Minnesota Republican state Rep. Kurt Bills, the GOP candidate challenging Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the upcoming election, said Wednesday that if she failed to prosecute a financial criminal in exchange for campaign contributions, she is “fundamentally unqualified” to serve in the U.S. Senate.
The Daily Caller reported Oct. 19 that documents show Klobuchar helped keep Petters out of prison for years by choosing to prosecute only his early co-conspirators. Petters’ scheme later grew to involve $3.65 billion in assets, and is the third-largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.
Those documents show Klobuchar had enough evidence to target Petters during the early years of his criminal enterprise. But Petters and his employees contributed more than $120,000 to Klobuchar’s campaigns for County Attorney and U.S. Senate.
After initially attempting to delay publication of TheDC’s investigation and then refusing comment, Klobuchar’s campaign spokesman Linden Zakula issued statements that denied allegations never leveled against the senator.
Klobuchar herself continues refusing requests for interviews and her spokespeople won’t answer specific questions about the report, so Bills has called on Klobuchar to step forward and answer the questions.
“We don’t yet know the truth of these allegations, but they are very serious and Minnesotans deserve the truth,” Bill said. “Only Amy Klobuchar can answer the questions, and she has so far failed.”
“In Minnesota, we hold our leaders to a higher standard,” he added. “We demand that the men and women we send to Washington stand above reproach and steer clear of the web of corruption, kickbacks and special favors.”
Bills went on to say that if Klobuchar “did indeed fail to protect Minnesotans from a predator like Tom Petters in exchange for campaign contributions in both 2002 and 2006,” then he thinks “she would be fundamentally unqualified to represent our state.”