Tim Walz’s golden goose egg

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2026 issue of Thinking Minnesota magazine.

American Experiment’s annual award highlights the state’s wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money

The first Golden Turkey in 2020 “honored” Gov. Tim Walz’s purchase of an empty fruit warehouse with plans to turn it into a morgue for victims of COVID. Walz wasted $6.9 million of your money to make a political point and scare Minnesotans into following his directives during the pandemic. Five years later, Walz is still providing new material for the Golden Turkey with his exorbitant legal bills. While the Golden Turkey Award is meant to poke fun at our esteemed elected officials, it also makes a serious point: While average Minnesotans work hard every day to make a living and pay their taxes, politicians at all levels spend that money on frivolous programs and projects that would get turned down for a loan at every community bank in the state.  

We’ve honored bus stops where buses don’t stop, rest stops with imported Brazilian wood, a palace for politicians in St. Paul, and an unnecessary redesign of the state flag. The still-in-operational Southwest Light Rail project has been nominated so often that we gave it a lifetime achievement award and put it in the Golden Turkey Hall of Fame. All of them share the common thread of wasteful spending that would never happen without the disconnect between the people who earn the money (taxpayers) and the people who spend the money (politicians).  

In this fifth year of voting, we have been heartened to see the Golden Turkey brand mentioned throughout the year as silly spending projects and programs are exposed. “Attention Golden Turkey Committee — this project should be nominated” is now a frequent message on social media. The Golden Turkey doesn’t address the massive structural budget issues in state and local government, but the attitude of spending without accountability is the same for a $430,000 legal bill as it is for a $430 million welfare program. It all adds up.  

We open the nomination process each October. This year, several projects immediately rose to the top, making the nomination committee’s work easy. As usual, another transit project made the list, the Gold Line bus rapid transit line from St. Paul to Woodbury. We also nominated our second taxpayer-funded bathroom remodel, this one at Bloomington City Hall. Gov. Walz’s summer legal bills received many nominations from the public, and we rounded out the list with a project so bad that the host county sued to block the funding. 

And the winner is…  

Tim Walz’s $430k whopper legal bill  

Tim Walz was elected to Congress in 2006 and served there for 12 years before becoming governor. So when he was asked to return to Washington, D.C., to testify before a congressional committee on June 12, 2025, many (including the Golden Turkey Committee) were surprised to learn he had run up a $430,000 bill with lawyers and lobbyists to prepare him for this one-time appearance. Spending $430,000 to prepare for one hearing in an environment where Walz spent 12 years of his career was a complete waste of money, making this Golden Turkey nomination a no-brainer. The Walz legal bill ran away with the election this year, receiving 53 percent of the vote. 

It all started when Rep. James Comey asked three governors, Walz, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, and Gov. Kathleen Hochul of New York, to appear before his committee in June to explain their sanctuary state policies. Most of the questions for Walz centered on his statement comparing ICE agents to a “modern-day Gestapo.” Several times in the hearing he was asked to apologize for his choice of words or walk back the statement. Each time he refused and doubled down.  

It’s hard to understand how hiring out-of-state lawyers at $800 per hour was necessary to prepare Walz to defend his own statements and policies. An examination of the legal bills shows that much of the money went toward lawyers becoming familiar with Minnesota immigration policy and coordinating the message with the other two governors invited to testify that day.  

As governor, Walz has access to hundreds of state employees who could have briefed him for his appearance on Capitol Hill. In fact, they probably joined the high-paid lawyers in the briefings, making this even more wasteful. Walz also took advantage of his access to Attorney General Keith Ellison and his staff to prepare for the hearing. The advice of Ellison, himself a former member of Congress, should have been enough.  

Rep. Harry Niska criticized the expenditure in an interview with KSTP-TV: “Gov. Walz spent 12 years in Congress,” Niska said. “The attorney general [Keith Ellison] of our state spent 12 years in Congress. They know what hearings look like, sound like. They don’t need to hire Washington, D.C., lawyers at over $700 per hour to research that for them.” 

