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OPINION:
Minnesota Republican Pete Stauber is the kind of person that the Framers had in mind when they thought about the House of Representatives — embedded in the community, a lifetime leader in a variety of ways and fully committed to the citizens of his district.
He is driven by his love of his family (he is the father of five), his love for his community and his desire to make the lives of Minnesotans better.
His resume — forward on a college hockey team that won a national championship, a police officer in Duluth for 23 years, city councilor, county commissioner, organizer of police unions, emergency foster parent — is most atypical for a member of Congress, where the normal pathway is law school, run for office, go to Washington and wait around for God or the voters to call you home.
When asked about that, Mr. Stauber offers: “If you’d have said to me six years ago: ‘You’re going to be a member of Congress.’ … I would’ve looked at you and said, ‘No.’ I was a county commissioner … [and] making sure that my 21 cops did their jobs at night shift and served with passion and compassion, with integrity and honesty.
“As a police officer, there’s great times, and then there’s very dark times. The great times are great, but the dark times are in the darkest moment of a person’s life you’re there and still at that moment that you treat that individual with dignity and respect. … [E]ven at the darkest point of an individual’s life, they’re still human beings and you’re able to help them.”
Mr. Stauber is also different from some of his Republican colleagues in that he is a union man. “I organized my cops, too. I not only organized them, I became my union’s president, negotiated three contracts that were successful and that were reasonable.”
When asked about the influx of working people into the Republican Party, Mr. Stauber is characteristically direct: “Absolutely it’s healthy. In Minnesota’s 8th District, I’m the first Republican reelected in 76 years. I support those blue-collar jobs, those working family jobs, those mining jobs, those timber jobs, those pipeline jobs.
“Our unions have built this country. That union workers that I have engaged with, they’re family people. I go to church with them. I see them in the grocery store. I coach with them. We frequently see them at the local watering hole. They just want to work, a fair wage and be left alone.”
What are his plans for his current job?
“Well, in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District … mining is extremely important; we mine the iron ore that makes 80% of this nation’s steel. … We have to keep our Iron Range going strong and our miners mining because if the [Section] 232 tariffs come off, [China is] going to dump steel in this country. They’re going to put the Iron Range out of business for good. That’s their goal. With every fiber in my body, I will protect our mining.
“In addition to the iron ore mining … we also have the critical minerals mining. The Duluth Complex is the biggest copper-nickel find in North America, and this administration just pulled the leases [that would have allowed its development].
“We are far too reliant on foreign nations for critical minerals. … The Duluth Complex is the biggest copper-nickel find in North America — 95% of our nickel reserves, 88% of our cobalt reserves, over a third of our copper and other platinum group metals. We use that in everyday life.
“We should never rely on the communist country of China or Russia for these critical minerals when we are blessed in this nation with critical minerals. … Minnesota has tremendous mineral wealth. The only state that has more is Alaska.”
What does he want to achieve in Congress? “Number one is permitting reform. I’ve got the permitting reform bill for Permitting for Mineral Needs Act. We’re going to incorporate that into the bigger reform. My legislation is specifically for mining.
“I want the country to think about mineral dominance, critical mineral dominance and energy dominance. We can lead the world right now. … I want to bring the United States back to the leadership in the world in many areas, including our military.
“I want the world to look at the United States as a beacon of hope, the beacon of freedom, and lead. Under this administration, they’re not leading. They’re following and they’re going down a road that’s not good for this country.
“We are going through some tough times right now. There’s no doubt about it. We are going to come out a stronger, more prosperous and more free nation because of what we see.”
Mr. Stauber is the sort of man that this country used to produce routinely — an accomplished athlete, a guardian and leader of the community who has wound up in public office because it is a natural extension of his life’s work.
He is, of course, more laconic and modest. “With my last breath, I want to say, ‘I did what I could with the time that I had.’”
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, co-hosts “The Unregulated Podcast.” He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.
