh is is unbelievable. I mean, we're still taxing social security in Minnesota. Uh huh and uh I knew that I think we're one of you know uh there are like a handful of states that tax Social Security, and we're one of them.

Primary Turnout And Candidate Predictions

SPEAKER_03 23:49

So you have how many opponents? Just one in the primary? I've got one in the primary, I've got one in the general. Okay. Uh so get past Tuesday, I I think it looks good, but you never know. You know, the primary is a is a situation where it depends on who comes out to vote. You know, some people say, well, only 15% or 25% of the people who are eligible to vote will vote in the primary. That's Tuesday. So Tuesday night will know the dance card. Uh, you know, we're gonna know who are the finalists for U.S. Senate. We'll know who the finalists are for governor, we'll know who the finalists are for Secretary of State.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

And um this is a big year. It's a big year, a lot of change. Even locally, there's four chairs up. Wow. That's all that's a lot. And I and I was the fifth chair, or the yeah. So, I mean, in my photrant was 21%, and 63% of the people didn't want my opponent who won the chair.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

So that means the other the others divided up by three.

SPEAKER_03 24:49

Yeah. And you have a lot of that going on at the primary. You've got, you know, like seven people running for governor on the Republican side, I think. And um you have a number of people running for U.S. Senate on both sides, you know, both Democrat and Republican side. And I think technically you've got a primary on the DFL side for governor. So you've you've got plenty of choices out there. And it depends on who shows up.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Right. Right. Can you can you get him off? Can you get him out there? I mean, when when I ran this word, it was I dominated the signs. I dominated the coolness. I had all kinds of stuff. And I and I only 20%? 21% of our people voted?

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Wow. Yeah, yeah. No, it's just remarkable. The few number of people that will vote in the primaries or or special elections. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

And I lost by 73 points. It's like, come on, people.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

That's small race, you know how that goes. Now the big race, the big race, big chair, who who do you think is that the biggest bite for governor?

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Well, uh, the Republicans endorsed Kendall Qualls. The uh president endorsed Mike Lendell, and I think you know, the money in terms of uh financing and and organization type stuff uh has Lisa Damuth. So I I'd say on the Republican side I could not predict. Wow. I could not predict between the three of them. I'm endorsed Republican, Kendall Kalls is endorsed Republican, so I'm you know a part of that ticket. But um I wouldn't be surprised if it goes any which way. And uh and and the same thing with the U.S. Senate race. Um you've got Michelle Tefoya, and she's got a lot of funding and and organization. Adam Schwarze is a Republican endorsed candidate. Um I I can't really predict where that might go. You know, it's crazy, isn't it? It is. Yeah, it depends on who shows up. And on the DFL side, I I couldn't call it between Angie Craig and and Peggy Flanagan.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 26:53

Isn't that a fight within the fight?

SPEAKER_00 26:55

It is. It is. I I mean You know, the DSA comes out and rolls out with their weird ideas, right? And and then they put Flanagan up against a long-standing senator, and then all of a sudden you got a fight within the party fighting each other. It's like I knew this was going to come down this way.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Yeah, and and I see the ads, uh, and I and I see the ads. I mean, there are ads that could be run by Republicans, you know, against uh uh the candidates in November, too, you know. So I think it it doesn't serve the candidates that well either uh to just chew each other up. But that's uh that's that's what's going on. And they're doing it. And uh that's that's why people need to get out and vote on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

People need to educate themselves. They don't have a clue what's going on in their government, but you know, they just want to go by sound bites and you know, here this Billy Bob says this, so I'm gonna do what Billy Bob does. And that's not how you vote people. Yeah. And and and just because they say they're gonna do it doesn't mean they're gonna do it either.

SPEAKER_03 27:53

Well, it's um it's gonna be real fun on Tuesday night. We'll uh try to put Humpty Dumpty together again and move forward. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Whatever happens. Well, I I hope you I hope you pull through on that one. Let's uh let's see what we are at. We are 24 minutes. Let's let's take a break for a second here, and I gotta run a roll

Sponsor Message For Flags And Poles

SPEAKER_00 28:12

ad. And then uh let's come back and let's talk about the structure of how you see this playing out during the next election. Just because of, you know, there's so much going on. You got the left beating left up, you got the DSA beating left up, and you got the rights trying to beat everybody up. I mean, just uh just a thought. So can you stand by? Absolutely. Okay, hold on. Hotcast will be right back. We're gonna take a quick commercial break.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

