News & Articles

The town hall meeting that was held Saturday to discuss issues that have caused elected representative and Trump brownnoser Stauber to go MIA. Photo by Harry Welty.

I am not a reporter. Neither am I a “paid agitator.” I attended the Saturday “town hall” at East High school, where Mr. Stauber’s chair sat empty. 

As we met, Elon Musk, who collects tens of millions from taxpayers, was paying Wisconsin voters to elect a state Supreme Court Justice. 

I am a Republican who knows more about the GOP history than today’s entire Congressional delegation. I challenged Mr. Stauber in the last four primaries. In 2024 I gave Pete a more odious and, I think, accurate description than his description of 800 constituents as “paid agitators.” I called Pete a “Traitor.” 

I still have 10,000 bookmarks calling him that to pass out. 

This is my eyewitness account. It will tell you more about the citizens of Duluth than Congressman Stauber’s reply to KBJR News.

I thought the four blocks of curbed cars at my last Indivisible meeting was impressive but there were a lot more cars at Duluth East. Its lot was packed. Seven-hundred seats were available in the Myers Wilkins Auditorium. It was SRO, standing room only. I took the picture above before folding chairs were set up. 800 constituents is a modest estimate (a Practicing Democracy press release put attendance at approximately 900). 

Practicing Democracy is an offshoot of Indivisible. There are about 10 sister organizations in the Duluth area. A pre-addressed postcard to Congressman 

Stauber that was handed out had this disclaimer, “Paid for by Practicing Democracy political action committee & not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”

A lot of the people who showed up, like my wife, were not Democrats. To be honest, the stage bristled with Democratic pols. 

The emcee was two-time DFL congressional candidate, former legislator and university Economics professor Jen Schultz. 

Here is my disclaimer. When I lost my primary challenge against Pete two elections ago, I slapped Jen’s name on my lawn signs. They were the quirky ones with Jabba the Hutt. When I lost in ‘24 I put Jen’s signs up when I took mine down. 

Jen explained that Practicing Democracy got its initial grubstake from her campaign account when it disbanded. She will not be running against Pete a third time.  

When Republican congressmen began going back to their Red Districts a couple weeks ago, they found town halls full of furious constituents fearful of executive chaos. Social Security, vet’s benefits and a long string of other guarantees were about to be pruned with a chainsaw. They were scared. 
In turn, the GOP congressmen were so shellshocked that all the other GOP reps were ordered to hide. Pete’s good at taking orders. 

Pete’s KBJR reply bragged that 17,000 listeners tuned into his telephone town hall. I pity his listeners. I listened to one a few years ago. An audience member at East calculated that 12 screened questions coming from 17,000 listeners gave them a .0007% chance to ask a question. 

Before we got to audience participation a half-dozen local elected officials gave us a sense of the financial disruption Washington is about to unleash on them. Think of every local government in the United States as a renter waiting for a delayed paycheck while facing a landlord’s eviction notice. 
Having served on the Duluth School Board for 12 years with at least 2 of the pols on the stage, I fully understand the abyss they face. I’m 100 percent on their side, even though both of them voted to censure me for shooting my mouth off on the school board. Heck, I voted to censure myself. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. 

For Trump it means raping America. For me, it means pulling the bastard off the victim. I told you I’m no journalist!

No one on stage was a self-identified Republican. There hasn’t been a Republican elected to local office for 20 years. But I saw only angels in that auditorium. 

Jen Schultz warned us that “Silence in the face of a threat is taken to be assent.”  Sorry Pete. We made some noise.

A month earlier it was announced that UMD would not host this meeting. After watching Trump unconstitutionally punish Columbia University by withholding a crippling $400 million unless they curtailed student’s 1st amendment rights to free speech, I can forgive UMD. 

This assault on our world-class universities has not gone unnoticed. Our former European allies are extending invitations to our best scientists. Our post-WW II scientific miracle was itself propelled as war-torn Europe lost scientists to America. 

Move over America. China is eager to twist our beard into a bow.

A troubling sign on Saturday was the anemic show of hands of people under the age of 30. There were only a couple dozen. What Trump is doing to colleges and free speech will bring them aboard. 
Another sign of the future were the hundreds of hands raised when we were asked who had switched from Elon Musk’s X to Bluesky. 

Among the speakers were the school board’s Rosie Loeffler-Kemp, Sarah Mikesell and Annie Harala, who is now a St. Louis County Board member. 

Duluth City Councilor Mike Mayou and the legislator for west and central Duluth, Pete Johnson, were also present. Pete gave us a chuckle when he described the sour looks he’d get when door knocking and people saw his “Pete” button. Frowns turned to smiles when he said he was Pete JOHNSON. 
I knocked on a thousand doors too and can confirm Pete STAUBER is not popular in Duluth. 

Jen Schultz who spent time on the Duluth Port Authority, ominously warned that Trump’s tariffs boded ill for the economic hub that is our seaway. I learned about the Smoot Hawley tariff’s wrecking ball in high school while Trump was studying at the renowned Wharton School of Economics. I got As in History. Trump threatens to sue Wharton if they release his grades.

In the audience the venerable Rep. Becky Laurie explained that Pete was scared of us. Her sincerity was sweet. 

Speaker Bill M said $1.5 million dollars in local NOAH spending was threatened. Its new head directed Trump’s magic marker to change the predicted path of a hurricane on national TV. 
Several veterans spoke vehemently about their shabby treatment by Trump. One said Signalgate put vets’ lives in danger. 

A newer citizen from China broke into tears recalling the horrors of Tiananmen Square when she was a child and her perception that Trump is about to poison our democracy the same way. 

Loud boos erupted when it was announced that a University of Minnesota student had been arrested by ICE.

My notes continue on but I’ll stop here. A lot more than 12 people got to weigh in. I hope someone sends Pete the video.

For more info, practicingdemocracy.ORG. 

Cowardly congressman is afraid to face constituents; claims paid agitators in attendance at gathering

Congressman Pete Stauber released this statement about his refusal to attend the March 29 Practicing Democracy “town hall.”

 Pete Stauber… “will … not appear at any event that is organized by left-wing extremists and primarily attended by paid agitators who are more interested in manufacturing outrage than having meaningful conversations about policy. The Congressman had a very successful telephone town hall on Monday, where he and 17,000 constituents had a respectful dialogue about a wide range of topics. Rather than continue to cover these dramatized protests and fake town halls, we encourage you to join and cover our next telephone town hall instead. These events are the preferred format for the majority of the residents in Minnesota’s 8th district because of their ease and accessibility, and they also allow us to reach a wider audience than we ever could in person.”

Translation: Pete Stauber is afraid to face citizens angered by his subservience to the White Christian Nationalist MAGA movement led by the nincompoop Trump.