Senator Amy Klobuchar does a good job of portraying herself as “Minnesota Nice.”  She even titled her book The Senator Next Door, building an image that she is the grandchild of immigrants and middle-class parents.

As a member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, Amy Klobuchar recently got a chance to take her game to the next level with the Brett Kavanaugh hearings/circus. Klobuchar, like several of her counterparts, used her time to announce that she would like to be president.

Despite her “Aw shucks” demeanor, she is a politician like any other. A woman willing to crush anyone who gets in her way. The kind of politician who would destroy successful men’s careers without batting an eye.

This story starts when Amy Klobuchar, a partner at the law firm Dorsey & Whitney in Minneapolis, held the office of Hennepin county attorney. Her sights were set on Minnesota attorney general. Klobuchar thought she had found a great case to further her career, the Kirby Puckett case.

Puckett, a Hall of Fame baseball player loved in Minnesota and around the world, was charged with assault on a woman in a public restroom. That case didn’t work out for Klobuchar, as Puckett was eventually acquitted of all charges.

Fresh off that defeat, young Amy Klobuchar needed a win badly, and she found it with some unsuspecting Northwest Airlines pilots. This time the defendants were not beloved heroes. They were easily cast as villains gaming the system. Even better, they were middle-aged white men.

The pilots were not charged with anything as horrible as rape -- they were accused of tax evasion. The whole thing revolved around how many days these pilots spent in any one state, thus constituting residency in that state and determining in which state they had to pay state income tax.

Boring… I know! But it was exactly what Amy Klobuchar needed to look tough on white-collar crime and further her career to become the new Minnesota attorney general.

I personally interviewed Captain Randy Enyeart, one of the pilots to have the unfortunate experience of running into Amy Klobuchar as she made her climb to the top. He has become a skeleton in her crowded closet.

In 2001, Captain Enyeart was a divorced father with two sons and an airline pilot for Northwest Airlines (NWA). Enyeart had a good relationship with his former wife, and he helped in raising their sons. Randy split his time between Alaska, Missouri, and Minnesota.

Captain Enyeart claimed residency status in Alaska and shared a home there. He also had a townhome in Shorewood, Minnesota near his sons. Determining residency for tax purposes comes down to number of days spent in a state, which for a pilot sometimes comes down to hours. If a pilot lands in Minneapolis, sits in the terminal for an hour, and then leaves, does that count as a “day” in the state?

All this is governed by very old legislation originally designed for train workers and interstate commerce. Infractions are investigated by the Minnesota Department of Revenue (MDOR).

Captain Enyeart was an Instructor Pilot and Check Airman for Northwest Airlines Training Center in Minneapolis. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) had negotiated a “side-letter” with the MDOR and Northwest Airlines governing the instructor pilots’ residency. Captain Enyeart never exceeded the allowed 183 days in any of the three states in question. As far as Enyeart knew, he was following the letter of the law.

His Minnesota townhome was empty most of the time, so he placed it in a non-homestead status, therefore paying a higher property tax. Neighbors noticed “Agents” peeking in the windows of the townhome and at first thought the place might be for sale.

In February of 2001, Captain Enyeart was sleeping on a blow-up mattress in his otherwise empty townhome when the MDOR showed up. He was grilled as if he had committed a serious offense. They questioned his residency status, even though it was visually obvious no one lived permanently at the house.

Nothing would stop the wheels from turning once Amy Klobuchar had determined this was a great case to build her career upon.

Klobuchar charged Enyeart and other NWA pilots with tax evasion. She expected the pilots to plea bargain. It looked to be an easy victory and a triumphant sound byte. However, Captain Enyeart and a few others fought back. The result of the plea bargain would mean the entire loss of the defendant’s career, whcih was unacceptable to Captain Enyeart. He’d spent his entire life training for an airline career. It was what he knew best, and he was good at it.

He wasn’t about to just let a politically hungry prosecutor take that away without a fight. However, Captain Enyeart didn’t realize the power of the machine he was up against. Strange things began to happen involving the case, always in the prosecutor’s favor.

