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A workers’ advocate
……Joe Radinovich https://www.joeradinovich.com/ lived through traumas. He experienced stress and found a way to recover from it. He has achieved something impressive. Read Zach Kayser’s story in the Brainerd Dispatch from which these briefer comments are derived.
When Joe Radinovich was in the eighth grade, 500 people attended a meeting of his district school board to oppose budget cuts. The Brainerd Dispatch carried a picture of Joe Radinovich at that meeting.
Despite the public pressure, the school board made the cuts they planned on. Students walked out in protest. Though neither the kids or the adults could prevent the cuts, the experience made Joe Radinovich feel powerful.
During his junior year, events would make him feel powerless. An attempted suicide in the family created distress for the entire family. Joe Radinovich rarely went to school as the family stood watch in the intensive care unit.……Teachers helped. They made sure he passed his classes.
……It got worse. His senior year his mother was murdered. By his step-grandfather. Who then killed himself.……Teachers helped again. They helped Joe Radinovich with his courses and his college admission. He was admitted to and went to Macalester College in St. Paul — one of the great small colleges in the Midwest.
……The transition was difficult. It was interrupted by a teacher strike in his old school district. The people he felt obliged to for getting him to Macalester were facing their own crisis. Joe Radinovichwent back to help, to feed those who were on the picket line, to walk the picket line.
……Joe Radinovich dropped out of Macalester. He extended his connection with John Ward from the teacher’s union who was elected to the state legislature.
……Joe Radinovichasked to be Ward’s intern. He found a route out of powerlessness, a route that would give meaning to his life. In politics, Joe Radinovich gained control over his own direction and insight into the effect government has on everyone.
Joe Radinovichdid unglamorous work. He wrote letters to constituents. He worked hard and went well beyond his letter writing. He moved deeper into politics. He became a Clinton delegate in the 2008 county and state conventions.……Eventually, he got paid. Joe Radinovich became a field organizer for the DFL (that’s the Democratic Party in Minnesota) during the 2008 campaign. He loved the work.
……2008: Barack Obama was elected President. John Ward was reelected to the state legislature. Joe Radinovichlooked for political work. He was hired by the American Federation of Government Employees to speak to federal employees about labor relations — around the country.
……Joe Radinovich‘sgoal was to be in elected office. He left the AFGE to run for the state legislature in a new district, created as a result of the post 2010 redistricting. If elected, he would be the youngest legislator in Minnesota. His primary opponent was 73.
……Joe Radinovich persisted like someone who had clarified for himself what his goal was. He declined an offer to be his opponent’s campaign manager.
……The 73 year old asked constituents if they wanted a candidate as inexperienced as Joe Radinovich. They did. Joe Radinovichwon the primary. He won the general election, too.
……Legislators occasionally face a gut wrenching vote. Joe Radinovich voted “yes” on a proposal to legalize same sex marriage. His heavily blue-collar district had voted, nearly 2-1, for a constitutional amendment prohibiting same sex marriage. Joe Radinovich received a few death threats after his vote and lost the next election.
……Out of office, he went to work for the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board — a state agency that helped communities offset the decline in mining. Joe Radinovich kept watch for a political opportunity. ……Congressman Rick Nolan asked him to be his campaign manager. Nolan had been reelected by less than two points in in 2014. He won again with Joe Radinovichas campaign manager. — by less than a point. Donald Trump carried MN 08 by 15.……Jacob Frey, running for mayor of Minneapolis, asked Joe Radinovichto be his campaign manager. Joe Radinovich helped Frey win that election. He was getting good at the work and became Frey’s chief of staff. Joe Radinovich was still thinking about running for office.
……Rick Nolan decided he had enough of running for office. He would not run again for MN 08. Later, he got lured back into elective politics to run for Lt. Governor. His ticket lost in the primary. Joe Radinovichran for MN 08 and won the primary. He is running in the general.
……Joe Radinovichis defending one of the few vulnerable Democratic Congressional seats. The seat was vulnerable with an incumbent. It is more vulnerable now — even in a Democratic year– without a Democratic incumbent. Analysts see the seat as a Toss up.
……MN 08 is an enormous district encompassing the entire northeast of Minnesota. It includes northern suburbs of Minnesota and St. Paul, the city of Duluth and a lot of rural territory in between and north and west of Duluth. Defending this seat is a challenge.
……The Republican candidate is Pete Stauber. He grew up in Duluth. He went to college locally — Lake Superior University. In college, he was part of a team that won the NCAA hockey championship. Some non-Minnesota hockey writers still claim that Stauber’s crucial play was illegal.
……Stauber went on to a lengthy professional hockey career, mostly for the Detroit Red Wings. He and his four brothers run a hockey camp in a region where hockey is the most important sport.
……Stauber had decided on politics when he met President Reagan after the NCAA championship. He served on the Hermantown City Council for eight years, then was elected to the St. Louis County Council. Initially he had joined a police force. As a police officer, he has been shot at. He is a formidable opponent for Joe Radinovich.
……Help Joe Radinovich https://www.joeradinovich.com/ defeat Pete Stauber and keep MN 08 a Democratic district. There will be no Blue Wave; there will be no Democratic controlled Congress if the Democrats lose seats they already hold. This is a contest between a Democrat who sees himself as an advocate for workers against a Republican whose inspiration is Ronald Reagan.
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