MARSHALL — Amy Klobuchar said rooting out fraud would be one of her key priorities as Minnesota governor. But her proposals for state government would also be farther-reaching.

“I want to completely upend the system so that it works for the people of Minnesota,” Klobuchar said during a visit to Marshall on Thursday. “The other half of it, which went beyond fraud, was just how we can make our government work better for people and carry its weight.”

Klobuchar spoke to the Independent after she made a stop at a community tour event for her campaign for governor. The Campaign Community Tour event brought area residents to the Marshall Area YMCA.

Earlier this week, Klobuchar announced her priorities if she is elected governor. Klobuchar’s plan included proposals to strengthen enforcement against fraud, audit state agencies and increase oversight of state grants and contracts.

The announcement drew criticism from Republican candidates, with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth calling Klobuchar’s campaign “a Walz third term.”

“Plain and simple: four terms of Democrat control of the executive branch have doubled our state budget, raised taxes by billions and enabled a culture of fraud that has stolen billions more,” Demuth said in a May 3 statement.

Klobuchar responded to the criticism Thursday, saying she would bring a different background to the Minnesota governor’s office.

“I spent eight years running the biggest prosecutor’s office in the state. Eight years I ran it, and I made a major focus on white collar (crime) and fraud,” Klobuchar said.

When it came to dealing with recent fraud cases in Minnesota, she said, “I really look at it as, these people that did this ripped off the taxpayers, made it so people lost trust in government. People who actually should be getting these grants, like child care facilities and the like, for their legitimate work, get screwed,” she said. “What we need to do is, top to bottom, audit the state government, root out all this fraud, send the people to jail who did it, and then put in mechanisms that other states have used.”

Klobuchar said up-to-date technology would help state agencies detect fraud, and block fraud offenders from being able to get state contracts in the future.

“It’s a whole series of reforms that I’m committed to doing immediately,” she said.

Klobuchar said being able to streamline processes like permitting would also help make Minnesota work better for residents. For example, she said, if people want to start a day care or expand a business, they would be able to have a transparent way to check on the progress of their permit applications.

“Other states have done this,” she said. “They apply for a permit, and they have a certain amount of time and a deadline for having to be processed, and if it’s not processed you get your money back.”

The state of Minnesota needed to update its technology, Klobuchar said.

“They appear to be coming on some initial investment in it right now in this session, Democrats and Republicans,” she said. “You just need to have a governor that’s going to drive it.”

Klobuchar said she wanted to see change to Minnesota’s status quo. She said she was aware of the challenges facing Minnesota residents, from tariffs to gas prices.

“Those challenges are going to be a constant, but they cannot be an excuse,” she said. “We’re going to have to upgrade our services for people in Minnesota and make our government work better.”