First, the Senior Investigator was pulled from the case because he testified in a pre-trial hearing that Enyeart had met all the guidelines to be an Alaskan resident. That testimony didn’t fit the narrative. Enyeart never saw that investigator again.

As the trial proceeded, Enyeart and his attorney proved the state had counted his days in Minnesota incorrectly. It should have been an open and shut case for the defendants. The state was miserably wrong in its calculations and didn't understand Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) used by pilots and airline scheduling. 

Captain Enyeart believes that Klobuchar's team and Judge Regina Chu obstructed justice by intentionally cancelling court on the days that his sons and ex-wife were available to testify. Perhaps going so far as to fake doctor and dental appointments, and that Judge Chu had judge school. Klobuchar and Judge Chu cancelled court the only week his ex-wife was available, knowing she was leaving the country for several weeks.

The Klobuchar team met every morning in the judge’s chambers before court started! Enyeart's defense team was not included in those closed-door meetings.

Klobuchar’s attorneys acted as if they were unaware of the MDOR side-letter that specifically protected Captain Enyeart and the other instructor pilots.

Captain Enyeart realized that he might be facing a stacked court when Judge Chu inexplicably ruled that the side-letter was inadmissible as evidence. The jury never knew of the side-letter.

Attorneys familiar with Minnesota’s legal system told Captain Enyeart that Klobuchar had suffered a miserable loss in the Puckett case and she needed a win at all costs. Her aspirations for higher office depended on it. She needed the positive name recognition that would come from winning his case.

A trial that turns political leaves a defendant with little hope that justice remains blind. 

An MDOR residency expert, James Clancy, could not explain how Captain Enyeart had violated any of the 27 guidelines for residency. Clancy could not show criminal behavior as the guidelines applied to Enyeart. That didn’t stop the proceedings for Klobuchar.

Unexplained oddities continued to pile up. Civil guidelines were being used in a criminal case. No one knows why.  Never before had residency been prosecuted criminally in the history of the State of Minnesota. Klobuchar prosecuted the pilots criminally in all counties, even outside her county of jurisdiction.

Unbeknownst to Captain Enyeart, the MDOR agents had worn a wire the day of the home visit. Upon learning about the audio, Enyeart's team subpoenaed those tapes. Once again, anything that might help the pilot’s case disappeared… the tapes had been “accidentally” erased.

The MDOR also stated they read Enyeart his Miranda Rights prior to questioning him. Captain Enyeart maintains that never happened. That would have been proven if the agent’s tape had been preserved.

The MDOR called none of the neighbors to testify about Enyeart's usage of the townhome. Their testimony would have shown that it wasn’t Captain Enyeart’s permanent residence.

During jury selection. Captain Enyeart felt helpless as the Klobuchar team axed the one juror showing signs of an open mind.  At the time, Klobuchar was in full control of the Hennepin County court system, and her will was going to be carried out.

The gavel came down. Captain Enyeart lost in court and was forced into early retirement in 2003, because of laws regulating pilots since 9/11. Enyeart is no longer allowed to fly for an American airline. His life and career were shattered because of the ego and dishonesty of Amy Klobuchar and her court minions.

As fate would have it, shortly after Klobuchar’s victory over the pilots, former Minnesota senator Mark Dayton surprisingly chose not to run for a second term.

Amy Klobuchar quickly dropped her goal of Minnesota attorney general, and refocused her sights on the U.S. Senate, and the rest is history.

Senator Klobuchar portrays herself as a sweet and innocent girl next door. To this day, she touts her victory of bringing down those evil pilots as she gives her stump speeches. She likes people to think she is strong and fair with a midwestern authenticity that would look good in the White House. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The destruction of Enyeart’s life was simply a means to an end for Klobuchar. To her, he was simply a springboard to higher office. In his eyes, she is a fraud and a phony.

Watching the Kavanaugh hearings brought it all back for Captain Enyeart, forcing him to relive one of the most painful experiences of his life. Senator Klobuchar did her part, once again, to bring down a successful man by twisting the truth to fulfill her desires to go to the next level politically.

Minnesota voters need to wake up to the reality of who is representing their State. The rest of America would do well to keep Senator Klobuchar from going anywhere near Pennsylvania Avenue.