A smiling Connie Thorp traveled from Stacy, Minnesota to visit the Cook County GOP convention and asked those in attendance to support Phillip Parrish’s run for Minnesota governor. Thorp is Parrish’s campaign manager.
Cook County Republicans met at the Cook County Community Center on March 15 to select delegates to the 8th District Convention and State GOP Convention, and to discuss upcoming state races, candidates, and to conduct local GOP business.
During the meeting, 8th Congressional District Republican candidate Pete Stauber called and was put on speakerphone so he could deliver a short message to the 15 people in attendance.
Stauber said he was “a blue-collar, common sense Republican” who is pro-life, supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms, supports legal immigration, supports logging and mining, and wants to make sure the country’s veterans are taken care of. On the topic of mining Stauber, an avid outdoorsman, said he thinks mining can be done safely and responsibly without hurting the environment. Stauber added that he was a big supporter of the tax reform bill that lowered individual tax rates for low and middle-income Americans. He also said he was in favor of growing the economy through technology and supports education and reforms that will aid small business.
Stauber, a father of four who lives in Hermantown, is a retired lieutenant from the Duluth Police Department with 23 years service. He and his brothers own the Duluth Hockey Company, and Pete played professional hockey for the Detroit Red Wings organization. In college, he was the captain of the Lake Superior State University 1988 Division 1 ice hockey champions.
Pete ran down the list of his past accomplishments. He served eight years on the Hermantown city council and is in his second term as a St. Louis County commissioner, receiving 78 percent of the vote in the last election.
Pete serves on a variety of boards: he is the current board chair of the Public Works and Transportation Committee; current board member of the Northeast Regional Corrections Center (NERC); current board member of the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency (AEOA); and serves on the board for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
Stauber is also a former board member of United Day Activities Center (UDAC), and is an original member of the City of Duluth Yellow Ribbon Committee, serving military families during times of deployment and reintegration.
Pete’s wife of 21 years, Jodi, served 23 years in the military, assigned to the 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth where she became command chief. She retired from active duty in June 2010.
In defining who he is, Stauber said, “I am a Christian, husband, father, and conservative Republican in that order.”
The following day Pete called to say that President Donald Trump had called him while he was driving on Highway 2 toward Bemidji. “The president recognized all of the hard work and dedication that Team Stauber has put into this race. It was such an honor to talk to the president and hear how he is committed to making Minnesota-08 red!”
Next, Cook County GOP Chair Mary Petz asked Connie Thorp to say a few words. Thorp, from Stacy, Minnesota, is the campaign manager for Phillip Parrish, a GOP candidate for Minnesota governor.
Parrish is a family man who is a naval intelligence officer, teacher, and principal who says he is not a politician.
Some of Parrish’s priorities, should he be elected, include support for health care programs through access to care and private insurance; cut individual and corporate taxes by removing scams and agendas; expose and remove policies that promote sanctuary cities; end taxpayer-funded programs that threaten life; eliminate all programs that promote foreign government interests and policies; rescind executive orders that overburden small and big businesses; and support mining, agriculture and manufacturing, among other things.
Thorp asked for local support for Parrish’s gubernatorial bid and said she would see if he can come for the Fisherman’s Picnic parade.
Letters and information for other candidates was read or distributed, one from Mary Giuliani Stephens, who is running for governor; Pam Myhra, a state auditor candidate; Jim Newberger, who is a U.S. senator candidate; Karin Housley, who is also running for the U.S. Senate; and finally a letter from Doug Wardlow, who is the Republican candidate for the attorney general position.
It had been almost 50 years since a Republican was voted in as the Minnesota attorney general, said Petz. In his letter, Wardlow noted, “I will go after criminals, fight human trafficking, defend our constitutional rights, push back against the regulatory state, support the enforcement of our trade laws, fight sanctuary cities, and prosecute illegal voting.”
Following the reading of letters for candidates, Petz led a discussion about adopting a Cook County Republican Party constitution. It seems that if the local party ever had a constitution, it has been lost through time.
Petz handed out copies of a document she had formed after using— with permission—the Lake County Republican constitution. The group spent about one hour going over the material before it was decided to create a committee of Petz, Rae Piepho, and Dave Keller. The trio will meet to discuss the document and then bring back a final copy for the party to vote on at the next meeting.
Harris Mills and Dave Keller were voted to be the Cook County delegates to the 8th District convention in Park Rapids May 4-5, and to the state GOP convention June 1 and 2 in Duluth. Mary and Ben Petz were voted alternates to both conventions.
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