Back in early November, we'd posted Detroit Lakes Tribune rips Rep. Steve Green and Sen. Paul Utke over vaccine misinformation.
A DL reader appreciated that chiding, as we noted in LTE: Detroit Lakes Tribune thanked for spanking state representative Green for misinformation.
Utke snapped back and received a deservedly sound spanking from the Detroit Lakes Tribune, we reported in Paul Utke didn't much like Detroit Lakes Tribune editorial, needs help understanding journalism.
Now more letters to the editor have shownup in district newspaper op-ed sections.
At the Detroit Lakes Tribune, there's Rep. Green should apologize for calling Minnesota DFLers communists who hate America. Former DFL candidate Davod Sobieski of Perham is very direct:
On Oct. 26, in a town hall meeting in Frazee, Rep. Steve Green (with Sen. Paul Utke right next to him) said that Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota House Democrats were communists who hated this country. This is a lie. As a Democrat and a veteran, I want an apology. There is no place for this hate in our politics. Steve Green, apologize. Say you are sorry.
The letter also appeared in the Perham Focus.
Earlier in December, the Tribune published Sen. Paul Utke and Rep. Steve Green are failing their fellow citizens. Howie Anderson of Ponsford has more to say:
After several exchanges by email with State Senator Paul Utke, I realized that whether he said mask mandates were “criminal,” or that half the covid vaccines were placebos or that there were eight or 10 or many at the town hall, misses the point. Paul is engaging in a well known ploy of trying to duck responsibility by trying to get the reader side tracked. The real issue is this: Paul Utke is engaging in behavior that discourages people to do the two most important things medical science tells us will conquer the pandemic, wearing masks and getting fully vaccinated. He is doing the political version of crying “fire” in a theater, and that is not about freedom of speech, but a dereliction of public trust.
When a public servant stands before us, what they say and what they don’t say matters. Paul stood quietly next to Rep. Steve Green, who traffics in conspiracy theories, some so outrageous it makes me wonder if he is fit to serve the public without being guilty of causing serious harm, much like former President Trump’s suggestion that people inject bleach into their body to kill the covid virus. Paul may not have said mask mandates were "criminal," but his stance, and that of many of Minnesota’s Republican office holders that refusing to wear a mask, a simple and very necessary way to protect the community, is a legitimate choice for a citizen.
It is not what a good citizen does. It is an act of selfishness which is filling up our ICU beds and killing people. Paul’s response to the Editorial Board opinion piece continues to confuse selfishness in refusing to wear a mask or get vaccinated, with an expression of personal freedom. He writes “people have a right to determine for themselves what is proper to put into their bodies.”
I wonder if he feels that such control of one’s body should extend to women choosing what to do with their bodies in cases of reproductive health? I wonder if Paul refuses to have his children go to public school because all children are required to get vaccinated for measles, etc. I wonder if Paul pays taxes? I wonder if Paul wears his seatbelt? I am pretty sure an insurance salesman would approve of the fact that we all need to have auto insurance. All these are things we citizens do for the common good.
Finally, standing by listening to Steve Green make statements that impact our health as a community, untrue statements that give people “permission” to ignore the best advice medical science has to defeat this pandemic, is inexcusable. It is an act of political irresponsibility.
Ope.
Photo: Minnesota state Sen. Paul Utke, left, R-Park Rapids, and Rep. Steve Green, R-Fosston, talk with constituents during a public town hall at the Frazee Event Center in downtown Frazee on Oct. 26, 2021. (Michael Achterling / Detroit Lakes Tribune)
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