Ex-Minnesota bar owners say 'evil' Tim Walz's far-left policies ruined small businesses
Lisa Zarza and Bill Hupp were negatively impacted by COVID orders and lack of action to control the 2020 riots
Former Minnesota bar owner slams Tim Walz for forcing her into bankruptcy: 'Evil'
Former Minnesota bar owner Lisa Zarza tells 'Fox & Friends First' about how Tim Walz's COVID policies led to her small business' demise.
Strict COVID crackdowns and reluctance to take action against perpetrators during the 2020 Minnesota riots has landed vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz in the hot seat with former small business owners in his state.
Former bar owner Lisa Zarza told "Fox & Friends First" on Tuesday that the Democratic governor's strict COVID lockdowns forced her into bankruptcy after she defied his orders.
"They took my food service license, essentially, and they suspended my food license, and then they revoked my right to have a food license in the state," she said.
"They revoked my right to have a liquor license in my state for five years, which was later overruled, but I lost two restaurants because of it. I lost two different restaurants because of it, and, I was fined over $300,000 for it."
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally with Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the Liacouras Center at Temple University on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pe (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Zarza now operates a bar in Wisconsin, and she insists that Walz is a danger to small businesses like her own.
She referred to the Harris vice presidential pick as "evil" in a recent New York Post article, a descriptor she doubled down on when asked about it during Tuesday's broadcast.
"I definitely think that Tim Walz is evil. He closed down our state not one time, but two times. In November of 2020, he decided that all bars and restaurants in our state needed to close down, and he opened up all big stores… Target, Walmart, Fleet Farm – they were all opened up 100% a week before Black Friday. He was looking out for the big people. He wasn't looking out for the small businesses of Minnesota."
"He talks about being so small-minded for small businesses. That's not who this man is," she added.
Former Minnesota bar owner Bill Hupp also criticized Walz on "The Big Money Show," Monday, for "neglecting the people he was supposed to represent" after his family-owned business was torched by rioters in 2020.
Ex-Minnesota bar owner Bill Hupp slams Gov. Tim Walz's leadership: 'Completely absent'
Former Hexagon Bar owner Bill Hupp explains how Gov. Tim Walz failed small businesses during the Minnesota riots on 'The Big Money Show.'
"It was a turbulent time…. and we had total lack of leadership beginning with Tim Walz and even the mayor. It was terrible," he said.
"We were left helpless without our police, our safety structure, the firefighters and the folks that would actually be out there to help control that kind of chaos, and, it was actually a terrible, terrible, environment."
Hupp said over 300 rioters "completely surrounded" his business building as he, along with his son and his son's friends, tried to board up before leaving.
Rioters allegedly threw frozen water bottles at Hupp and the others and set the store aflame with Molotov cocktails, leaving charred brick walls in their wake, according to The New York Post.
VP KAMALA HARRIS PICKING GOV. TIM WALZ AS RUNNING MATE MET WITH MEDIA SCORN: ‘SUCH A WEIRD CHOICE’
: On the U.S. Presidential campaign trail stopping in battleground states, Vice President Kamala Harris, and accompanied by her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, walks out into a packed rally in Glendale, Arizona on Friday August 9, 2024. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Hupp told "The Big Money Show" co-host Brian Brenberg the current business climate in Minnesota leaves much to be desired.
"It's like a Third World country. It's absolutely terrible. The leadership is completely absent," he said.
"Walz is supposed to be a so-called veteran. That's not a veteran. Anyone that's absent without leave there when all the worst times that we needed somebody to help out, he was gone [and] the mayor was gone. Nobody to call."
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Minnesota business owner tears into Walz: A 'total and complete failure'
Greg Urban, who closed down his Wild Greg's Saloon location in Minneapolis, rips the governor's handling of COVID and crime.
