Paul Thissen’s campaign for governor has gained momentum since his strong showing at the DFL caucuses.
Gubernatorial candidate Paul Thissen hopes to restore security to the state of Minnesota by reforming health care, creating jobs and providing access to affordable higher education.
Andressa Lunardelli
Published: 03/11/2010
Cali Owings
Paul Thissen said the idea to run for governor came to him when he was on the road.
The drive from Minneapolis to the southwestern corner of the state, where he was campaigning for other DFL candidates for the Minnesota House of Representatives, provided him ample opportunity to think about the state’s future.
“Traveling around the state and meeting with people motivated me to think that we could be doing better in Minnesota,” Thissen said. “And I could play a part in making that happen.”
His idea to run for governor was all his own, but it was his wife who first encouraged him to run for his current spot in the House of Representatives. In 2002, he was elected to represent parts of Minneapolis and has served the area for the last eight years. He has served as chairman of the Health Care and Human Services Committee since 2007.
His campaign for governor has gained momentum since his strong showing at the DFL caucuses in February, where he garnered more than 7 percent of the party straw poll.
Even before that, Thissen was doing a good job fundraising, bringing in more than $253,000 in 2009, fourth among DFL candidates.
Thissen said he wants to restore security to the state through reforming health care, providing access to affordable higher education and creating jobs.
“We don’t want to let families live in a vulnerable place, but a secure place. That’s the kind of Minnesota I grew up in, and that’s the kind of Minnesota I want to get us back to,” he said.
But Thissen said he isn’t looking to turn back the clock. He wants to make the state succeed in the 21st century by sending a progressive signal to other states.
“We welcome all people, regardless of their background or sexual orientation,” he said.
In February, Thissen introduced the Equal Access Health Care Records bill, which would provide domestic partners access to medical records upon their partner’s death and also allow them to make health-related decisions. The bill passed the Health and Human Services Committee on Monday.
Health care reform is at the forefront of Thissen’s agenda.
His goal is to have everyone in Minnesota covered under a single-payer system, but that’s not where the conversation ends.
Part of his health care plan is to change the way care is delivered. Thissen said he wants to stop the practice of paying by procedure and instead pay doctors and nurses to take care of people. Thissen said he thinks decisions regarding care should be made by physicians and patients, not employers and insurance providers.
“There’s nobody in the race that understands the complexity of the health care issues at the level I do,” Thissen said — and the Minnesota Nurses Association agrees.
Linda Hamilton, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, said Thissen’s health care reform record was the main motivator for the group’s endorsement of his campaign for governor.
Even Republicans he works with speak highly of his expertise in the area.
Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, who serves as lead GOP on the Health Care and Human Services Committee, said Thissen’s health care knowledge is his strength.
Abeler has been a chiropractor for 31 years and said he appreciates that Thissen listens to concerns from health professionals.
“Paul would be a reasonable governor,” Abeler said, but he stopped short of endorsing the DFLer’s campaign.
Although he is known mostly for his policies on health care, Thissen is also looking to bring change to higher education.
He places higher education toward the top of his priorities for the state.
To make college education more affordable, Thissen suggests that two-thirds of funding for higher education come from the public and the remainder come from tuition. This would mean an increase in taxes.
“We all have an interest in getting as strongly educated a populace as possible,” he said.
Thissen has also proposed an act that would provide students who attend college in Minnesota incentive to stay in the state after graduation through a tax credit against repayment of school loans.
Thissen said that in the end, he expects to get the nomination because of his values, not necessarily because of how easily recognizable he is compared to other candidates.
“We’ve been working very hard. We’ve been out to 83 counties, some of them more than once,” he said. “We’re putting more miles on than anybody else in the field to win in November.”
MSNBC: MN bills would give same-sex couples death rights
By (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
updated 12:18 p.m. CT, Wed., March. 10, 2010
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Two bills up for hearings on Wednesday would give same-sex partners and other unmarried couples more rights when one partner dies.
The House Civil Justice Committee will hear the proposals, both from Democrats.
The bill from Rep. Paul Thissen of Minneapolis would give the surviving partner the right to access health records and consent to autopsies.
Another proposal from Rep. Steve Simon of St. Louis Park would let surviving partners have witness privileges and crime victim rights in wrongful death cases.
Currently these rights go only to a person’s surviving spouse or immediate family.
MinnPost: Panel to hear dueling plans on opening state’s health-insurance market
By Casey Selix | Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Allowing individuals to buy health insurance from out-of-state carriers is not just a free-market Republican idea to increase competition and try to bring down premiums.
This afternoon, state Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, will present his plan to open up Minnesota’s individual health-insurance market to out-of-state carriers. At the same committee hearing, Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, will offer legislation [PDF] that Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been pushing since last year.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” Atkins said, “but I don’t quite have the bully pulpit of the governor. But I do have the ability to introduce actual legislation, and I think it’s important to enhance competition and hopefully drive down costs.”
