Brady Slater
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DULUTH, Minn.—A placard from an opioid crisis roundtable that identified Pete Stauber as "Candidate for U.S. Congress" took center stage in the race for the 8th Congressional District seat on Wednesday, Sept. 19, as opposition activists in Duluth wondered if it was evidence of conflict of interest. "We need resources to help people, not county commissioners to run for higher office," said Dennis Frazier, a 30-year St. Louis County employee in child protection.
DULUTH — As a longtime beer salesman, Pete Clure is happy to be a cog in the local scene — even if the craft beer explosion has intruded on brands he sells. Casually talking suds, he can tell you that "Castle Cream Ale is on fire." The 51-year-old Duluthian might also mention how the rise of Bent Paddle Brewing forced him to redouble his efforts at Michaud Distributing. Not that he minded.
DULUTH—If you're a voter growing weary of campaign commercials, political mailers and suspect polls, here's an alarming truth: You haven't seen anything yet. The August primary election brought mailers galore and gave way to a September that has seen special interest groups stirring up controversies. That was just the appetizer.
DULUTH—A U.S. House candidate is applying legal pressure to try to stop the airing of what his campaign calls a "false and misleading" special-interest television advertisement. The ad created waves in the race for Congress in the 8th District this week by revealing Democrat Joe Radinovich had a minor drug-related charge on his record. A lawyer for the Radinovich campaign sent eight two-page letters to television stations broadcasting the Congressional Leadership Fund advertisement, which is titled "Fast times" and outlines a history of what it describes as "crimes."
DULUTH—The Duluth Police Department canceled a community forum centered on the use of force by law enforcement agencies that was scheduled for Friday, Sept. 14. The cancelation came Thursday in response to an early morning call from the Duluth branch of the NAACP asking the department to postpone the event.
DULUTH — Democrat Joe Radinovich confronted claims from a special interest advertisement Wednesday, Sept. 12, by admitting to a long-dismissed drug paraphernalia charge. "When Joe was a teenager he received a marijuana-related citation," said campaign manager Meredith Raimondi. "He cooperated and took responsibility for his actions, and the officials in the case saw fit to dismiss the charges."
DULUTH, Minn. — First parking tickets, now voters in the 8th Congressional District in northeast Minnesota have an email controversy to consider. Republican candidate Pete Stauber used a government email address to communicate with a major party group in Washington, D.C., a Star Tribune report alleged Thursday. The newspaper gained information from a public records request and found Stauber was involved in correspondence across 15 emails with the National Republican Congressional Committee.
DULUTH, Minn.—Dogged by a 15-year history of parking tickets mixed with a smattering of moving violations, Joe Radinovich attempted to put to bed a ticket-gate controversy on Thursday, Aug. 23. Radinovich's comments came roughly one week after an outside super-PAC, or political action group, made an issue out of his roughly 30 infractions as an adult driver, mostly parking tickets. "I reject that they're a character issue," said Radinovich, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate in the race for the open seat in the 8th Congressional District.
BRAINERD, Minn.—In a five-way primary to decide the 8th Congressional District Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee for November, Joe Radinovich always seemed to present the straightest line to election victory. Late Tuesday, Radinovich delivered on his promise and clinched a surprisingly effortless primary victory — one that lands him in a midterm showdown with another primary runaway winner, GOP nominee Pete Stauber of Hermantown.
DULUTH—When Tuesday's primary is all said and done, the tale of "How the 8th Congressional District DFL Was Won" is going to have its say about the role money plays in an election. A broad spectrum of candidates make up the five-person field of Democratic-Farmer-Laborers in the CD8 race — a mayor, part-time hotel clerk, retired newscaster and a pair of Iron Range-bred political veterans. Their levels of financial support have been as disparate as their backstories.