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Budget Growth And Checks And Balances

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Muggamat Hotcast.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

As mentioned previously, Tat Jude, philanthropist, man of many. And I've had a great time here today, Ted, I can tell you. And uh we're gonna talk about some structure. Now, if the moon lines up at Jupiter and all the stars and everything work, and and we flip this state to a Republican, do you think we can save it? Because there's a whole lot of stuff that's kind of out of check. Our flag's out of check, our balance is out of check, our um rampant fraud is out of check.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

I mean, take your check and yeah, fraud is uh fraud is a big issue. You know, just about every social program we've had designed for needy people, you know, for children that don't get food or children that have autism or families that don't have a home to live in have been ripped off. Yeah. You know, the the money hasn't been getting either hasn't been kept by the taxpayer or has been getting has not been getting to the people who are in need. And uh just good government. I mean, you used to hear about corruption in Illinois or corruption in New Jersey. Yeah, right. Now you're hearing about Minnesota, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Boston, all day long, Boston.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

Absolutely. But um and and Minnesota used to have a reputation of good government, solid government. So that's that's the basic thing I I think structurally we'll we'll be bringing back. Now, one of the problems we've had is that the trifecta, the Democrat Trifecta back in 2023, 2024, raised the state budget 40% and spent an $18 billion surplus and then raised taxes $10 billion more. And uh that was done because it had a one-vote edge uh in the state senate. And um I can see us changing that. You know, certainly we we have to have at least balanced government. We have to have uh a government where you have some balance. I mean, every member of our executive council, and executive councils like governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, every member has been DFL. And and unfortunately, what's happened even in our court system, you know, I talked about the court system a little bit. Our Minnesota Supreme Court has seven members, and they've all been appointed by Governor Dayton or Governor Walls. And if you talk to Governor Walls, he'll say, well, you know, we have the most diverse court system in the United States. The problem is we don't have diversity of opinion or diversity of viewpoint. You know, and you need to have a vigorous court system in order to have one that serves the litigants and the taxpayers of Minnesota. And you want to have a court system that reflects the state, and we haven't been getting that. So hopefully, after the election, we have a legislature and we have an executive that reflects the state, that has some balance to it, and has some different ideas so that fraud can be checked. You know, we've had a situation where you've had a lieutenant governor that hasn't been able to check the governor, and we have an executive counsel that hasn't been able to check the governor. You know, so we've had no real checks and balances in the state. Now they did form what they called an IG, um, which which is uh an outside auditor, you know, that would be looking at what's going on in the state of Minnesota and and have some teeth. So I I think that might address fraud to some extent. Um but for now. Yeah, for for now. But we we need to have some balance and and get back to just good government again in Minnesota. And I I think we do that by having some balance on our state executive council and eventually our our court system as well as the legislature.

Group Homes And Community Safety Costs

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Are you are you familiar with the um group home situation we're having locally at the undisclosed bunker location?

SPEAKER_03 33:27

Well, I'd heard that uh you know, group homes uh you know they were cutting funding to a number of social services trying to get to the bottom of fraud, but was cutting out a lot of legitimate service providers.

SPEAKER_00 33:43

You step on a fire, it's the whole fire.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Yeah. And and um a lot of the legitimate service providers were being shut out as well as the fraudulent ones. And and um I I haven't heard the specifics in in our bunker location here.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

154G and 245 B through C state statutes about nesting group homes. Okay, okay. And it was one of my biggest biggest fights for this location underground bunker thing. And there was a bill passed to try and control it. What happens is these companies come in with Somalian accent or whoever they want to do, or what you know, of non-US-based companies, yeah, and they start buying up these homes and areas. Well, all of a sudden you got five, six, seven, eight homes in this area that are four units per home, seven units per per street, and and the it's it's a bed. They come out of um, they come out of prison, it's a bed to stay. It's uh I mean they're they're temporaries.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

Yeah. But when there's a concentration of them.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

Yeah, and that that's a problem.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

It's a huge problem.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Yeah, and and we've had a problem even at Cedar Riverside. I mean, we we had a situation at Cedar Riverside where it was built in the 1970s, and it was built to have like two bedrooms and four people in an apartment, and uh over the years has been taken over in a sense by people who'd sign up for limited occupancy, but end up with like a dozen people you know living in the same apartment. So they had to come in and and redo all the plumbing. Oh, and they had to do all the elevators, they had to do um all the electric, they had to do all the parking because for a different concentration. Because why?

