So tonight, I get to introduce Nate George, and he is running for state auditor. In my opinion,
he is the most qualified for this job, and you're going to see as he explains that to
you. But let me read a summary of who Nate George is. So Nate George is running for
Minnesota State Auditor because he believes Minnesotans deserve a government that is
open, accountable, and responsible with every dollar. As state auditor, his mission
is to bring transparency to every corner of government spending, ensure taxpayers can
clearly see how their money is used and why. He will uphold accuracy in public
financing, holding officials to the same high standards Minnesotans set for
themselves, and through unwavering fiscal responsibility, he will safeguard our
state's resources, promote efficient budgeting, prevent waste so that
Minnesota's future remains strong, stable, and fair for all. Together, we can
restore trust in government, strengthen oversight, and make sure every public
dollar truly works for the people of Minnesota. Welcome, Nate George.
All right. Well, that was my speech. So do we have any questions? I think we
got the point. All right. Well, thanks for having me tonight, folks. My name is
Mayor Nate George. I'm the mayor up in Brown, Minnesota. You may have heard
of it, maybe not. I don't know. If you blink when you drive by, you'll
completely miss it. So, homemade pie capital of Minnesota. So that's our
lame claim to fame. I'm here tonight to talk a little bit about, first and
foremost, educating and being informed voters. Because if you don't know...
Well, let me ask you this. How many of you know what the state auditor's
office is supposed to do? So that's a much better response. So I had gotten
into the habit of asking the question, how many of you know what the state
auditor does? Well, after people telling me and laughing at me over and over
again, well, they don't do anything, I finally rephrased the question.
So now I get a little bit more of a response. Yeah. So they're supposed
to audit. What do they audit? All right, we got some observant people in the crowd
tonight. That's good. That means you're paying attention, but we need to pay
attention a little bit more. 100%. So the state auditor, believe it or not,
doesn't audit the state. Anybody confused yet? Okay. Well, I'll walk you
through it. And I apologize. I don't have another easel tonight, so this
is kind of tilted. Let me know if you can't see it. When I'm done, I'll
have it back out there at my table. Please come by and take a look. But this
illustration here, I created to kind of help break it down as simply as
possible, given that it is government and nothing about government is
simple ever. But the state auditor is responsible for the oversight of over
$60 billion in local government finances. 3,300 local entities across
the state. Everything below the state is under their purview. They do not
audit state agencies and state programs. Why is that important for you to
know? And it's a test to see how much people are really paying attention.
Yeah. Well, they don't have anything to do with the fraud that's
going on in state programs because it's not under their purview. And that's
by state statute. And that's what it is right there. Chapter six, Minnesota
state statutes. Look it up. Fact check me, please. It's a very short read and
it's pretty straightforward. But state statute chapter six is what gives
the state auditor's office its authority in its scope. Okay. And in
that statute, it thoroughly describes and very specifically describes the
scope and authority of the state auditor's office, what it can and cannot
audit. And nowhere in that statute does it say state agencies and state
programs. It is all local government. Even furthermore, it specifically has
a clause in there that says any duties or authorities expressly reserved
for the legislative auditor in chapter three are specifically reserved for that
office. So we flip the chapter three and we read about the legislative
auditor. And what does that say that they do? Audits the state. Yep. We're
connecting the dots. Awesome. That is the authority in independent office
that audits the state agencies and state programs. So knowing that the
legislative auditor has that explicit authority, we know that by statute, by
law, the state auditor can't audit and investigate state agencies. They
are specifically prohibited from doing so. And if anyone tells you which
there are candidates out there who will and are trying to tell you this, that as
the state auditor, they don't care. They're going to go after everybody. There
are legal repercussions for doing that. And in fact, the state auditor has
already gotten in trouble legally and had a ruling against them by the
Minnesota Supreme Court back in 2017 for overstepping their authority. So
what we don't need is reckless rhetoric, especially from people who have no
background in anything auditing related whatsoever. Because that's what we've
had for the last however many years that there's been a Democrat in that
office. And what do we have to show for that lack of experience? If you can
figure it out, let me know because I don't know the answer to that
question either. Okay, we need to stop electing people who have no experience or
background in what they're running for and expecting different results. That's
where I come in. So let me jump into my speech real quick and then we'll get
back to it. All right, good evening, my fellow Minnesotans. My name is Mayor
Nate George and I'm running for Minnesota State Auditor because I
believe government must work for the people it serves and it must be honest,
honest, transparent and operate within its means. That's the key one. And
accountable when it doesn't every single time. For my entire career, I've been
trusted with one core responsibility. Safeguarding integrity and complex
systems where the public deserves absolute confidence. Today, I serve as
the Director of Licensing and Investigations for the MLAX Band of Ojibwe Tribal
Gaming Regulatory Authority. I don't know how they fit that all on my on my
business card, but they did. In that role, I lead teams of investigators,
compliance specialists and community engagement professionals who ensure
fairness, accountability and trust in regulated enterprises that impact
thousands of jobs in millions of dollars. When I stepped into that position,
our systems were slow and outdated. It's a common complaint that we hear
amongst state employees right now. Licensing decisions and compliance
audits took more than 30 days. I changed that. By modernizing
procedures and demanding accountability, we reduced turnaround times to just
three days. We reduced without sacrificing thoroughness or integrity
and doing so. Today, our compliance rulings stand at a 98% favorable rate.
