Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate says he will retaliate against state medical board, if elected

Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen is vowing to retaliate against the state board that oversees doctors, by which he is being investigated for a fifth time.

Jensen has said in response, "This juggernaut will be dealt with," should he get elected.

Jensen, a family practice physician, has long been skeptical of the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. He has encouraged some to question mask mandates and promoted the use of ivermectin to treat the virus. 

Jensen, also a former state senator, last month won the endorsement of the state GOP party.

He is vying to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, whom he has criticized heartily for his response to the pandemic.

Jensen says all five investigations into him are baseless and predicated on allegations from anonymous critics. He has cooperated and provided information to the board, but says he has not heard back in months.

"I should not have to practice medicine, or run for governor, with this cloud of, if you will, uncertainty hanging over my head. And yet that's what I'm doing. I'm living with that," he said in a recently posted video.

According to the Associated Press, he also noted at a recent event that, if elected, he will get to appoint members to the medical board. He described the board as a "massive, inexorable force" that has been weaponized against him for political purposes. 

The group is comprised of 16 governor-appointed members, including doctors and members of the public.

Nine of the current seats, all of which were appointed by Democratic governors, are due for appointment or reappointment during the next gubernatorial term. 

The board, according to its executive director, "investigates complaints as required by and in accordance with state laws and rules." It did not have a response to Jensen's comments. 

The same was not true, however, of the state Democratic party.

"Anyone who repeatedly promises to use the governor’s office to jail or fire their personal enemies is unfit for public service. The doctors who serve on the board investigating Scott Jensen are not anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, which is what makes them different from him.

"Scott Jensen’s extremism and disturbing enthusiasm for political retaliation don’t belong anywhere near the governor’s office," said Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin.