I am a fourth-generation Iron Ranger who has spent my life fighting to improve the lives of working families, whether by organizing for workers' rights, promoting economic investment in northern Minnesota, or proudly representing Aitkin and Crow Wing counties in the Minnesota Legislature. I am no stranger to hardship and will always stand up for what's right, and I respectfully ask for your vote on Nov. 6.
I've focused my campaign on three basic things: protecting retirement security, including Social Security, Medicare, pensions, and the unions that fought for them; investing in the people and places of this country with rural broadband, early-childhood education, child care, and universal health care; and, finally, taking corporate special-interest money out of our politics.
I'm disappointed my Republican opponent Pete Stauber and his main backers in Washington - including Speaker Paul Ryan, who is funding millions in shameful attacks against me - have failed to provide any meaningful solutions to address these important issues.
Let's go through the list.
On campaign-finance reform, St. Louis County Commissioner Stauber, an aspiring career politician, repeatedly has refused to answer if he would work to get money out of politics. What is Stauber hiding by not supporting greater transparency in our campaigns and elections?
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Meanwhile, I am one of more than 100 House challengers calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to make a government and election reform bill the first item on the agenda for the next Congress in 2019. I think elected leaders need to be accountable to the people who elected them, not to the corporate special interests that financed their campaigns. That's why I haven't taken a dime from corporate PACs in this race. My opponent can't say the same.
On health care, I've shared the story of how my family benefited from the high-quality, union-sponsored health care for which my father collectively bargained. I've seen what it can do for families in the middle class, and I want to expand coverage for everyone. I am confident American ingenuity will be at the forefront of designing a unique, cost-effective universal plan that takes the best of what works elsewhere and combines it with our own innovative spirit to finally make health care in our country a right for all.
Unfortunately, even as premiums on the individual market decrease heading into 2019, my opponent and his party have tried to move us backward on health care. Stauber has defended the Washington policy that would increase health care premiums, charge an "age tax" on Minnesotans older than 50, and deny coverage to nearly 300,000 8th District residents with pre-existing conditions. These were the side effects of giving Republicans the keys to health care in 2017 under one-party rule - and they almost pulled it off.
On Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, Stauber agrees with the Republicans calling for cuts and privatization. Their tax plan is to blame. They gave nearly all the benefits to the wealthiest 1 percent and corporations while ultimately raising taxes on middle-class families. To pay for the trillion-dollar binge, Stauber's party leaders repeatedly said they intend to cut Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security - a far cry from a "promise made and promise kept," as Commissioner Stauber recently said.
It is no secret "entitlement reform" in the form of privatization or increased retirement ages has been a longstanding Republican goal. These are the same Republicans spending millions (over $1 million in a recent week alone) to attack me in disgraceful and false ads. In my view, we need to fairly reform our tax system, provide certainty to businesses and middle-class Minnesota families, and still protect the earned benefits retirees have been paying into since their first day of work.
At the end of the day, this campaign and your vote on Nov. 6 are all about who you're for. I will go to Washington and wake up every day thinking and challenging myself and my staff: What can we do better? With your vote and support, let's answer that question by making sure everybody enjoys the blessings and opportunities of economic well-being, freedom, and the prosperity that has become the hallmark of this nation's success.
Joe Radinovich of Crosby is the Democrat candidate for Minnesota's 8th Congressional District.
