|
|
We need to know where our leaders stand and what solutions they are pursuing. Pete Stauber has been anything but clear in this regard.
Stauber has called the Biden Administration’s Infrastructure Bill “an excuse to advance costly and radical policies that will have negative repercussions on rural districts like ours, and absurd particularly when it comes to transportation;” but in January of 2022 he was “happy to announce all the grant money our northland airports were getting,” but failed to credit the source of the grants as coming from the Infrastructure Bill.
Representative Stauber complained about Biden’s plan to provide student loan forgiveness up to $20,000 for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year, although the Stauber family Duluth Hockey company was a beneficiary of a federal PHP loan during the pandemic.
Per Pete: “In Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, we’re blessed with breathtaking scenery found at Voyageurs National Park. The park is just one of the many reasons I think we have the most beautiful district in Minnesota and the country.” And yet Pete voted NO on HR2546 for multiple conservation measures that protect wild areas in our state; NO to stopping the destruction and exploitation of the natural world, putting profits to his billionaire donors ahead of protections. He voted NO on HR3684 to prepare for impacts of climate change, extreme weather events like wildfires, floods and droughts.
Stauber has been a zealous proponent of the proposed Twin Metals copper mine, as proposed by Antofagasta, a billionaire Chilean family. The underground mine, plus its above ground processing and waste storage operations would be located alongside a lake with waters flowing into the BWCA. The environmental report, held back by the Trump Administration and released by the Biden Administration in July 2022, details the threat posed by mines like Twin Metals if operated outside the BWCA but within its fragile watershed and bolsters the need for a 20 year moratorium and permanent protections.
Like other Republican representatives, Stauber uses national GOP talking points blaming the other side for problems, voting NO on helpful legislation, and using buzzwords like critical race theory to create fear and division among his constituents. All of this chaos sucks energy away from truly working on behalf of his constituents to develop real solutions. While he and the Republican Party are still stuck trying to change the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election, the Biden Administration and Democrats have gone forward with meaningful legislation to help people in their current lives and to move the US into the future.
Jen Schultz, economics professor at UMD, current representative for District 7A in MN House of Representatives is known for her ability to find common ground, understands economics, the need for affordable housing, strengthening jobs, childcare for families, high-speed internet for businesses and remote work. She speaks to the huge call for manufacturing of products to return to the US and suggests creating more economic diversity on the Range by adding the manufacturing and recycling of steel, a newer big business in the steel industry.
She starts by bringing sides together agreeing that we must keep drinking and surface bodies of water safe, and obtain federal funding (which Stauber has not pursued) to expand use of science and technology for solving problems. “It’s about coming up with solutions that serve the people.”
Read the Jen Schultz 9/15/22 interview on Boreal.org. Boreal “reached out repeatedly to Stauber’s campaign for an interview and received no response.” Last week Stauber’s campaign declined participation in the annual candidate debate sponsored by the Duluth News Tribune. A Brainerd Lakes debate between both candidates is scheduled for 10/24/22, 6:30pm, Maddens on Gull Lake. Stauber’s campaign announced another debate, but Schultz reported that she has not yet received an invitation.
Jen Schultz’ future focused ideas are energizing and give hope and an impetus for the future of the 8th US Congressional District!
We need a change, we deserve better, let’s vote to make it happen.
Barbara Lund Gabler, Lutsen
Leave a Reply