SEIU Endorses Rolstad for House in 41A

Valerie’s involvement with SEIU dates back to the 1999/2000 school year when the Columbia Academy support staff unit first organized. She has been on her bargaining team since its conception. In 2004, she took a leave of absence from Columbia Academy to work on what would become America Votes, where she was an organizer and worked with volunteers to door knock, phone bank, and truly learn how to positively impact a major political issues campaign. America Votes brings together more than 400 state and national organizations to focus on supporting year round progressive campaigns. Valerie’s purpose with America Votes was to register voters and assist in implementing its get out the vote (GOTV) strategy.

Valerie worked as an organizer for SEIU Local 284 to engage members in becoming more involved through participation in the political process. During this time, she was appointed and re-elected twice by her peers, to the SEIU Executive Board. She is currently in her third, three-year term. Her role on the Executive Board includes serving on the Budget and Finance Committee and chairing the Committee on Political Education (COPE).

Valerie also sits on the SEIU Minnesota State Council as an At-Large member. In this position she works on SEIU budget and finance decisions, political endorsements, and bringing national platform issues to her Local to structure its goals accordingly.

Valerie’s SEIU involvement has allowed her to perform coalition work with Minnesotans Fight for a Fair Economy, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTLU), ISAIAH, NOC, and Take Action Minnesota. It has also given her in depth knowledge on the legislative process by allowing her to lobby and educate legislators in support of public education and health care issues, among others. This has given Valerie Rolstad the understanding and experience of how to actually take an idea, put it into bill form, and see the bill through the process until it is signed into law. Such an understanding is vital for our next State Representative in SD 41A.