Atkins said the key difference between the bills is that his proposal requires that out-of-state insurers abide by Minnesota’s consumer protection laws. “Under the other bill, they’re exempt from multiple consumer protection laws,” he said.
Brod did not return a phone call from MinnPost.com. Language in her bill authorizes the commissioner of commerce to identify potential insurers in states that would have an “acceptable degree of consumer protection.”
‘A level playing field’ So, why not just work with the governor?
“I haven’t talked to him (the governor) about it, but I think he’d like mine, too,” Atkins said. “He’s a hockey guy, and I think he might want there to be a level playing field for all the folks on the ice.”
It will be a busy afternoon for Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, who chairs the policy and oversight committee. Besides the DFL and GOP proposals to open up Minnesota’s health insurance market, the committee will consider two bills — one from a DFLer, the other from a Republican — that take aim at potential waste, fraud and abuse of public health programs. Another bill, from Republican Rep. Steve Gottwalt, wants to set up a defined contribution program for MinnesotaCare, a premium-based plan for low-income residents.
Isn’t that a fairly packed agenda?
“We’re going to start at 1 and go to 4:15,” Thissen said Tuesday evening, noting that we’re discussing health care while he’s dining on White Castle. “To me the most important thing is to give these things a hearing so we find out what the pros and cons are instead of making assumptions about the pros and cons.”
An issue in Congress as well
Last year, Pawlenty announced that he wanted Minnesota to become the first state to let residents buy health insurance from out-of-state carriers. The idea is also being floated in national reform.
State Rep. Paul Thissen
“There is no reason a Minnesotan should not be able to buy health insurance from other states,” the governor wrote in a recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post. “Doing so would dramatically increase insurance choices and cut costs through improved competition.”
Pawlenty’s plan isn’t going over well with Minnesota’s nonprofit health-insurance plans.
“The issue here for us is that the governor’s proposal takes away the level playing field that we think is an important protection for consumers,” said Julie Brunner, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans. “We think there’s a fair amount of competition in the market in Minnesota, and if the governor wants to spur competition through bringing in out-of-state companies, then make those companies meet all those requirements and then we’ll see where the competition is.”
Thissen doesn’t expect that either of the proposals “will change significantly the market in Minnesota.”
Simulation found few takers
In fact, a simulation conducted a few years ago found that only 2 to 3 percent of Minnesotans would buy their health insurance from an out-of-state carrier, said Stephen T. Parente, a health economist who ran the simulation for the federal government. But 45 percent of people in New Jersey would be inclined to go out of state, said Parente, an associate professor of finance in the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.
“Minnesota’s premiums are not that high compared to other states … that have much more aggressive regulations — like New York and New Jersey, where they have guaranteed insurance laws … which become very expensive,” said Parente, who was a volunteer health adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign.
Another concern for Thissen would be the extent of consumer protections in either proposal. “If an insurance company doesn’t properly honor its policy with you … if the insurer is registered in Minnesota, you can go to the Department of Commerce and get relief. If the company is registered in Alabama or Delaware, you have to go there to get relief,” he said. “That’s very significant.”
Waste, fraud and abuse
Also on today’s agenda are a GOP plan to examine billing and collection practices of state public health programs to “reduce waste, fraud and abuse” and a DFL plan to create an Office of Health Care Inspector General in the Department of Human Services “to enhance antifraud activities and to protect the integrity of the state health care programs.”
“There are some indications that a percentage of public programs are being spent for people who don’t really qualify and that we may be overpaying some providers for some procedures,” Thissen said. “We want to make sure we’re using public dollars … as wisely as possible.”
Though there are competing proposals from both parties about the same issues, Thissen thinks it’s worthwhile to hear all of them.
“The thing about health care is that no one has a corner on the market for the right idea,” said Thissen, a DFL candidate for governor.
Today’s hearing is scheduled at 1 p.m. in Rm. 200 of the State Office Building.
St. Paul, Minn. — Democrats say they will attempt to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of a bill that extends health insurance for more than 30,000 Minnesotans.
The House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the legislation Thursday, but Pawlenty, who’s in Washington D.C, quickly vetoed the bill, setting up a showdown in the Minnesota House as Democrats try to convince a handful Republicans to reject Pawlenty’s veto.
DFL VOWS TO PASS BILL
Shortly after Gov. Pawlenty announced through a spokesman that he would veto the bill, three Democrats in the Minnesota House lined up outside reporters’ doors to say they won’t stand for it. Rep. Paul Thissen. DFL-Minneapolis, said Democrats, hospital officials and advocates for the poor will work to convince three Republicans to vote to override.