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Because we don't want to say that there's a institutionalized people because we can't use the words.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

Yeah, yeah, it's just uh uh uh a terrible waste of money in a sense.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

But let me give you a picture. Let me paint you this picture. We got seven homes on this area, I won't call a place but Pennsylvania in the on this close location. And there are four home four units per per house, sometimes four is twenty-eight people. From from the zeroth month to the eleventh month, how many calls of service do you think that these group homes got? I mean, what would you say a logical number would be? Boy. Um police fire, can't can't come home, what fell out of his bed. He's what he's trying to break into neighbors' houses, they're they're flipping handles on door cards.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

I you know, I'd I'd have no idea, but um How much is a lot to you? Uh you know, anything that would be over once a week, you know, I think.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

You know. So once a week technically would be uh 48 weeks and 11 months? Yeah. Okay, how's 700 sound? Oh my boy. You think you think I got somebody's attention with that? Yeah. 700 calls, it was 650, so I'm assuming the other 50 was the end. And then I had to make an off-site request by our undisclosed locations police chief and say how many off-site? And he kind of looked at me like, well, what do you mean? No, I want to know how many people are off-site because a friend of mine on SWAT says, you need to find out what they did locally around the local businesses. I said, okay, I'll do some digging. That had another 50.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

That's incredible.

unknown 37:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

So we're about 750-ish, not including there's some, there's some, you know, I've fallen in at the old folks' home and all that, but is that enough for you?

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Well, I I tell you what's happened in in uh in our whole country, and and particularly in Minnesota, is they've had state hospitals close. And and this was during the 1980s, you know, state hospitals closed. And this, you know, everybody would say, Well, we got these community homes. You know, we've we've got group homes, everybody will live in a group home. Well, what's happened is you have a certain number of people who've gone to group homes.

SPEAKER_04 37:48

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

You also have people who've gone homeless, you know, and are addicted. And you've got people who are in jail. That should be in a state hospital type setting. And uh I I think there's clearly a downside um to what's happened. And it's a downside oath to the communities and and to the uh the the citizens that are uh right affected by it. Right. There's there's my way.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Which oath is it? Okay, now a local senator says, Well, they're your people too. I says, I get it. Yeah. They are the people in my war. But what do you do? Do you do you protect the people that were here that have a vested interest in this, or the people that are just here because someone didn't want them in any institution?

SPEAKER_03 38:33

Well, I I think we're gonna have to ramp up our institutions a little bit. Uh, because you don't want to have everybody in jail. No, you don't want to have everybody out there homeless. No. Uh there has to be a middle.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

And uh But we don't want everybody in their neighbors' houses either. No, no, no. I mean, I get it. There, you know, the TBM guys, they got m uh physical issues. I I I get it. I have zero problems with that, it can live next to me. But the ones who are just out on a parole, they're out on a whatever. And you know, I have one that lives a clock, I shouldn't say customer, a constituent who lives right behind one of these, and every time their little girls go out and play on their swings, these guys come out and watch those kids. Okay. Now you know, I gave this guy my word. It's I will fight tooth and nail. Now, the previous guy who started all this, he didn't start it, but he he was he was here during this program. I took his chair, I said, I I will I will fight tooth and nail. But but I'm no good if I don't get the seat.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

And we were on track to do some pretty major things. It went through house, it went through setting or senate, and then we were on our way through finance, and it was it was on track. And then the special election came up. I can't push on it anymore. Yeah. But that's what I gave, I gave my word that I would fight it.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:00

So, I mean, those are things that that are a real thing for a lot of people. I mean, look what's going on in Maple Grove now. That whole uh the building development's full of special homes that are, you know, they're trying to solicit their neighbors to, hey, come on over here and we'll put you on this thing and you can start rolling tax money. But now, mind you, our illustrious governor says we're gonna put a hold on 145Gs and 245s, and we're just gonna put a moratorium on this. But they didn't put a moratorium on special needs ones.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

So they said, well, we're gonna stop it, but never stopped it.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Yeah, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

I I I've got a lot of time into research on this.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

I mean, I didn't spin you sideways down the rabbit hole.

