DULUTH, MN / WASHINGTON – “They don’t make these type of skates anymore,” quips U.S. Representative Pete Stauber, as he pulls out a vintage pair of Daoust 501’s from his dusty hockey bag. “When I retired from the Detroit Red Wings, they gave me a new pair.”The first-year congressman from Minnesota is sitting in his House of Representatives office, just a few hours before he skates onto the ice for a charity hockey game.It’s a little slice of home in his pressure-packed day of Capitol Hill meetings, committee and floor votes, and personal appearances.
Reagan-motivated public servicePete Stauber started playing hockey at age 4. He went on to play professionally for the Detroit Red Wings for three years. His 1988 national champion college hockey team was invited to the White House. He says his meeting with then-President Ronald Reagan inspired him to eventually enter public service.For more than two decades Pete Stauber worked as a Duluth, Minnesota, police officer, then as a city and county commissioner. But he wanted more. He and his wife had a heart-to-heart talk about a possible run for U.S. Congress. Jodi Stauber is a retired Air Force pilot who served in Iraq. She later became the highest-ranking enlisted person in Duluth’s 148th Fighter Wing and the first woman to hold that job.
The Staubers say they’ve never led a typical 9 to 5 family life, so they adjusted by “juggling those different times,” says Jodi, “and carving out those special moments when we can, making them even better and more precious to us.”Jodi stays home in Minnesota to care for the couple’s four children – as most female spouses of Congressmen do – including their 16-year-old son Isaac who has Down syndrome. Balancing controversial issues with local needsStauber’s congressional district is mainly rural, located in northern Minnesota. He is a staunch Republican who got a boost when U.S. President Donald Trump campaigned for him and promised to “restore mineral exploration.”
From Hockey Player to Minnesota Legislator in Divided America video player.
ep. Steve Stauber talks to a constituent during a tour of Enchanted Dairy, a 1,800-head, family-owned dairy farm in Little Falls, Minnesota. (Photo: C. Presutti)Stauber seemed at ease as the flatbed tractor rounded the corner of the dairy barn. Wearing a camouflage knit hat and blue denim coat, Stauber was getting a tour of Enchanted Dairy, a 1,800-head, family-owned dairy farm in Little Falls, Minnesota, which boasts a 40-cow rotary parlor for milking.In a discussion over Land O’ Lakes cheese bites and milk, local farmers discussed the importance of Hispanic migrant workers and getting an immigration policy that works. “The president’s system obviously is broke,” stated Enchanted Dairy owner Ron Miller.A month later, Stauber flew to Arizona to see what officials need to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. In a tweet, Stauber stood at the edge of the Colorado River and showed how “between 100-150 illegal immigrants come up this bank every single day.” When VOA asked how he planned to reconcile his conservative immigration stance with the farmers’ needs for more workers, Stauber dipped back to his experience as a 23-year police officer: “We are a nation of laws…and we enforce the laws. I don’t get to pick and choose which laws.”Stauber suggested that more teenagers take two-year vocational degrees to bring more Americans into those farm openings.Hockey politicsStauber committed the only penalty in the charity hockey game. (Photo: C. Presutti)Near the end of the charity hockey game, Stauber committed the only game penalty. He told VOA he deserved it, “It was a good penalty…..I tripped a guy, hooked a guy, and the ref [referee] caught me.”Hockey is a very rough sport, and learning to cope with its rules and other challenges helps him in the new arena on Capitol Hill. “Your off-the-ice conduct was just as important as your on-ice conduct…. And you have to learn to win and you have to learn to lose.”
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