Paul Thissen: Innovation in Action

SEIU Health Care Picnic

Paul speaking at the SEIU health care picnic

SEIU Health Care Picnic

Paul speaking at the SEIU health care picnic.

Governor’s National Ambitions Hurt Main Street

By Paul Thissen, Guest Column
Published Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Once again, Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn’t miss the opportunity to enjoy a national headline at the expense
of ordinary Minnesotans.
I met with some of those Minnesotans last night in Chatfield. The group was deeply concerned about
the future of their town. Main Street businesses that can no longer afford to reinvest and renovate their
properties because property taxes are just too high. Families that leave for the cities because health care
is simply too expensive on local salaries. Gov. Pawlenty’s unallotment decisions are not good news for
the folks in Chatfield or people living in any number of towns and cities across Minnesota.

To read the full column, click here.

Governor Pawlenty’s Proposed Unallotments

Once again, Governor Pawlenty didn’t miss the opportunity to enjoy a national headline at the expense of ordinary Minnesotans.

Read Full Entry…

Paul at Hibbing High School

The unfortunate reality in this state is that our leaders have not been living up to those values.

Instead we’ve been left with the Sam’s Club values of Governor Pawlenty: do everything as quick as possible, easy as possible, cheap as possible, and don’t look back.

I’m running for governor because we need to change that.

And I delivered some real results for Minnesotans. One result is we have delivered tens of thousands of kids access to health care in this state over the last few years, including 20,000 more kids just this last year.  And a public health option for every child in the state of Minnesota.

So I’ll tell you fundamentally, the reason that I’m running for governor is that I think the election is going to be a defining moment for our state. When Governor Pawlenty with a stroke of his pen eliminated health care for 30,000 of the most vulnerable, poorest Minnesotans, he crossed a line that Minnesotans aren’t going to accept. And they’re not going to accept it because it was an immoral decision. And we have to call him on that.

What this next election absolutely has to be about is who we are as a people. Who we are as Minnesotans. And that’s the kind of campaign I want to run. For ten years now, we have had a governor, and Republicans, who have been selling us on this notion, this notion that we’re all going to be better off if we just are left to our own devices.

And that has lead to a Minnesota that I don’t recognize any more. A Minnesota where the extraordinary promise of this state is getting too far out of reach for too many of its citizens.

I think this election absolutely has to be coming back to what made Minnesota successful in the past and always has. And that is acknowledging that when we act together, we’re better off. And that we owe obligations to one another, and we should take the personal responsibility to honor those obligations.

The next governor has to understand that the legacy of our generation can’t be about just our tax rankings, but about the quality of our kids’ education, the purity of the waters in our lakes and streams, the affordability of the health care that our families have access to. Those are the things that I believe in. Those are the things that this party believes in.

We absolutely have to make the next election about that, about who we are as Minnesotans. That’s the campaign I’m going to run. And that’s why I would be honored to be your next governor. My name is Paul Thissen, I appreciate it, and I’d love to earn your support. Thank you.