Attorney General Keith Ellison and Challenger Jim Schultz Square Off in Latest Debate Showdown

(KNSI) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Republican challenger Jim Schultz are making their final pitches to voters as the election approaches.

The two faced off in a debate Sunday night.

In their opening statements, Ellison called himself “the people’s lawyer” and immediately attacked Schultz, saying he would restrict the right to an abortion. Ellison has maintained that the job of the AG is not to prosecute violent criminals but to protect consumers; however, in his opening statements said, “I am right now prosecuting violent criminals for families, communities, for victims.” He said he has “worked for consumers and workers” his whole life and accused Schultz of fear-mongering, calling him a hedge fund Wall Street lawyer” who enriched himself during the pandemic.

Schultz stayed on his message of fighting violent crime and called the current Attorney General’s office “fundamentally reckless” and said Ellison supported defunding and dismantling the Minneapolis police department.

The first question posed to both candidates was about crime. Schultz seemed to rebut Ellison’s previous statements that the AG’s office is about protecting consumers against predatory businesses, not about prosecuting criminals, by saying he agreed with Ellison that it is about protecting consumers and going after businesses who commit misconduct and fraud, but it’s also about ensuring that as the top prosecutor in the state, “that in the Attorney General’s Office, we have an adequate Criminal Division to aggressively prosecute violent crime.” He said as AG; he would support law enforcement, “not undermine them like Keith Ellison has done.”

Ellison said one of the first things he did as Attorney General was to ask for more money for criminal prosecutors and that it’s not the fault of the AG that criminals are walking away with lighter sentences as voters elect their chief criminal prosecutors and the AG can only step in if a county asks for help. Even after saying it’s not the job of the Attorney General to prosecute crime, he bragged about his record of prosecuting crime. “We’ve prosecuted cases in places like Pennington County, places like Carlton County, we prosecuted somebody who shot a police officer and almost killed him. We got a conviction for attempted first-degree murder. But we also prosecuted a man who murdered his wife. We have never lost a case,” and warned, “Jim has never set foot in a courtroom in his life.”

Schultz, whose campaign has focused on soaring crime rates, is endorsed by numerous public safety officials, including county sheriffs and the Minnesota Peace and Police Officers’ Association. Ellison claims public safety officials also support him. A search showed his most recent public safety endorsement was earlier this month when nine county attorneys stepped up and said they backed Ellison.

Ellison’s campaign has focused heavily on abortion access. Abortion in Minnesota is protected under the Constitution. When asked Sunday night, he said he has set aside his personal views on the subject to defend state abortion laws. He said he “took aim” at laws that “impaired the right to get a safe, legal abortion. [They] didn’t stop it, but they interfered with it. And these are laws that I as a state legislator, voted against.” A search could not find Ellison’s voting record as a Minnesota House of Representatives member. Ellison said, “I am, in fact, pro-life.” Ellison has a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, a lobbying group that opposes a 24-hour waiting period and parental consent for minors to get an abortion.

Schultz, who did not say in this debate which way he stands on the issue, was asked the same question and said, “what we need is an attorney general that enforces and defends Minnesota law, whatever it is, and that’s what I’ll do. We have to have an attorney general that’s apolitical, that sets aside his or her own personal opinions that no matter what comes before him or her, that simply is focused on doing justice every day of the week. And yes, absolutely. My job as attorney general is to enforce and defend Minnesota law. That’s what I’ll do.”

The two also sparred over the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case. Schultz said Ellison’s office didn’t act fast enough and allowed the fraud to continue. Ellison countered, saying his office had to act carefully; otherwise, evidence could have been destroyed, and said that shows Schultz’s lack of experience and not knowing how a RICO case works.

The two agreed the growing use of fentanyl was a major issue and that the drug has destroyed lives and families. Minnesota recently landed $300 million in a settlement to be directed at fighting the opioid crisis and helping those whose lives have been affected.

They also agreed on the requirement of a unanimous ruling to issue pardons. The Pardon Board is made up of the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. There is a proposal in the Minnesota House of Representatives to change the way pardons are granted. Right now, it takes a unanimous vote to issue a pardon. The proposal would make it a majority of the three.

Ellison and Schultz were asked what they feel can be done to address inequities in how the criminal justice system treats people of color. Schultz said he supported changing the laws to ban chokeholds and warrior style training after the death of George Floyd, adding, “we need to make sure that police always have body cameras, things along those lines. We have to ensure that we have the the legislation in place so that incidents like the George Floyd killing never happen again. He deserved better than what he had.”

Ellison said, “there are a lot of things that we can do still, of course. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which is federal legislation [that] should be moved forward. But there’s things the AG can do, for example, getting guns off the street, and getting them out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”

In their closing statements, Ellison reiterated his stance on protecting abortion access, prosecuting criminals, and fighting for consumers. Schultz said Ellison is “extreme” and backed the “defunding and dismantling Minnesota’s largest police force,” and called him incompetent and dishonest.

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