What does that mean? We have a board that oversees our agency. We are an
independent government agency that has oversight of the casinos and make
sure that they are following state and federal gaming laws. When we have to
present cases, we present them to that board and they make a ruling. So that
means that the board has decided on the cases that we built, they ruled in
our favor 98% of the time. That's not luck. That's just
disciplined oversight done right. I also know what it means to protect
public dollars at the local level because I do it every day as the
mayor of Brown, Minnesota. When I took office, our city faced a significant
financial deficit. We were almost a million dollars over budget and our
budget is only about $2 million to begin with. We were hit with a 48%
property tax levy increase. And our infrastructure was 100 plus years old
in some parts of town and literally crumbling beneath our feet. We didn't
make excuses, though. We just fixed it. No more kicking the can down the road
and kicking our feet up on the desk. We modernized financial systems. We
increased transparency. We restored fiscal discipline. No more looking at
last year's numbers and then just adding 10 grand and that's your budget.
But going line by line to determine what was actually needed and what
wasn't. Not what we wanted, but what do we need at the bare minimum to provide
the basic services that were required to provide to our taxpayers? And that is
it. Not a penny more. To lead by example, I refused my mayoral stipend
for a year until the financial situation was turned around. I worked
for free. One by one, every city council member followed suit. The result,
Bram reversed its deficit and has seen back-to-back budget surpluses. Our
cash reserves went from negative to a stable 50% of general fund balance.
Excuse me. And we secured more than $13 million in first-time funding to
rebuild roads, improve water and sewer systems, and deliver real results for our
residents. That's what responsible auditing and financial oversight should
do. Protect taxpayers, strengthen communities, and plan for the future.
I also bring the perspective of service beyond politics. I have served
as a firefighter, a sheriff deputy, and a capital officer with the state
patrol. I'm a master sergeant in the United States Air Force Reserve with
over 20 years of service as of last month. Currently supporting strategic
planning at Pacific Air Force's headquarters. I sell the four-star
general when his good idea fairies are just too good to be true. And I've
done that a lot. I've learned that leadership means preparation,
accountability, and making tough decisions guided by facts, not politics.
I have been on three combat deployments to the Middle East and one non-combat
deployment to Malaysia. I have earned more than 20 military medals and awards,
but what matters most to me is trust. The trust of the people that I serve
and that I lead, whether in uniform, in city hall, or in public administration.
As state auditor, I will bring that same commitment to Minnesota. I will fight for
transparent audits, fair oversight of local governments, and responsible
stewardship of public funds. I will ensure that every dollar is accounted for,
every community is treated fairly, and every Minnesotan can have confidence
that their local government is being good fiscal stewards of their money.
This office isn't about headlines. It's about integrity. It's about making sure government
earns the public trust each and every day. We need to stop electing people with no
background or experience into office and expecting different results. It is because
of my direct background and experience that I was able to create a first of its kind
proactive auditing tool. See it right here to my left.
At a press conference from the state capital last week, I unveiled my fraud risk score concept.
Like each one of us who has an individual credit score, whether we want one or not,
each of the 3,300 local entities that includes counties, cities, townships, and school boards
would be given an individual fraud risk score under my plan. Utilizing staff that already
exists and information already being gathered in areas such as internal control standards
or lack thereof, separation of duties again or lack thereof, fund balance trends over time,
always seeing sharp increases and sharp decreases consistently,
and history of prior findings or complaints. Each area would be graded,
generating an overall score that falls somewhere on the low, moderate, or high-risk scale.
More importantly, a public online dashboard would be established,
which would then enable any member of the public to look up any local entity's score
and ask their local officials what they are doing to improve it or maintain it.
That's where public accountability comes back into the picture.
I have also submitted a proposed bill that would not only make the fraud risk score law,
it would enable the legislature to use it and require a minimum fraud risk rating
in order to be eligible for any state funding, incentivizing local governments
to proactively demonstrate that they can protect your tax dollars before they've even received
the funds. And we wouldn't have to lift the finger to do it.
So what I envision is the state auditor's office already has a government information
to the division that collects this data every year from annual audits. Every city, county,
school board is required to have an annual audit. And even though they have those
audits performed by third parties most often, they still have to submit that report to the state
auditor's office, okay? So it requires no budgetary appropriations to do what they're
already doing. It's just presenting the data in a different way that is more consumable
and accessible to the general public. So when you go on to the dashboard, this is what you see.
You type in your county name or your city name and this pops up and wherever this needle falls
for that entity will be based on these contributing factors that I just read off.
There's no opinion involved in coming up with this score which removes the politics out of it.
It is purely data driven. And that data and those data sources are 100% transparent
because they can be tied back to the audit report. You can then take this information back to your
county board or your city council. Alan, I'm hoping you're with me on this one.
Not trying to make your life more difficult. But you can take this back to your local
your government board and say, you know, hey, good job if it's a low score, right?
We deserve praise once in a while. Or if it's a moderate or high risk score,
why is that the case? And what are you doing to improve it?
Because that's where fraud and misuse of public funds occurs, folks,
when nobody's watching and people stop asking questions.
So it gives you the ammo and the information you need to go ask questions. And the rest
is up to you. Now, with this bill being proposed, and I'm currently working with my buddy Jimmy
Gordon to look at it, revise it, make sure it's something that we can actually push,
I am the only candidate that has submitted a bill to actually reform and modernize the
state auditor's office. And that includes one of my opponents who's a current sitting state rep.
So, please remember that.
Folks, once again, my name's Nate George. I've balanced budgets. I've rebuilt auditing
in compliance systems. I've investigated in uncovered fraud, theft, and misuse of public
funds. I've enforced compliance and served my country in many capacities. I am an expert
at what I do, and I'm ready to bring meaningful reform and modernization
by serving Minnesota as your next state auditor. Thank you very much, and I'd be honored to have your support.