SPEAKER_03 40:41

Well, I sorry. I think we need to uh address it. And it needs to be uh, you know, certainly the the concentration has to be uh that has to be looked at so that it it's a normal distribution.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

It used to be um quarter mile, but then they said, wait a minute, we can't 1300 feet, and then they went down to a thousand feet or nine hundred feet, and then they they were gonna go through finance, and who's who's gonna finance this? And they have thought about that at between the Senate guys, and and it's not like we wanted people without service. That that was not the issue. Yeah, but we have a duty to these responsibility of these these taxpayers. Yeah, 700 calls. Yeah, that's incredible. You I mean, you can back my my spec up by simply calling the the city and saying, hey, how many calls do you have service do you have on all these type of homes? And and they're you're gonna flip a lid. Now, it's not just what we paid for in taxes to get them there first off. Now we've got the people are paying, they're like they're double taxed. They get taxed at the state and the federal level for this, and then they get taxed at the city level because they got to support all the support staff. The it's crazy what's happening.

SPEAKER_03 41:50

Well, I I do know that we need to have state institutions rethought, re-looked at, and in some cases reopened. Yes. Uh, you know, there there has to be an answer for the homeless and for the overcrowding of our jails because that's not what jails are are built for.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Brooklyn Park's got a heck of a problem. We only have uh what was it? 40, 50 homes in our city total. But Brooklyn Park's got over 500.

SPEAKER_04 42:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

17% of their annual budget goes to uh fire police and medicals for this. That's incredible. I mean, has anybody talked to you about this before in the past? Um, I've noticed it.

SPEAKER_03 42:36

Door knocking.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

Yeah, I've noticed it.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

Well, it it's a thing, and it's real. Yeah. It's a real thing. If you get in position and you can help that out, please remember us, little guys. Absolutely. Now, you had said a lot of this stuff happened around uh

COVID Court Disruptions And Double Standards

SPEAKER_00 42:51

COVID time. And I'm gonna spin you off on a like a tangent here. Yeah. Everybody said, now, you know, I work with a guy named um Dr. Brian Artis. He's a good uh homeopathic, he's a doctor, he's down in Texas, he's a wellness nutrition guy, and he's a big anti-vaxxer. So we're gonna go Fauci on you. And we're gonna go waltz on Fauci on you. That took a lot of housekeep to to shut down a lot of these businesses because of what they thought this guy said. Yeah. How does that feel? I mean, yeah, it paint that picture.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

Well, it it was a situation, uh, you know, I was uh a judge in Stillwater, and uh there are generally ten judges there. Oftentimes I would be the only judge at the courthouse. And um, so anything, you know, whether it be somebody needed a bond or somebody needed to get married, or we needed a criminal trial, um, whatever it was, I I was the judge that would handle those cases in in many cases. And and um it's it's a situation I I know uh Dr. Fauci was in for uh uh some testimony before the U.S. Senate, I believe, and he didn't respond to the questions. And you know, I guess if I were Dr. Fauci, I might have made the same call, although I think he's been pardoned. I think he was given an unconditional pardon by uh by Joe Biden uh as Joe Biden left office. Um you know there were a lot of things that were advised that were wrong. There were a lot of things that uh obviously did not hold up to be true uh that happened during the pandemic. But but things needed to happen. I mean what what I saw happen at at the courthouse basically is you had a prison, Stillwater prison, you had a jail and because of the spread of you know COVID nineteen and what people were thinking there was a hesitancy to keep people in prison. I mean they were basically not bringing people into the jail or not into prison and trying to release people uh because they felt there was a a danger to everybody. And I mean even police wouldn't pick up uh criminals and and in some cases even violent criminals because they didn't want all the ramifications of that. Now uh fortunately most people were staying home. I mean most people uh did not leave their homes and there wasn't a lot of criminal activity as a result of that. Um I mean you go out on the on the roads you wouldn't see many cars and um yeah people were working at homes they paid them to sit there they did you know office jobs. But but obviously a lot of what was told kind of as gospel truth uh wasn't true. And uh what what did bother me a lot is is when I'd see like you know our governor would be going to funerals but nobody else could have a funeral. Right. And uh you know this type of thing. I mean our our loved ones were dying. Yes. Couldn't see them. And uh we couldn't yeah we couldn't see them we couldn't go to the funeral we couldn't remember their lives and uh we couldn't mourn together uh but our governor was uh having a good old time going off and uh going to funerals and protests and this and that and the other thing and and it just seemed to make a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_00 46:35

Protests isn't that something yeah okay so we covered kind of the Fauci thing. I mean he's yeah that's gonna land where it's gonna land you can't unwind history.

