Readers Write: Support for Trump, local government, Orono, Hennepin County Board

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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The Oct. 4. opinion piece by the Rev. Angela Denker, “Ghosts don’t vote, but haunted people do” (Strib Voices), is an affront to all rural Minnesota Republicans. Denker seems to characterize us as a bunch of dumb bumpkins who only support former President Donald Trump because we are haunted by our pain and suckers for wild theories about Haitian immigrants and pregnant women. She insinuates we are not smart enough to make informed decisions.

I am not speaking for all rural Minnesotans, but having spent most of my life in rural Minnesota, I have a pretty good idea why it is red, not blue. If she would have spent a few minutes talking to rural Minnesota conservatives, she would have learned the real reasons we support Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris. Economically, rural Minnesotans were better off under Trump than under President Joe Biden. Under the Biden administration, food costs are up, fuel prices are up and interest rates are up. We all have fewer dollars with which to buy necessities, which is particularly challenging for the elderly, families and our young adults. We believe Harris will bring more of the same.

We are angry at what has been happening at our southern border under the current administration. There have been 10 million border encounters, double the population of Minnesota, and we are all paying for it. Didn’t Biden put Harris in charge of handling the border problem? What has she done to fix it?

Most of us are blue collar, and we don’t support college loan forgiveness. We have been raised to believe that if we borrow money we are responsible for repaying it. We see college loan forgiveness as a liberal ploy to buy votes.

Many of us are also Christians and are appalled by the abortion policies of liberals, including those in Minnesota supported by Gov. Tim Walz, in which a baby can be aborted at full term. We have grown up doing our best to keep every piglet and calf alive. The thought of letting a full-term infant human die is beyond our comprehension and viewed by many of us as murder. I would think Denker, as a pastor, might understand that.

We know that Trump is not perfect, but we also know we can’t support another four years of the ineffective leadership that Biden and Harris have given us.

Chad Hagen, Cook, Minn.

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As a Harris-supporting, urban, blue-state voter who finds it easy to demonize Trump supporters, I feel grateful to Angela Denker for her essay on the experience of rural Minnesota Trump supporters. Her essay reminded me that regardless of our political views, we are all impacted psychologically by loss, and we all basically want the same things for ourselves and our families. It challenged me to move away from my self-created polarization and practice more compassion and understanding toward all.

Glenn Hirsch, Minneapolis

There is a disturbing trend of local governments creating new administrative jobs out of whole cloth and then “appointing” or “hiring” an elected official to fill that position who recently or simultaneously served on the elected board of the very same agency. For example: Former Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Goodman was recently hired as the director of strategic initiatives for the city of Minneapolis (“Goodman has new job working for Mpls.,” Sept. 30); Ramsey County Board Chair Trista Martinson was hired as executive director of Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy (“Ramsey County board chair will exit due to new job,” June 21); former St. Paul City Council Member Russ Stark was hired as St. Paul’s chief resilience officer (Jan. 24, 2018).

I believe there should be a simple code of ethics that requires that an elected official who serves on a board of directors, city council or county commission be precluded from working at the same organization for at least two years after they leave office. The Star Tribune recently interviewed two experts in public sector ethics, Hamline University legal studies Prof. David Schultz and former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter, about the ethical implications of campaign staff being involved in official city business (“In Duluth, questions about mayor’s office,” Sept. 25). I would encourage the members of the Fourth Estate to ask those same experts their opinion about the appropriateness of the above-mentioned actions.

Robert Rush, St. Paul

In the past eight years, the city of Orono has gone from being a bright star in the Lake Minnetonka area to owning a sullied reputation as a Minnesota city to receive two contempt-of-court citations and numerous headlines and widespread stories in the media about alleged corruption on the City Council, led by Mayor Dennis Walsh. This cannot continue.

Prior to that, Orono’s city government was accountable and transparent for 50 consecutive years. Other communities and key agencies were happy to work with this city. In the past few years, all of that has disappeared. Today citizens are intimidated to approach the council and are often scorned when they do. Our neighbor city, Long Lake, has been alienated, ostracized and legally burdened over the current council’s insistence to build its own fire department, costs and safety issues be damned!

We need a new day to dawn. We need fresh leadership. The city needs you to make both happen. That’s why we support Bob Tunheim for mayor. He is the best hope for genuine change and a restoration of civil conduct in local government. He doesn’t need the job, but he feels called to serve, and that in itself is a worthy reason and recommendation to vote for him next month. Given the desultory state of affairs at City Hall these days, Tunheim has the good character and civic responsibility we need now. He has the right stuff that Orono, its neighbors and its residents deserve.

Please join your fellow former mayors in electing him in November.

This letter was signed by former Orono Mayors Gabriel Jabbour (1997-2000), Lili McMillan (2011-2016), Barbara Peterson (1991-1992, 2001-2006) and Jim White (2007-2010).

I am writing to enthusiastically back Hennepin County District 7 Commissioner Kevin Anderson for re-election. I was Anderson’s policy director from 2021-2022. Anderson ran on the motto “Invested in us,” a statement that rings even truer today. District 7 includes Maple Grove, Plymouth and 14 other cities comprising approximately one-seventh of the county’s total population and the western third of the county in land mass.

The productivity of Anderson’s first term is staggering. Anderson’s key accomplishments included funding roadway projects such as the Hwy. 610 completion, capital projects such as the North Metro Regional Public Safety Training Facility expansion, staffing all schools in the county with school-based mental health providers, embedding social workers in every local law enforcement agency and committing resources to reach an effective end to veteran homelessness. Not every policy initiative was supported by his colleagues initially. He collaborated toward shared understanding. All of this occurred while the county was managing direct service delivery in a global pandemic and social unrest.

Anderson sometimes stands alone on votes. In May, he was the lone “no” vote against the county attorney’s $1 million request to hire outside prosecutors in the case against Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan. Anderson was the first to speak out against a proposed 50% raise for Hennepin County Board members. He is a realist who strikes a balance on the board while advocating for his district and all Hennepin County residents. Join me in voting for Kevin Anderson for re-election now through Nov. 5.

Kristy Janigo, Maple Grove

The writer is a member of the Maple Grove City Council.