evidence: Gov. Tim Walz responds to Republican criticisms of new state flag [...] "While Republicans are going to be talking about this, I am going to be building roads, bridges and water treatment plants," Walz said. "While Republicans talking about this, I am going to be making sure our kids are eating and we're creating job creation. So they can debate it in the legislature, we will see where it goes, but I think any time change comes, I think, a lot of Minnesotans, when they look, our flag looks like 19 other states." [...] Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Melissa Hortman released a statement late Monday afternoon saying, "We changed the flag for a reason. In addition to it being a poor design, it was offensive to a large number of people. There will not be the votes to delay, reverse or put the flag to a referendum."