Four elected officials from Duluth, including Mayor Emily Larson, have made public a letter they sent to U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Hermantown, criticizing him for signing onto an amicus brief in support of an effort to overturn presidential election results in four key swing states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton unsuccessfully challenged the states' election results, claiming that voting procedures they adopted to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic violated federal law. But the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the claims Friday, letting the states' election results stand.
Stauber was one of more than 100 U.S. House representatives to support the challenge.
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Stauber joins bid to invalidate millions of votes, overturn election
In a letter signed by Larson, Duluth City Councilor Arik Forsman and St. Louis County commissioners Patrick Boyle and Frank Jewell, they said democracy "must be protected from tampering by politically ambitious individuals, no matter their political party."
"In one stroke of your pen, you destroyed your credibility with your constituents," they wrote. "This action would not only silence millions of Americans across our county but would, in effect, nullify the votes of thousands of your own constituents, many of whom voted for both you and Joe Biden."
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As of the time this report was published, Stauber had not yet responded to the News Tribune's request Monday afternoon for a response to the letter.
However, in a previous Twitter post, Stauber said the lawsuit will "address the American people's questions on the integrity of this presidential election."
The four signatories of the letter from Duluth saw matters differently.
"It is beyond disappointing that you have made such an indefensible decision to sign onto this frivolous lawsuit, which was swiftly thrown out by a unanimous Supreme Court," they said in the letter.
The authors then drew on Stauber's own history as a collegiate and professional hockey player.
"As you well know, in hockey, when the horn blows at the end of the third period, you stop skating and shake hands. We are still waiting for the president and you to do this for our nation," the letter said.
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