Grand Rapids expresses disappointment and disgust in GOP Sen. Justin Eichorn

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. - The phone at Glen’s Army Navy Store started ringing not long after news broke of the state senator hailing from this northern Minnesota city being accused of soliciting a minor for sex.

Republican Sen. Justin Eichorn formerly worked at the store owned by his uncle, Rusty Eichorn. The handful of anonymous callers prompted the owner to post on Facebook, and then tape the post on the front door of his business where customers were trickling in Wednesday for outdoor gear.

“He worked here part time for a short period of his life in college,” Eichorn said of his nephew. “It’s unfair for us to be treated poorly. ... Ninety-nine percent of the comments have been supportive.”

He’s not supportive of his nephew staying in elected office and said he should resign.

On Wednesday night, Senate Republicans announced they would make a motion Thursday morning to expel state Sen. Eichorn from the Senate.

Eichorn recently was elected chair of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation (IRRB), which works on economic development and community revitalization in northeastern Minnesota.

“I’m disappointed in his behavior, especially a person in his position, highly respected, I thought, in the Senate and chairman of the IRRB. That’s a very, very big position, so I’m disappointed,” Rusty Eichorn said.

Sen. Eichorn was arrested Monday in Bloomington by an officer posing as a 17-year-old girl. He was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court with a felony count of soliciting prostitution from a minor over the age of 16. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also charged Eichorn with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.

The Senate Republican Caucus demanded Eichorn resign. “Justin has a difficult road ahead, and he needs to focus on his family,” it said in a statement.

Wednesday, shortly before charges were filed, Laura Toivonen, 17, joined her boss Jennifer Gorman for lunch at the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop in downtown Grand Rapids.

The teenager who attends Grand Rapids High School is interning with Gorman’s marketing and design business. She first learned of the accusations against Eichorn as she doodled pastel floral designs on her iPad.

Her immediate reaction was fear.

“I’m already scared because of the random men on the street, but now it’s people who run our town that I have to worry about as well,” Toivonen said. “Like, already I have to worry about the kids in my school and then walking down the street. … and getting chased or followed or even just out with my friends, like, There’s no point where I feel safe and I’m not scared.”

Eichorn owned a laundromat in town and a car dealership, then became a landlord like his father, Mitch Eichorn. The state senator bought a nine-building apartment complex in Grand Rapids last year for nearly $9 million.

He and his family are well-known in the community left reeling from the news that came right after he introduced a bill he co-authored about “Trump derangement syndrome (TDS).” The move and the arrest made Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue Tuesday night.

Bianca Karjalainen, 37, who works in college administration, said she thinks it’s “karmic justice” that the accusations surfaced after legislation was introduced to make TDS an official mental illness. She has worked in youth mental health and said it’s not something to joke about or politicize.

“I hope people can really look at what’s happening and not try to excuse it,” Karjalainen said at Brewed Awakenings as her car was getting an oil change.

“It is unfortunate when a community that has so many great things is being highlighted and put in the media for this,” she said, speaking of the progressive arts and culture scene in Grand Rapids.

At a monthly meeting inside the MacRostie Art Center on Wednesday, board member Jerry Meininger, 73, said he was saddened by the news.

“I strongly believe that we need to have better character representing us than that,” he said.

“Whether you’re right wing, left wing, conservative, whatever the situation is, it’s just sad to hear the news, and I’m very disappointed,” Meininger said. “He should resign.”

Dale Kentoph, 70, who is retired but active in the Hibbing astronomy club, said news like this “affects lives around the community.”

“I see the headlines, ‘Oh, another politician got nailed for something,’ ” he said. “This shouldn’t be going on. But every once in a while, something like this happens.”

Gail Blackmer, 74, of Effie, Minn., had an eye appointment in Grand Rapids on Wednesday and said the clinic’s waiting room was buzzing about Eichorn.

“Don’t they know better? Because there’s been plenty of scandals with any public figure or in particular elected people. So why would somebody just do it?” she said while waiting for her dilated eyes to recover at Klockow Brewery with friend Kate Longley, 77, a local historian.

“You would think any public figure would curb any untoward impulses and realize No. 1 they are not going to get away with it and No. 2 it’s very damaging to themselves and to the position they hold,” Blackmer said.

The friends just couldn’t understand how a leader in the community could risk it all to allegedly target a vulnerable young girl. What about his kids? What about his constituents? The coveted role he just got on the IRRRB? (Which locals call the I-triple R-B.)

“It doesn’t do well for our town,” Longley said. “That’s what I don’t like.”