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My Point of View by Joe Staloch

My name is Joe Staloch. I will be one of your choices to represent you in St. Paul from District 23A when you vote this Nov. 5. I want the people of our district and all of Minnesota to live better lives, to reverse the population loss we’ve been experiencing and to grow our rural communities.

I grew up on a family farm outside of Wells with my three siblings. I graduated from USC High School, earned a degree in geology from Winona State University, and then worked 10 years for an environmental services company in St. Paul on public health and safety, natural resources and national security projects.

I didn’t expect to return to Greater Minnesota, but I’m happy I did. Health and family issues led me to move back to Wells and eventually Albert Lea where my long-term partner, Danielle, and I now live with our five cats, three of them rescues. Moving back was the best decision I could have made for my health and my relationships. There’s less pressure to “keep up with the Joneses,” and there’s a sense of community throughout the region. Some of this is economically driven but I credit schools, churches and nonprofit organizations in our communities for creating a sense of togetherness and belonging that can get lost in the “noise” of the big city.

But I quickly found out that our area is struggling with problems that I believe are stifling opportunity. For one, health care access has become an increasing challenge in our area, one which I’ve experienced firsthand. When I moved back I had a hard time finding a health care provider. Then I lost my father to a heart attack last year because he wasn’t able to reach a hospital in time. While we continue to invest in health care, small town clinics close, hospitals cut back or eliminate services and ambulances struggle with staffing and funding. It’s happening here and around the state, so let’s send someone to St. Paul to help fix it.

I miss my father, and although I’m not a father myself, I am an uncle. My sisters and brother all have young and growing families, as do many of my friends and co-workers. My siblings are lucky to have our mother, who has always been willing to provide child care whenever needed. But other families are not so lucky. I hear this from my co-workers — the struggles they have experienced in getting their own kids into available and affordable child care programs. How can we maintain and grow our communities and local economies if we’re unable to provide access and affordability to these crucial services? We need someone in St. Paul who will work on behalf of working families.

In addition to my mother, I’ve gotten a lot of support from women in my life, not just in this campaign but over the years, and I support women back. I support women in equal pay and opportunity and perhaps most importantly I support and trust women to make the health decisions that are right for them and their families. I believe everyone should have the right to bodily autonomy.

If you send me to St. Paul, l will fight to strengthen and maintain the freedoms we have here in Minnesota. This summer we celebrated Independence Day and Juneteenth (Freedom Day). I ask you to take a deeper look, past the flag waving, at which party is protecting the freedoms you care about most.

Republicans want to restrict access to voting and deny women the freedom to control their own bodies.

Republicans want to take away our right to read certain books and dismiss our right to not fear the threat of mass shootings in schools, churches, grocery stores, government offices and local businesses in our communities.

Some of Republicans’ ideas that get mixed in with freedom are freedom to suppress wages, dirty our air and water without consequence, and to tell others how they should live their lives including what they can and can’t do with their bodies and which adults they can and can’t marry. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound much like freedom to me.

I am a Democrat and I believe in the freedom from hate, freedom from fear, the freedom to vote and the freedom to control our own bodies. I believe that fair wages, affordable services and human rights like marriage equality give people freedom.

I believe this is how we welcome new people to our communities, retain the youth whom we’ve raised and educated, and this is how we fight to save our communities and our country.
So join me in reclaiming freedom. Please vote for me this November along with anyone else who shares these same values that our community instilled in me.

Joe Staloch is running for District 23A representative.