Brooklyn Center, MN – Gubernatorial candidate and State Representative Paul Thissen received one of three coveted spots as a “preferred” candidate by Take Action Minnesota and the reNEW.mn campaign.
“I am so honored to have earned the support from so many Take Action Minnesota members today. The reNEW.mn process has been energizing and an extraordinary learning process. We’ve been incorporating the reNew.mn vision into our campaign and I can’t wait to get to work on our shared vision for the state of Minnesota as the next governor.”
During his acceptance speech, Representative Thissen said, “[D]uring this campaign we’re going to ask a lot of each other.” He went on to implore members of Take Action Minnesota to join him on Thursday at the State Capitol for a rally in support of General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC).
We have built an incredibly strong state-wide campaign.
First of all, it’s built on hard work and energy. We have gone out in 2009 to 83 of our 87 counties, most of them several times, met with thousands of Minnesotans. And you know what? The lesson I take from Massachusetts is you win elections by working hard and bringing a lot of energy to it. That’s what we’ve done, and that’s what we’re going to do.
Second is, it’s built on a simple message. And that is: our job is to rebuild Minnesota and its economy. And we have to do it in a way that works for middle-class families.
It’s built on the idea that what happens inside the Capitol, what happens over there, doesn’t matter as much as what happens in real people’s lives. And we’ve got to get away from the political gamesmanship, whether it’s within our own party, or whether it’s within our state government. And I’m committed to doing that.
And the last thing is we’ve got to understand that politics as usual won’t cut it anymore. We have built a campaign that is about bringing new ideas — rising to the task of meeting the challenges of this state.
Smart leadership. Smart new leadership. That’s what I have to offer you. And I’d really appreciate your support.
BUDGET SOLUTIONS
I think we all agree that jobs is the first job of the next governor. But I think it’s important that it’s not just any job, but good paying jobs that a family can live on. Because you know what, the way we have to rebuild this economy is to get away from what we’ve been doing for 15 years and focus in on the economies of middle-class families. And letting them succeed. Key to that is a good-paying job.
The second thing — and this is the key I think to solving our budget crisis. We do have to address taxes, we do have to address getting people back to work, but we have to get health care costs under control. They are going up 20 percent. They’re squeezing out our ability to invest in anything else.
If you’re conerned about college tuition, look at the slope of increase in health care costs in our state budget, and the slope of decrease in our investment in higher education. They’re identical but in opposite directions. That’s what we have to get after.
The last thing, which I think we really have to do if we want to do anything, is restore trust in our government. The public doesn’t trust government to do things. And that is opening up government, making it more transparent, moving decisions to the local level, and making sure people are getting engaged.
And that is really up to all of us.
HOW TO GROW
As we get our budget back under control, the places that I would invest our money are early childhood, higher education and our transportation infrastructure, because that is the future of our prosperity in this state.
But two other things we really need to think about. The first is there’s a lot of benefit we can get by incorporating our colleges and our universities more — closely integrated with the rest of our communities. You know I was just speaking with someone earlier here who was saying that the graduates of the urban design classes in this university serve 90% of the cities in this state. Those are the kind of stories we’ve got to get out there. Because there’s a connection between our institutions and the larger community and we need a governor who understands that and is going to connect that more.
The second thing we need to do is we’ve got to stop the brain drain from this state. One way to do that is to model a program in Maine that says that if you go to school in Minnesota, and graduate, and stay here in Minnesota, you’re going to get a tax credit against repaying your tuition. That keeps people here in Minnesota, especially in greater Minnesota. And that’s about –[TIME]. Thank you.
A PLAN FOR REVENUE
As I’ve gone around the state, everywhere the number one issue that people talk about are increasing property taxes and what that’s meaning for their schools and for their cities. We need to move away from reliance on property taxes and move back to a fair state-level tax. And I think that is a winning issue for Democrats next year because people are incredibly frustrated. But that’s the first place to go.
We need to look at the income tax, and I think if you ask Minnesotans: Is it better for someone making $300,000 to pay maybe $300 a year more, as opposed to taking a hundred bucks out of someone’s pocket who’s living on $1200 a month? I think most Minnesotans would say yes, that’s the direction we need to go.
The second thing we need to do is get people back to work, But the third thing we need to do and I can’t say this enough, is we do need to get health care costs under control. It’s a third of our budget today, in 20 years it’s going to be two-thirds if we don’t do anything about. And think about what that means for your ability to invest in your schools, or in this college, or in public safety. We need to change that around. And we can do it — not by the way the governor did, throwing people off of health care — but paying smarter for health care. And there’s no one in this race [TIME] that knows more about that than I do.
THISSEN LEGISLATION SUPPORTS INNOVATION AND MULTI-SECTOR COLLABORATION
ST. PAUL – Legislation introduced next week by State Rep. Paul Thissen will aim at maximizing the partnership between not-for-profit, public and private sectors to address high-priority community needs.
Based on recommendations of the Grants Innovations Advisory Group, on which Thissen serves, the new legislation would create the Minnesota Coalition for Innovation and Collaboration (MCIC), a collaborative that will bring state agencies, not-for-profits and community foundations together to focus on coordinating efforts for better results.
“The recession has not only created unprecedented budget challenges for our state, but community needs are more pressing than ever,” said Thissen. “We need to be much more strategic about investing our limited resources and improving social outcomes. Streamlining the efforts of dozens of state agencies and coordinating with parallel efforts by not-for-profits and foundations is a good place to start.”
“Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Paul Thissen, a Twin Cities legislator, said his travels around the state show that state payments to local governments is a top priority. ’We need to sustain the quality of life as well as the job structure,” he said.”
Read the full story here from Forum Communicatons, publisher of 22 Greater Minnesota newspapers from Grand Forks to Two Harbors to Worthington. (Registration may be required.)
A YouTube clip via The Uptake is here. Paul’s comments begin at 4:55. A full replay of the forum is available here.
St. Paul – State Rep. Paul Thissen introduced legislation this week to provide municipalities with a low-cost low-risk avenue for creating jobs by helping businesses and residents retrofit local buildings for energy efficiency. By establishing a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, local governments can create a sustainable energy loan program, through which commercial and residential property owners borrow to pay for efficiency measures and small renewable energy systems.
“While many businesses and homeowners across our state are interested in increasing their energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the high cost of making the necessary improvements can be prohibitive,” said Thissen. “This bill will help make that happen.”
Brooklyn Center, MN – Gubernatorial candidate and State Representative Paul Thissen received one of three coveted spots as a “preferred” candidate by Take Action Minnesota and the reNEW.mn campaign.
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