Walz defended the expenditures, saying his own staff “didn’t have the expertise for this for what they were asking.” Walz administration staffers don’t have the expertise to testify about Walz administration policy? That sounds just preposterous enough to be nominated and win the 2025 Golden Turkey Award. 

Runner-up  

The Gold Line (another empty bus)  

If it seems like a transit boondoggle gets nominated for the Golden Turkey Award every year, that’s because it’s true, and 2025 is no exception. This year, the Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit project made the list with federal, state, and local governments spending $500 million for a 10-mile stretch of dedicated bus lanes fronting Highway 94 from St. Paul to Woodbury. The project received the most public nominations this year, even beating out the eventual winner, Walz’s whopper legal bill. 

The Gold Line joins past Golden Turkey nominees such as Newport’s empty transit station (2021), the opulent Goose Creek Rest Stop (2021), and the Northern Lights Express bus to Duluth (2023). And we can’t forget the lifetime achievement award-winning Southwest Light Rail project. That project continues to bleed money, with no grand opening date in sight. 

The problem is always the same with these boondoggle transit projects: Overinflated promises of daily ridership never materialize.  

According to their 2019 application for federal funds, the Gold Line was projected to achieve 5,900 “daily linked trips.” After six months of operation, they are at 25 percent of that projection. As with other transit boondoggles, the politicians and urban planners were full of optimism about the line attracting commuters and spurring “transit-oriented development.” One of the most celebrated stops along the Gold Line is at 3M headquarters. Investigative reporters at KSTP-TV reported that exactly zero people got on or off the bus at the 3M stop during their month-long observation, noting that sometimes the bus drivers didn’t even bother to stop.  

Gov. Tim Walz was very excited to applaud federal funding for the new line in an April 2023 press release: 

“I am grateful to Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and all our federal partners for ensuring this important project becomes a reality,” said Governor Walz. “The Gold Line will connect tens of thousands of Minnesotans to nearly 100,000 jobs, educational opportunities, friends, and family. Investments in transportation are investments in Minnesota’s economy, workforce, and future.”  

It always sounds so good in the press release, but Walz, Klobuchar, Smith, and all the other politicians pushing these transit projects ignore one thing: The Twin Cities metro area is spread across 3,000 square miles in seven different counties, and Minnesotans like to drive cars. Transit boondoggles like the Gold Line are always justified on the basis of “If you build it, they will come,” but they never do.  

Woodbury Mayor Anne Burt defended the project recently in a KSTP-TV story: “When you think about building a transit system, you’re not building it for today, but you’re building it for really a century down the road.” Since most of our voters won’t be around in 100 years, the Gold Line Bus Rapid Transit project was judged by today’s standards, resulting in a strong second-place finish for the 2025 Golden Turkey Award. 

Third place  

Surfing on the Rum River  

Move over, Hawaii, Australia, and Southern California: The go-to destination for surfers will soon be Anoka, Minn. That’s the dream of Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids), as he diverted $6.2 million in funding meant for road projects in Anoka County to pay for the next phase of the Rum River Dam overhaul. The total project will cost $51 million and include improvements to the dam, a new pedestrian bridge, and recreational amenities that will make Anoka the first river surfing destination in Minnesota. Surf’s up, dude! 

The Golden Turkey Committee was stoked when we heard Anoka County was suing the state to block funding for the project in their own backyard. The county called it a “dubious boondoggle” in their complaint in district court. Righteous! 

The project began with a “small” $500,000 planning grant in 2023 (don’t they all?). After it was removed from the list of projects funded with general fund dollars in the 2025 Transportation Bill, Democratic Leader Zack Stephenson made the aggro move of changing the funding source during backroom negotiations with the Senate and Gov. Tim Walz (what a kook!). Republicans objected and even offered an amendment to remove funding for the project from the transportation bill. Republican Leader Harry Niska called it a pet project of Stephenson’s, said it was a waste of money, and pointed out that Anoka County didn’t even want it in the first place. The amendment to remove the funding failed as every Democratic member bailed and voted “no.”  

