Rep. Paul Thissen Officially Announces His Candidacy for Governor
Thissen Outlines Priorities for Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN– Today, from his home in Minneapolis, Paul Thissen was joined by family, friends and supporters to officially announce he will seek the DFL endorsement for Governor of Minnesota in 2010. Read Full Entry…
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Á Democrat Paul Thissen talked up his connection to a western Minnesota farmer outside his Minneapolis home on Thursday, as he formalized his campaign for the state’s top job.
The four-term House member pointed out a rough hewn workbench built by his great-grandfather, who
farmed in western Minnesota, far from Thissen’s comfortable city neighborhood. Thissen said it stood for the legacy he hopes to build as governor.
“It connects me with the six generations of my family that have lived in Minnesota,” said Thissen, surrounded by his wife, children, parents and supporters in a spacious back yard…
MARSHALL – Minnesota’s next governor will deal with a budget deficit and a recovering economy, but must do so with more vision than what’s been used in the past, said Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and candidate for governor…”Unless there is a broader discussion on who we want to be as a people,” Thissen said the budget and related issues won’t be resolved for the long term…
MARSHALL – Minnesota’s next governor will deal with a budget deficit and a recovering economy, but must do so with more vision than what’s been used in the past, said Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and candidate for governor. A governor and his administration and Legislature can’t just make cuts in the budget and move money from one area to another to solve a budget crisis, said Thissen, who made a campaign stop in Marshall on Tuesday.
“Unless there is a broader discussion on who we want to be as a people,” Thissen said the budget and related issues won’t be resolved for the long term.
While he agrees with Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s statements that health care costs are increasing at an unsustainable rate, Thissen disagrees with Pawlenty’s approach.
Recent cuts in General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) mean more people will be without insurance, because the cuts in the long run mean more expensive visits to emergency rooms, Thissen said.
The cuts also mean an increase in those with mental illnesses who will be without insurance, he said. That will also be more of a long-term cost to the state. At the least, the state must make sure those with mental health issues have insurance coverage for their medications, Thissen said.
“The dominant idea that the best way to succeed is for everybody to make it on their own, (needs to change),” Thissen said.
Minnesotans must consider the obligations they have to each other and then, talk more broadly about solutions and priorities, Thissen said.
Paul’s Vision for Leading Minnesota as the next Governor
The first thing is passion. And by passion I don’t mean fire-breathing rhetoric or rigid dogmatic ideology, which has actually blocked our progress on major issues over the years. Rather, I mean a genuine passion for getting tangible good results, no matter who receives credit, and no matter how demanding the process of getting there. Showing that kind of passion is a powerful way to lead by example.
Second is tackling the bread-and-butter issues at a very detailed level of knowledge. Health care, education, energy, the environment these are all complex problems with many moving parts. Some public officials seem to find complexity boring or tedious. Luckily, I’m not one of them.
Third: persistence, and taking the long-term view. Leading Minnesota means relentlessly focusing on improving how our state works, not just for next year, but in ways that will stand the test of time. In the legislation that I’ve pushed for, the common thread is the need to begin dealing, right now, with issues that will be dominating Minnesota’s agenda ten and twenty years down the line.
And fourth is a talent for listening and consensus-building. No governor develops and executes reforms all by himself. Leadership means having a constant hunger for good ideas. And not just from friends or from within the party or the political community, but from everyone throughout Minnesota. And then leadership means taking the best of those ideas and putting them into action.
With genuine passion, knowledge, persistence, and listening, we can do great things in our state in the next decade. I’m Paul Thissen, and I want to be your next Governor.
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