Deepfakes Flock Cameras And Privacy

SPEAKER_00 46:46

So there there's a new there's a new law that that's gonna that is probably going to take effect pretty prevalent now. It's 609.32 it's called the deep fake law are you familiar with that one um is that the one that has to do with uh whether somebody has clothes on and AI you know AI and all that kind of thing well I don't know if it's a clothes thing it's just it's uh its definition is if you use AI with someone without someone's permission you've broken the Minnesota State statute. It was a DFL spun-up deal it's a it's kind of a thing and right now when when we're in the cusp of everything's AI I know there's a criminal case out now about AI and uh it's going to be probably thrown in the courts here pretty soon probably the first one in Minnesota. Okay. But you you know with that AI it's so convincing that the other person might have done something that they never did without the permission of and again the DFL they they cheerleadered this thing all the way through the House and Senate.

SPEAKER_03 47:43

Yeah I you know I don't know where that's gonna land. Yeah you know I have no idea where where the AI litigation is going to land. All I know is you're gonna have a hard time stopping people from doing things with the computers and you know that type of thing. It's gonna be a total burden of proof. Yeah. I I don't know where that's all gonna uh end up landing but I I look at AI being involved in just about every aspect of our life in some ways.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

Now let not now let me tweak you a little I'm gonna throw a little hardball at you and I don't want if it if it is too hardball you say you say I don't want to comment on this but deep fake runs over into flock cameras. It's a big conversation. Okay. It's all about AI. Yeah. Now you get a lot of people all lit up on this AI thing. Yeah. Uh deep the flock thing.

SPEAKER_03 48:34

Yeah a lot of a lot of people are concerned about flock cameras. Right. And um you know I I can see it you know the advantages and disadvantages of flock cameras. You know obviously there's an advantage if there's been a violent crime and you're trying to find a right vehicle. Yep yep you're trying to identify you know where that suspect is on the other hand you don't want to have cameras all around you want to have some privacy. That works too so you know we have to find a balance where we can you know make sure we're fighting violent crime and at the same time and and that would include like even um you know uh smuggling children you know from other countries and you know these type of things where you've got you know uh basically the the sale of of people right involved you know that comes down to a flock camera trying to track license plates. But on the other hand you want to have privacy. So um you could you but we have to have some kind of balance. We we have to strike that balance that's a legitimate balance where we respect people's privacy and at the same time give law enforcement the tools they need to solve violent crime and to stop it in progress if that's what we need to do.

SPEAKER_00 49:54

And I don't know about you but I'll give up some a little bit of privacy to know that some kid somewhere is safe.

SPEAKER_03 49:59

And and that's what it boils down to in many cases.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

I I will I will I will forfeit my little bit of privacy so that if someone's being trafficked that they they are not going to be trafficked anymore. And and that's how I look at that. Now yes if you're worried about privacy look at your phone they have these uh programs a flashlight don't take 400 meg to put in your in your phone you know that there's something big going on and and they have stingrays and they can do all kinds of stuff they can hijack your signal and we're worried about a camera well the camera wasn't a big thing until I start jumping on it. So something got out and if I was the opposing company to to uh flock like say axion or or HP whoever's making cameras for these guys wouldn't you want to set that out there? Oh we don't want flock anymore we want axion that's a yeah it's uh we we gotta find that balance and and uh we'll hopefully do that yeah that's it's been kind of a thing I didn't mean to go in my soapbox here but I mean you guys at the state level are way way beyond what I'm thinking and seeing.

SPEAKER_03 51:03

Well we need to have the BCA work with the FBI we need to have Secretary of State's office work with the Department of Justice so that you have good communication and and we need to have good communication uh with the law enforcement uh partners for sure for sure I mean these guys should be on the same page 24-7. Yeah absolutely and and I I mean particularly up here I mean you've had you know uh legislators shot I mean and that I I mean there there was a communication breakdown in in some respects you know where there was a time delay in uh notifying important people uh when that was going on and and that's the kind of thing where you want to have flock cameras that flock flock was definitely used and and I heard this I can't verify it but it was definitely used in the shooting. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

And that's how they were able to get on this guy real quick.

