Two weeks ago, Minnesota governor Tim Walz sparked outrage when he, speaking as head of the state's various clemency and pardon boards, issued a pardon for Tou Lue Vang, a Laotian permanent resident who'd been pardoned for repeatedly raping a 10-year-old child back in the 2000s - apparently to shield him from potential deportation:
Laotian national Tou Lue Vang was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota, which he excused as a “minor thing” and blamed it on “cultural norms” in foreign countries. An immigration judge ordered his removal in 2006.
In a brazen effort to shield the criminal illegal alien predator from imminent deportation, Walz and Ellison pardoned him — protecting an illegal alien child sex abuser over the American citizens they supposedly represent.
It backfired, more or less - Secretary of State Rubio deported Vang promptly after the pardon.
You thought that was the end of the story?
Then you don't know Tim Walz. Or the media praetorian guard that's been propping him up for twenty years.
Last week, Walz - who is not running for reelection in November - tried to do damage control:
Gov. Tim Walz is defending his vote to pardon a man convicted of molesting a 10-year-old child more than 20 years ago.
Walz said the victim’s advocacy for Vang factored in his decision to grant the pardon.
“I can tell you in these pardons, one of the overriding factors that continuously influences the decision — certianly of me, I can’t speak for the rest of the board, but looks like that — depends on where the victims are at,” Walz said.
That's true, as far as it goes - there were other applications for clemency that didn't have support from victims, whose applications were denied.
Of course, the State Department's "due process" for doesn't include victim testimony for people who commit crimes while they're guests in America and supposed to be behaving.
Some of Walz's other defenses were a little more...Walzy:
This is how Tim Walz responded to a question about the deportation of the illegal alien child rapist he helped pardon:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 16, 2026
"Did that make us any safer? Did it improve the idea that we can't all be judged by our worst day?"
He's actually still doing this. pic.twitter.com/1aCc02uCDG
Asked about the deportation, Walz questioned what the move accomplished.
"Did that make us any safer?" Walz said Tuesday, according to KTTC. "Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable?
"Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day?"
"And I want to be very clear," Walz continued. "These are horrific crimes. They often are."
In the interest of accuracy - hold that thought - we should point out that Vangs "worst day" lasted two years:
Vang entered the United States through California in 1994 and was granted legal status during the Clinton administration. Between 2002 and 2004, he repeatedly sexually assaulted the victim in St. Paul, Minnesota. The first assault occurred when she was in the fourth grade. After his conviction, federal officials said Vang lost legal status and was placed under a final removal order.
It was a rough day for Governor Walz.
But when you're a DFLer in Minnesota - or a Democrat anywhere, doing anything, really - you never walk alone. You have a Praetorian Guard in the Twin Cities' infamously compliant media.
Rochelle Olson is a columnist for the "Minnesota Star Tribune" for over 20 years. That's not technically true - she was a political beat reporter up until the last couple of years, but for much of her career it was a distinction without a difference. Ed and I first met her after she wrote one of the most infamously yellow hit pieces I've ever seen on a Republican named Alan Fine, who happened to be the last Republican who had a legitimate shot at the Fifth District seat in a race against...Keith Ellison, Minnesota's scandal-plagued attorney general, who started his career as a high-profile mover and shaker with that victory, turning the seat over to Ilhan Omar eight years ago. The great Scott Johnson at Power Line wrote about Olson's scabrous hit piece here, 20 years ago.
Now that she's a columnist, Olson does a weekly-ish "Cheers and Jeers" column. And last week, who did she cheer?
The Star Tribune is “cheering on” Walz for standing by his pardon of a convicted child rapist. Jesus take the wheel…
— Pete Stauber (@RepPeteStauber) July 19, 2026
I haven’t given them an interview for a long time, and I certainly won’t be giving them any of my time in the future. Everyone should boycott this pathetic rag. pic.twitter.com/wejhl7pIHO
The Strib is an active PR firm for the DFL.
Being a Democrat in Minnesota means never having to say you're sorry.
