Tim Walz accused of lying about receiving award from Nebraska Chamber of Commerce

The latest controversy stems from an award that Walz claimed to have received from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce when he was first running for the House of Representatives in 1993, the New York Post reported.

But he reportedly was never honored by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for any work that Walz did to support businesses in that state. Then-president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce Barry L. Kennedy reminded Walz of that fact in some angry correspondence to Walz on Nov. 1, 2006.

"I am not going to draw a conclusion about your intentions by including this line in your biography. However, we respectfully request that you remove any reference to our organization as it could be considered an endorsement of your candidacy. It should be pointed out, however, that the US Chamber of Commerce has endorsed your opponent, Congressman Gil Gutknecht, for his support of small business issues,” Kennedy continued. Minnesota outlet Alpha News found the letter last week, according to the Post.

In 2006, a Minnesota newspaper relayed how Walz’s campaign for the House had altered its website to show that the candidate had not received so much as a letter of commendation from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce but had received recognition from the Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce, known as the Jaycees.

The then-campaign manager insisted the error was just a “typographical error,” the outlet reported at the time. The Harris-Walz campaign said Walz is known to respond “openly and off the cuff” when it was asked about the discrepancy in the letter by Fox News Digital.

“Governor Walz speaks the way real people speak — openly and off the cuff. The American people appreciate that Gov. Walz tells it like it is and doesn’t talk like a politician, and they appreciate the difference between someone who occasionally misspeaks and a pathological liar like Donald Trump,” the campaign said.

Walz has been inundated with other criticism over misrepresenting his military career. He said during a political speech at one point that he carried guns into war, seemingly to imply he was in a combat zone when he never was. In addition, he has falsely called himself a retired Command Sergeant Major throughout his political career, even though he never fully earned the title and had his rank reduced upon retirement.

Walz served in the National Guard but was never sent into a combat zone. Walz quit the Guard to pursue a political career just as his battalion was being deployed to Iraq in 2005. The move led to accusations of running from combat and abandoning his troops when they needed him most.