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August 9, 2021
Mike Jugovich, St. Louis County Board Chak, and 76 District County Commissioner
Paul McDonald, St. Louis County Board Vice Chair, and 4s District County Commissioner
Frank Jewell, l't District St. Louis County Commissioner
Patrick Boyle, 2nd District St. Louis County Commissioner
Ashley Grimm, 3d District St. Louis Counry Commissioner
Keith Musolf, 5ft District St. Louis County Commissioner
Keith Nelson, 6n District St. Louis County Commissioner
Dear Commissioners,
Forty-three years is enough. I am going to join my wife Nancy in retirement at the end of
September.
Because my current term doesn't expire until the er,d of 2O22,I am hereby submitting my
resignation from my position of St. Louis County Attorney effective at the end of the day on
September 30. 2021.
Under Minn. Stat. $ 382.02 and 375.08, when a vacancy occurs in the office of the County Attorney,
the County Board shall appoint an individual to fill such vacancy for the balance of the current term
of office of the departing Counry Attomey. The next election to fill the office of St. Louis County
Attomey wi-ll be on November 8,2022, with a term of four years commencing on the first Monday
of the following year, which is January 2, 2023.
I began my career in the St. Louis County Attomey's Offrce as an intern during the summer of 1975
while completi-ng my studies at the College of St. Scholastica. Following my graduation from
Hamline University School of Law (now Mitchell Hamline) i-n December 1977, I was hired as an
Assistant County Attorney on April 1, 1978. I spent my flrst two years on the Range ia our Virginia
office.
I retumed to Duluth and worked as an Assistant County Attorney in the Criminal Division under my
mentor, John Desanto (now Judge DeSanto) until 1988 when I left the offlce to accept an offer of
employment with the law firm of VanEver4 Clure, Butler and Michaelson in Duluth where I
practiced civil litigation, admiralty law, and criminal defense. After a little less than two years, I
discovered that I missed being a prosecutor and working closely with the dedicated men and women
of law enforcement. I returned to my previous position where I worked until November 2010 when I
was elected to my current position as County Attorney.
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DULUTH. MINNESOTA 55804 DLTLUTI', MINNESOTA 55809 VIRCINIA, MINNESOTA 55792 HIBBTNG, MINNESOTA 55746
9ta'-796'-2323 2lA-796-2034 2r8-7,r.9-7rol 2la-262-o154
www.stlouiscountymn.gov o An Equal Opportunity Employer
St. Louis County Commissioners
Page 2
August 9, 2021
I am forever grateful to the County Attomeys under whom I served; to the phenomenal men and
women of law enforcement with whom I have done this work over the years; to my dedicated
colleagues in the Minnesota County Attorneys Association; and, to the citizens of St. Louis County
who have re-elected me twice to continue my service as County Attorney.
I also am deeply grateful for the gift of working with the exceptional men and women in our Duluth,
Hibbing, and Virginia County Attomey offices over the years. Any success I have achieved to make
this world a more just place is undoubtedly due to the dedication and sense of public service and
stewardship on the part of these wonderful people. I am proud of my staff, and I leave the office in
good hands.
I am so blessed to have had the best partner through all of these years, my phenomenal wife Nancy.
She was and is always supportive, understanding, and encouraging as evenings and weekends were
often sacrificed for the work that needed to be done. We celebrated our 45s wedding anniversary
this June. I honestly have never tked of being referred to as the "lucky man" ...
Growing up in the 60s, my dream was not to become a lawyer. I wanted to replace Clete Boyer as
the third baseman for the New York Yankees. I lived for and loved baseball. Obviously, that was a
dream that remained only a dream. Instead of stepping up to the plate at Yankee Stadium, I have had
the absolute honor and privilege of going to bat for my fellow citizens, forjustice.
Lately I have been pausing and reflecting a little more on the path I have traveled. I recall watching
the funeral of Senator Robert Kennedy where his brother, Ted, in his eulogy, quoted the often-used
words of his brother: "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were
and say why not."
Probably without full awareness until now, I realize how much these words guided our work in the
St. Louis County Attomey's Office.
From pioneering collaborative work with survivors of both child and adult sexual abuse/assault, to
going the extra mile for women subjected to domestic abuse, to the collaboration that resulted in the
creation of the First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center, to groundbreaking collaborative work in
bringing fairness and justice to pretrial release decisions in the Racial Justice Improvement Project,
to representing all of my fellow Minnesota County Attomeys on the Attomey
General's/Commissioner of Public Safety Working Group on Police-Involved Deadly Force
Encounters, our dreams of a better world have come closer to reality time after time.
I am fortunate in that I am blessed with relatively good health, a loving wife, two sons, a daughter-
in-law, two grandkids, and great friends. I have to say though, that as I stood over my parents'
gravesites a while back, and after saying a quiet prayer, I looked over to my Grandmother Tomich's
headstone. Doing the math, I realized she only lived 67 years on this Earth, the same number of
years my dad lived. My 67th bfuthday is on August 29 .. . I am not superstitious, but I can still hear
St. Louis County Commissioners
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August 9,2021
the words of one of the best BCA Agents I ever worked with, Floyd Bowman: "Counselor, there is
no such thing as coincidence ... we call it circumstantial evidence." I continue to be reminded that
nothing should be taken for granted.
I am proud of the work we have done and what we have accomplished together over the years.
I wish you all continued success in the years ahead. It has truly been my honor to have served with
you as your St. Louis County Attorney.
Very truly yours,
S. RUBIN
St. Louis County Attorney
cc: Ross Littman, St. Louis County Sheriff
Nancy Nilsen, St. Louis County Auditor
Kevin Gray, St. Louis County Administrator
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