Campaign Update October 20, 2008

From Tajikistan to the Politics of Race Relations in St. Louis County

Hello,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the autumn.

This is the first of what will be regular updates on the goals and accomplishments of my work as St. Louis County Attorney, the activities I’ve been involved in, and what’s happening in my campaign for reelection.

I know it sounds early to be talking about reelection, with that season not upon us until 2010. However, I believe the work my staff and I have been doing is critical, and I would like to have the time another term offers to continue those vital efforts. So, I’ll keep in touch to let you know about those efforts and ask you to keep in touch with me as well.

Today I was excited to be part of the Open World Program’s tour to our area by a group of five visitors from Tajikistan. The group is being hosted in Duluth by the Duluth office of the League of Women Voters, and my role was to talk with the visitors about our elections, the role of county government, and my election as County Attorney and the recount. I enjoyed talking with the Tajikistanis about the importance of county government and hearing the stories about their government at home.

On Tuesday, October 21, I will be an attendee at a meeting in Hibbing on preventing teenage drinking. As you know, teenage drinking can be a serious issue in our communities, and my goal is to listen and to assist in finding ways to help our youth find better and more productive avenues for their time and energies, while saving our county the financial costs associated with this serious problem.

I continue as well to meet one-on-one with law enforcement officials throughout the county to continue to build strong relationships, learn about the specific needs of their communities, and plan ways in which the County Attorney’s office can better serve their requirements. These law-enforcement officials do investigations, send complaints on to my office, and testify in our cases, so it’s essential to build those strong relationships and clarify what we need from them and what they need from us so that we can be strong partners in fighting crime.

On November 11th, my office and a number of non-profit organizations will sponsor a community event on racism, called “Time for Transformation — From the Politics of Race to the Politics of Solidarity,” as I continue to focus my efforts as St. Louis County Attorney on how we can ensure the equal treatment of every person in our county. The event will be held at Denfeld High School and will feature as speaker Victor Lewis, who plays a prominent role in the documentary film, “The Color of Fear.” My office is helping sponsor this event to help bring about a broader community dialog on the continuing challenge of racism.

I’m proud as well to tell you that on November 12th, the YWCA in Duluth will hold its annual Women of Distinction luncheon, at which I will be one of four women honored, along with Lynn Clark Pegg, Leanne Littlewolf, and Sterling Harris. The YWCA extends this honor to women whom the community believes exemplify the mission of the YWCA in terms of advancing women in our society and eliminating racism. I hope you’ll consider joining me that day. For information about the event and how to reserve a seat, please contact Barb Olsen at barbolsen@duluthmn.com.

We are also continuing the work of our High School Truancy Program, with the help of two St. Scholastica students acting as tutors for chronically truant students at Central High School. Our goal is to help truant students catch up and keep up with their school work and avoid dropping out. Studies overwhelmingly show that chronic truancy and crime are linked, and this is an important effort to fight crime, save taxpayer dollars, and help our youth avoid the tragedy of a derailed education. St. Scholastica has now approved this as a credit program for its students.

As part of our truancy prevention program, my office is sponsoring a poster contest for elementary students to promote the importance of regular school attendance, with the theme of “Go to School Each Day, Every Day.” Our goal is to reinforce in these early school years the vital need to be in class every day to ensure that keeping up on class work does not become a problem. We’re working as well to change community attitudes and encourage parents to make attendance a priority. The posters selected will be used in a school-year calendar that will be distributed in classrooms across the county, and we’re looking for business and individual sponsors to help fund the calendar project. If you or your business would like to contribute to this important undertaking, please contact me at my office at 218-726-2323 or at fordm@co.st-louis.mn.us. (Please be sure not to send campaign-related emails, however, to my office email.)

Earlier this month, I called a meeting of community leaders of color, as well as legislators, educators, attorneys in the juvenile justice system, and others who have the opportunity to influence community members throughout St. Louis County. My purpose was to foster an ongoing effort to help bring about racial equality reform and reduce the disproportionate involvement of minorities in the juvenile justice system. This initial meeting was so successful, a week later we were accepted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation into their Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Program. The foundation will now fund our activities, help coordinate our juvenile justice reform work, and help implement our goal of racial and ethnic fairness in the juvenile justice system.

Much more work continues as I come to the end of my second year in my four-year term: My dedicated staff and I continue to help the Criminal Division resolve cases quickly, give greater support to victims of crime, and exceed federal guidelines in paternity cases and enforcing child support so that our families can be healthy and our costs lowered.

I continue as well to speak with elected officials, community leaders, groups, and organizations around the county to tell them about the vital work of the County Attorney’s office. My goal is to encourage communities to talk about issues such as justice, child protection, and racism and prompt more people to understand how the office of the St. Louis County Attorney affects the lives of everyday people and families,

I hope as you receive these updates, you’ll let me know if there are additional issues you’d like me address, alert me to events in your communities, and give me feedback on what my office should be doing or could be doing better. Please feel free to email me at this yahoogroups address. (I’ll have my new campaign email address and website up and running soon, and I’ll give you a heads’ up as soon as that information is available.) Please let me know as well if you would like to receive these communications via a different email address than the one at which we currently have you listed. Also let me know if there are others in your community who would like to be added to this updates email list.

Please also let me know if you would be willing to host a fundraiser for my reelection campaign. Raising money cannot be my first priority, as I focus on the critical needs the County Attorney’s office addresses, but I nonetheless have to address this key concern. A county-wide race is extremely expensive, and it’s critical that I raise funds regularly to ensure an effective campaign. Any funds I can raise in the final months of 2008, in fact, will be a great help since my fundraising capability starts anew in 2009, with a clean slate on financial donation maximums. Please consider sending a donation before the year 2008 ends to: Melanie Ford Reelection Campaign, 9305 Congdon Boulevard, Duluth, MN 55804.

Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Melanie Ford
St. Louis County Attorney

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