Fear and Power: How Tim Walz’s Policies Drove a Business Owner Across State Lines

Full Episode Transcript:

Lisa Zarza: I essentially lost two restaurants. I had one liquor license and food service license taken away from me. 10 other business owners, there was supposed to be 200 of us and 190 of them decided that they were afraid of what was going to happen. And they decided to not open against the unlawful mandates.

They’re probably at about 2. 2 million in revenue between the two of them to nothing. I was pretty much on my own, you know, I had a lot of support from local, local, um, politicians. And stuff like that. As far as, um, state level, nobody would listen. I, I was speechless when Tim Walls got the Vice President candidacy.

Honestly, he destroyed our lives, so we know who he is and we know what he is.

Matt Kane: Joining me right now is Lisa Za, a business owner who has been personally afflicted by the anti-American governing policies of Tim Walls. She’s here to share her story with all of us today. Lisa, thanks for being here. Welcome.

Lisa Zarza: Thanks for having me.

Matt Kane: To begin, I’d like for you to tell our listeners why you as a Minnesota resident have to commute over two hours per day across state lines into Wisconsin to operate your business because of Tim Walsh.

Lisa Zarza: Um, well I, I had two restaurants in Minnesota and, um, I was actually a business owner in Minnesota since about 2016. And in 2020, um, Tim Walls, along with the entire. Nation shot our state or our state down. Um, in March of March 17th of 2020. Um, we were able to open about 2. 5 months later with the rest of the nation.

And then November 20th of 2020, Tim Walls decided to shut our nation down or our state down again. So we went from, um. a 50 percent occupancy. So at that point, everyone was at 50 percent occupancy across the state. And then on, um, November 20th, he opened up all box stores, all retail, all Home Depot, Menards and restaurants were closed down 100%.

And, um, that went into effect November 20th. It stayed into effect until January 10th. And on December 16th, myself with, um, 10 other business owners, there was supposed to be 200 of us and 190 of them decided. That they were afraid of what was going to happen and they decided to not open against the unlawful mandates.

And 10 of us opened and I essentially lost 2 restaurants. Um, I had 1 liquor license and food service license taken away from me in 1 restaurant in Lakeville. And then the 1. I had one in Northfield also, which is about 20 minutes south of my restaurant, which had no, um, affiliation. We were separate LLC and my liquor license renewal was denied there also.

So at that point, um, I lost both my restaurants and about, they’re probably at about 2. 2 million dollars in revenue between the two of them to nothing. And, um, In 2020, I was able to get another restaurant in the state of Wisconsin on a contract for a deed and opened up there and I commute two hours a day and I’ve been doing that for two and a half years.

Matt Kane: It seems a little bit insane to me that despite not violating any food service codes, that an American business owner would have their food license stripped from them simply because the government says so. without them providing anything close to a scientific justification to support their decision.

In fact, we’ve now seen internal emails from Walls chief of staff at the time where he admitted the COVID case numbers were too small to justify their lack lockdowns, and that Walls personally wanted to continue them anyway. When you were going through this in 2020, was there any member of government or any official who you could attempt to reason with to make them see?

What they were doing was blatantly nonsensical or un American, or were you pretty much on your own?

Lisa Zarza: Um, I was pretty much on my own. You know, I had a lot of support from local, local, um, politicians and stuff like that. But as far as, um, state level, uh, nobody would listen. And, you know, when we, when we see what happened, you know, the whole entire country shut down.

And we all did what we needed to do to flatten the curve. And when they did it again, um, There was a lot of stuff coming out. So when you were on Facebook or, you know, the main social media aspects are on, you know, main mainstream media. You didn’t see what was really happening.

But when you went to, you know, the rumble or the, the other off, off, off site ones, we really saw what was happening and it was no longer about, um, Flattening the curve and saving lives.

It was I think more of a political move. It was more of um, I don’t even know I don’t I guess I don’t know why they justified it Sometimes I laugh and say that walls his wife must have had an affair with a bartender, but I don’t know if that’s correct but That’s always kind of the running joke. He’s

Matt Kane: a weird guy.

Lisa Zarza: Yeah, because it was it was just so lopsided and nobody would really listen. You know, when we got our licenses taken away, the executive order called for, um, the licensing agencies to be able to put restrictions on our license through compliance. Well, January 10th, we Along with the rest of the state, we’re able to open legally and we followed all the laws and the mandates when they allowed us to open on January 10th.

So the executive order restrictions on, um, uh, licensing, even if it was unlawful to do it to begin with, that would have been lifted. And in the end of January, the Minnesota department of health refused to issue my food service license. And said it was because strictly because of what I had done for the mandates and, um, like you said, the, the Minnesota Department of Health only.

They restrict your licensing if you violate the 2019 food code in Minnesota, and I had never violated anything. I never had any write ups. I had never had any, any critical issues that were not addressed immediately. We had no issues with the health department until that point.

Matt Kane: So let me ask you, many people would hear your story and say, why not just move, relocate, make it easier on yourself.

Is it a, you know, symbolic like? mental fight for you to not let someone like Tim Walls drive you out of your home, or is it something else? What is the motivation for you to remain in this lifestyle, commuting all this way across state lines, despite how challenging Walls and the state has made your life to a certain extent?

Lisa Zarza: Well, trust me, if I could live in Wisconsin immediately, I would. Um, we, me and my ex, um, fiance owned a house and we owned a very big house. And, um, because of the, the, um, some of legal stuff and because of, I had filed their personal bankruptcy, um, the day before my summary judgment with the state of Minnesota, we weren’t able to sell the house.

