Jason Lewis, a candidate for U.S. Senate, addressed the pitfalls of Governor Tim Walz’s press conference extending the lockdown deadline. The lockdown has been in order for over 7 weeks, and Walz has prolonged the ‘stay safe Minnesota’ ordinance well into June.
Lewis was frustrated to see that “nothing Governor Tim Walz said [in the press conference] had any effect on the concerns we raised in the lawsuit we’ve filed. For the sake of all Minnesotans as well as our campaign, we look forward to making our case in court.”
Lewis found himself confused that public servants like Governor Walz “and Tina Smith, who remains AWOL while Minnesota small businesses ask for help—continue to take inadequate baby steps towards restoring Minnesotans’ civil liberties. Giving small business permission to operate at a loss at 25 or 50% capacity without a clear end in sight does little to relieve the economic desperation we are seeing across our state.”
Building from the loss of civil liberties, the social restrictions placed on Minnesotans remain “glaringly inconsistent” according to Jason Lewis. “Restaurants can take up to 50 people with reservations in advance on their patio” which well exceeds the 10-person limit, but indoor establishments get even less relief. “Churches and other gatherings are still limited to 10 people. The government shouldn’t be in the business of picking winners and losers!”
This comes in the wake of a victory for religious liberty here in Minnesota. Minnesota’s Catholic Bishops will be reopening churches for Mass at 33% capacity, boldly defying Governor Tim Walz’s decree that limits the size of religious services to 10 people.
Lewis asserts that “this never-ending one-size-fits-all economic lockdown” must come to an end for Minnesota. He has visited dozens of business owners on his ‘Reopen Minnesota for Business’ tour in recent weeks, and “can say with certainty that Governor Walz’s continued blanket restrictions completely disregard the different situations on the ground across Minnesota—at the expense of restaurants to salons, family farms to retailers.”
Lewis claims that this isn’t just a battle to reopen Minnesota, but rather a ”fight for our fundamental liberties.” He concluded by saying “Attorney General William Barr was right when he said ‘there is no pandemic exception’ to the Constitution. The Governor’s continuation of unilateral guidelines did nothing to change that.”