“They’re going to be hearing from their hospitals and their communities and I think for that reason we are going to pick up the votes to override this veto and we should,” Thissen said.
On Thursday, the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a $284 million bill that would extend the General Assistance Medical Care program for another 16 months. Lawmakers were moving quickly because benefits for the 30,000 people on the program who live below the poverty line will run out on April 1st.
Pawlenty vetoed funding for the program last year, and he has proposed rolling those on GAMC into a different program known as MinnesotaCare. But Rep. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said MinnesotaCare is too expensive for people currently enrolled in General Assistance Medical Care.
She said the plan passed by lawmakers would cost less than Pawlenty’s, and that it’s unfair to balance Minnesota’s budget on the backs of the state’s poorest and sickest residents.
“While we have a difficult budget to solve, I don’t think this is the population that should pay the price,” she said. “There are other Minnesotans that have the means to tighten their belts. But this population living under bridges, who have served our country, they’re in hard times and we’re taking away one of the last benefits that they have–their health care.”
WHILE PAWLENTY TRAVELS, DFL LOOKS FOR HOUSE VOTES
Pawlenty was in Washington D.C. when the bill passed. His spokesman, Brian McClung, released a statement saying Pawlenty will veto the bill from Washington. He said the bill spends too much and includes quote “no reform.” On Thursday, Pawlenty was on a call from Washington D.C. with reporters in Nevada criticizing President Obama’s upcoming trip to that state. He declined to say why he would veto the bill when this Minnesota reporter asked him about it.
“We’re trying to limit this to the Nevada press but Brian McClung has outlined the reasons for that in a communication to you and if hasn’t he will shortly,” Pawlenty said.
“Can you identify what your main objections to it?” the reporter asked.
“It will be the ones that Brian [McClung] identifies for you when you get that information if you haven’t already.”
Pawlenty, who appears to be gearing up for a run for president in 2012, is scheduled to speak to a group of activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington Friday morning. While he’s in Washington D.C., Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota will frantically count heads to see if an override will happen.
In the state Senate, Democrats have enough votes to override a veto. The key question is the House where Democrats are three members short of an override. 38 House Republicans and all 87 Democrats voted for the bill on Thursday. It takes 90 votes to override a veto. House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, is confident Republicans will stick together and uphold the governor’s veto. He said he thinks any GAMC solution should be included in a plan to fix the state’s $1.2 billion budget deficit.
“We think it’s part of a bigger budget solution,” Zellers said. “This should be a part of it, the GAMC fix or a new program should be a part of that fix. We’re going to work together again, just like we did with this version of it to find a solution that not only the governor can agree to but the house and senate can agree to as well.”
But Democrats say they’ll remind Republicans that many of the hospitals in their districts stand to lose millions if an override doesn’t happen. The House was unsuccessful in its attempt to override Pawlenty’s veto of funding for GAMC last year.
The only successful override during Pawlenty’s time as governor was in 2008 on a transportation bill that raised several taxes to pay for transportation projects.
Paul Thissen’s campaign for Minnesota Governor announced today that it has added a total of five staff in the last week in their push for the DFL endorsement.
Thissen added Chelsie Glaubitz and Mike Simpkins to lead the organizing effort for the DFL State Convention in Duluth. Glaubitz and Simpkins bring considerable convention and floor experience to the campaign. This background is critical in the crowded DFL field that will create a complex, multi-layered floor fight for the endorsement. Glaubitz served as Al Franken’s Assistant Floor Leader at the 2008 State DFL Convention. Simpkins brings experience to the team from both the floor fight in the 2006 governor’s race and Franken’s campaign in 2008.
Additionally, both Glaubitz and Simpkins specialize in organizing greater Minnesota. Glaubitz is a native of Southern Minnesota’s First Congressional District while Simpkins is a resident of Bemidji and has organized in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Congressional Districts. The addition of two greater Minnesota organizers adds strength to Thissen’s whole-state approach to the race.
The Thissen campaign added Carrie Lucking as Communications Director as well. Lucking most recently served as Steve Kelley’s Campaign Manager in his campaign for governor. She brings experience in the crowded field and a background in campaign communications that stretches back to 2005.
Rounding out the team are field organizers Peter Grafstrom and Ross Dybvig, both offering on-the-ground experience from different corners of the state.
Thissen’s Campaign Manager, Gia Vitali, said of the hires, “We’ve been extremely successful gaining The MN Nurse’s Association endorsement, Take Action’s support and winning pledged delegates. Carrie, Mike, Chelsie, Peter, and Ross add even greater strength to our winning team as we build to the DFL endorsement.”
Campaign for the Capitol 2010
MSNBC: MN bills would give same-sex couples death rights
Follow Paul