We were able to sell it in April. And, um, I got a lease in a place in, in Minnesota still for another year. And so that lease is up in March 15th of 2022 or 2025. And then I’ll be moving to Wisconsin. So it was just, um, if I never had to come to the state again, I never would. But because of just logistics and financials and everything, there was a lot of different things involved in why I wasn’t able to move immediately.

But as soon as I can leave the state, I am leaving the state. And if I never have to cross into the state again. More than happy.

Matt Kane: Well, then I’m pulling for you because when I came across your story, that was one of the first things I thought of. Why would you continue to put yourself through this if you didn’t have to?

So that makes sense. Now, regarding Tim Walz, you said he isn’t what Minnesota is. He isn’t who we want in our White House. Now, I don’t think that’s crazy at all. And in fact, my personal opinion, I think that roughly 75 percent of the people in this country would agree with you. Yet thanks to the party elites coordinating Kamala Harris and her bringing him along, he is the Democrat vice presidential nominee.

Now, why do you think the Democrat Party shuns the common sense members of the party, like Tulsi Gabbard and now RFK Jr., in favor of putting, really, anti American freaks with Chinese ties, such as Tim Walz, on a pedestal? Is it incompetence, or do they have a genuine hatred? For what America stands for.

Lisa Zarza: You know, I was speechless. I, I was speechless when, um, Tim Walls got the Vice President candidacy. Honestly, you know, there had been, you know, talks about it for a couple weeks and when I saw it, you know, so at my work. We talk politics every single day. Um, you know, usually in restaurants, you’re not allowed to talk politics, but the reason why I’m in that state and the reason why I own that bar is because of politics and what happens.

So we talked very freely and people were saying, you know, is there a chance? And I was literally, I thought it was not a chance in hell. There was no chance in hell that he was going to get it. And the morning I found out, I was like, Didn’t they do their research? I have no idea what they were. I, I literally, like we knew, we know every, we, you know, he destroyed our lives.

So, you know, I would get hundreds and hundreds of different things about him all the time. So we know who he is, and we know what he is. And I, I hope we’re at 75 percent of the country does not want Tim Walz in the, in the White House, because I’ll tell you what. I don’t really know anyone that does, honestly.

And I mean, I, I open, I openly freely talk about politics, but I also respect other people’s opinions. You know, it’s okay if you’re a Democrat. Why? What are your opinions? And you know, in the problem right now, I think with America is, is Republicans and Democrats are so far apart that there’s no middle ground and we have to get to that middle ground because we’re Americans, we have to become united again, because we just aren’t.

But I think decisions like putting Tim Walz in the White House and Biden, you know, these were decisions that, and even Trump, you know, I mean, the I’m a Trump supporter, but he definitely wasn’t for united, uniting America as a whole, because I think it really alienated the two parties. And I think that’s, it’s continued for eight years and now we’re coming to another election and it’s scary.

It’s, to me, this is probably one of the scariest elections our nation has ever, nation has ever seen because. The sides are so divided and I can’t see a middle ground of anyone being happy. You know, I’m glad Kennedy decided to, uh, support Trump because I really think that he might be the middle ground that our country needs at this point. So.

Matt Kane: I think the ideologies are definitely far apart. I’m not quite sure what the number is, though, of each side of the party. Meaning, is it 50 50, is it 70 30, is it 60, is it two thirds to a third, whatever. Um, but I definitely think you see people, as you just mentioned, RFK, but also Tulsi Gabbard. If, I think if we don’t think about it so much in terms of Republican Democrat versus freedom and common sense versus the other side, I, I feel a little more optimistic than maybe what you’re saying about us coming together.

I think this last couple of years has really made people crave common sense, and I’m at least somewhat hopeful that we’re getting there. But I do want to ask you one last question before we let you go. Vice presidents typically have little to no impact on a general election outcome, but as you mentioned, Walls does not at all represent what Minnesotans believe in, and based on what you’re saying you hear at your local, at your business that you own in Wisconsin, It doesn’t seem like anybody’s really supportive of him.

And many polls show President Trump in position to become the first Republican to win Minnesota since Richard Nixon. Do you believe the resistance to walls can potentially make that a reality based on what you hear from people in your home state?

Lisa Zarza: You know, I’m hoping, but we also have to look two years ago.

And Governor Walz won one again for governor. You know, he won the last governor’s race and, um, I was dumbfounded. And I think, I think that when you look at him winning it, it maybe necessarily didn’t have a lot to do with him. It had a lot to do with who he was running against and he was running against Scott Jensen, but took a really strong, um, stand on abortion.

So I’m hoping that the numbers that we saw on the last gubernatorial election. isn’t indicative of what our state represents, which is we don’t want walls there. But more people, more people felt stronger about the abortion issue than they did about Tim Walz. And I’m really hoping that that being a non issue right now in this election that we’re going to see the numbers where they really should be.

Matt Kane: Well, I want to commend you for putting up a fight. So many people know when things are wrong. Um, but they sit around and do nothing about it and they let it happen out of fear, which leads to it happening to more people. So I really do admire your spirit. Keep fighting. You have friends here at AMAC who are in your corner.

So thank you for joining us today and God bless you. Thank you.

Lisa Zarza: Thanks so much for having me.

Matt Kane: And to all our listeners out there, be sure to like and subscribe so that you don’t miss any of AMAC’s great content. I’m Matt Kane, until next time.

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