So now the project is back on track and surfers in Minnesota are amped. Really? Will surfers and kayakers really flock to hang ten against the current of the mighty Rum River? With the weather in Minnesota, the surfing season will be limited to July and August, unless all the surfers don wetsuits. These urban planners always write up the most optimistic scenarios with thousands of new tourists coming to town, renting equipment, and, of course, spending thousands of dollars at local restaurants and bars. The Rum River brochure says that “whitewater park venues have seen economic impacts as high as $9M per year.” We can’t leave that money on the table!  

The Rum River surf project was jammed through the legislature in a backroom deal, is not wanted by Anoka County, and will eventually cost taxpayers $50 million with a return on investment that relies on an unproven new surfer demographic in Minnesota. For all of these reasons, this dubious boondoggle came in third place for the 2025 Golden Turkey Award. Gnarly! 

Fourth place  

A $1 million bathroom remodel at Bloomington City Hall  

When the pandemic hit, Congress responded by sending billions of dollars to states, counties, cities, businesses, and citizens. Many cities had a hard time figuring out how to use the money to fight COVID. Cities, after all, mostly maintain streets, deliver water and sewer service, and answer 911 calls. But the leaders in Minnesota’s third-largest city, Bloomington, came up with a great idea: remodel the bathroom in city hall! And they did it in style: Bloomington used $985,000 in federal COVID-19 money to build a modern, inclusive, unisex bathroom on the first floor of its Civic Plaza building, earning it a nomination for the 2025 Golden Turkey Award. 

According to city documents:  

A diverse team of City staff and building tenants met in the Summer of 2024 and a survey was conducted with staff and residents to discuss values and preferences of restroom design. Research in public restroom design resulted in our need to include a more inclusive, private and welcoming design.  

Thank goodness it was a diverse team that helped design this new “gender-neutral” bathroom. The final product includes 11 private rooms (some with their own sinks), a urinal room for the men, and an art wall feature outside in the hall to display public art. The private stalls are equipped with the latest technology, including a light strip that lights up green for vacant and red for occupied. Project leaders told the feds the new bathroom helped them maintain “vital public services” during the pandemic. There’s nothing more vital than…you get the picture.  

The Golden Turkey Committee does have a little sympathy for Bloomington leaders. They were handed more than $11 million from the federal government during the pandemic with a tight timeline for spending. This was all part of the massive overreaction to the COVID-19 virus and the colossal failure of leadership at so many levels. With that much money in the system, we were bound to end up with Golden Turkey material. It’s hard to spend $11 million on masks and plexiglass.  

As the late great Tom Steward chronicled on these very pages, cities spent COVID money on some very questionable items:  

• Maple Grove directed $53,360 to deploy park ambassadors who were “educating, informing folks about the best way to use the park system.”
• Lake Wilson’s fire department got a $9,443 washer and dryer “for when on accident scenes with COVID patients.”
• Anoka invested an unspecified sum on “utility carts for golf courses to keep one employee per cart” that led to “additional wear on the course and additional fertilizer was required to maintain courses with excessive cart use.”
• Hector traded in a used John Deere along with $30,500 in CARES Act funds to procure a Bobcat for “emergency situations to assist ambulance crew with clearing out snow to get COVID patients out of their homes.”
• Bethel plowed most of its $38,000 into park improvements and bike trails because residents “only have one park right in town.”
• Hanska used $27,801 to update the municipal bar.
• Forest Lake almost spent $150,000 on an addition to the golf course clubhouse, before a public outcry made them change their minds.  

While all of these are questionable, the $1 million Bloomington gender-neutral bathroom at city hall takes the cake and earned a fourth-place finish for the 2025 Golden Turkey Award.