SPEAKER_03 52:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

I mean how I mean really because when they put on the news I mean you listen to it and all of a sudden it's like two hours later I'm like why does it go two hours later to go from disclosure bunker location all the way over to Brookham Park? I mean it's 12 minutes apart. Yeah well then we heard the rest of the story. They went from April Grove they went over to and they this the nut job started doing nut job stuff.

SPEAKER_03 52:21

Yeah yeah yeah that that but a flock was used in that so I'm thinking hey these guys need the tools you give them the tools but anyway we need to find that balance how to how yeah how do you find that I don't know I don't know it's uh yeah you don't want to live in a society where there are cameras all over and and at the same time you want to give law enforcement the tools they need to stop violent crime and trafficking and and uh do what we can to you know have a good peaceful

How A Flag Vote Gets On Ballots

SPEAKER_03 52:56

existence.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

Well let's shift gears on this so I'm not pulling you down in the in the rabbit hole too far. You had mentioned the flag vote. How would you structure a multi house slash senate slash people to to get this flag on the vote on on the on the docket?

SPEAKER_03 53:12

Well you know a lot of it goes to the legislature I mean when when you go to the legislature they'd have committee hearings and they would set up you know what the question would be and um that will be the key i i mean the first thing is whether to go back to our traditional historic Minnesota flag that that would be the first issue on the ballot. And and then when we get back and I I assume that would pass uh to go back to the historic traditional Minnesota flag. I mean at that point if there are things that are of concern with the traditional historic Minnesota flag we can talk about it and have people vote on it at least have the legislature vote on it. Okay. But it it does go through a committee process and um that's where the question would actually be determined. Ah you know that and and it's got to be worded properly you know sometimes you see questions on the ballot and I don't like this where that are like double negative questions or they they lead you in a particular way. Yes and and uh uh this this could happen with like education funding you know it leads you to vote in a certain way thinking you're voting the right way but it's opposite yeah yeah and and so it's it's very important that the wording be proper on the question right so wording's key and then it would go through a legislative hearing so you know people can come in and and visit and uh and give testimony to the legislature and even have different uh ideas in terms of what the flag would be but I I would see going back to our traditional historic flag as a first step and then if at that point people still wanted to have some change okay you know that would be an issue that would be at least voted on by the legislature.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

So we would how to do this how how we're going to do this you want to call your legislator you want to call your House of reps you get your center who how who would you say should get that email?

SPEAKER_03 55:27

Well absolutely the legislators should get that email um legislators would put it on the ballot I think it would be on the ballot as a constitutional amendment it's uh that's what's been guaranteed in the past as a way to get issues on the ballot. Put it on as a constitutional amendment and then it's part of our constitution and to change that you'd have to have a vote of the public and uh that'd be the proper way to do it. What would the time cycle be on that? Well we'd do it during the next session I think it would be on the ballot two more years so that'd be twenty eight so the big the big vote.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

Yeah interesting okay uh people out there in Hutcast land you heard this get a hold of your local guys and say we want this on our constitutional amendment to the on the ballot that sound about right absolutely just tell them what you feel tell them if that's what you want to do that you move forward. What do you have to tell people out there?

Campaign Plug And Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 56:30

I mean the mic's yours do your thing okay well if you'd like to hear more about my candidacy for a secretary of state you can go to tadchew.com t-a-d jud e dot com and um we've got a presence out there would love to have your help in terms of either signs or going door knocking uh or contributing and go to our website tadchew.com get all the information you'd like okay I I didn't expect this to go that long but you are one heck of an interesting guy well thank you this was a great show I had a great time thank you Tim okay um hopefully you had a good time too absolutely all right I'll say we're 28 minutes okay uh we're gonna pull the pin here you heard him tad jude make the call donate I don't think he's got any pillows to pass out but you know we could try no no pillows no pillows no we we've got t-shirts and and uh caps he's got merch he's got merch people yeah okay Tad thank you for coming in the studio I appreciate it I'm gonna pull the pin here uh Hutcast checking out again look for some more episodes coming up uh just have been kind of uh lighting this candle at both ends recently you'll hear more of it out in the future so Hutcast sign it off and that's a wrap for Hutcast Hutcast is again a pragmatic approach to seeing things how some people see it. If you like our show give us a thumbs up on the Facebook site again for Hutcast thank you again have a wonderful evening