Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has changed his account of his involvement in a controversial vehicle training program after the state National Guard disputed his claim that he had completed the course.
Walz, a Democrat and former command sergeant major in the Guard, has faced scrutiny over whether he received preferential treatment in being allowed to take an Army helicopter to attend the program at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 2009. Critics, including some former top National Guard officers, have said it was highly unusual for a state’s top National Guard officer to attend such a program.
Walz initially said he was “the only governor and the only person flying back and forth” to the training, which is known as the High Altitude Army Aviation Training Site. But after Guard officials said records showed at least six other Minnesota National Guard members had also attended the training in the same time frame, his story changed.
“The information I had was inaccurate,” Walz told Minnesota Public Radio News. He added that he did not want to call it a “mistake” and that he had tried to correct the record.
Walz has also faced questions from the media about why his record of the training, which is required to fly the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, could not be found. In an interview last week with The Star Tribune, Walz first said the training was documented in his military records. But when the newspaper asked him to produce the records, he said he had none, adding that Guard officials had told him the training was entered into a “non-digital system.”
Neither Walz nor his staff provided additional details about the system, and the Guard did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Walz’s office clarified to The Associated Press that the training had been entered incorrectly in a paper record, which had since been corrected.
Walz said he attended the training as a way to gain proficiency in aviation jargon and to be a more informed leader, rather than to become a military pilot.
“I never once asserted that I completed it,” he said.
At a news conference Tuesday, Walz said even though the episode had become a distraction, his record in the National Guard speaks for itself. He said he was proud of his time in the Guard and the work he did on behalf of all Minnesotans.