MNPACT: Who’s knocking at my door? Paul Thissen.

4/03/10 by Dave Mindeman

I get home from work on the Saturday evening before Easter. I pick up a few things getting ready for supper. I hear the doorbell ring…pick up a newspaper and glance at it as I go to the door. Finally look up and there, towering in the window stands …..

Paul Thissen.

Wow. Now that’s some serious doorknocking. Drives down to Apple Valley and hits a few delegate doors. We talk for a bit. He has big Easter planned tomorrow with his young’uns. We talk a little about the legislative session and about his principled stand on the GAMC “fix”. Just yakkin’ away.

Paul Thissen.

My wife is with me, talking as well. When Paul walks out the door, she says….”Now, if I was a delegate — that would impress me.”

Well, I have to say…I was impressed as well.

Thissen makes campaign stop in Morton

Marshall Independent

Candidates, legislators speak at DFL event

By Deb Gau

MORTON – The campaigning for Minnesota gubernatorial and legislative candidacy is already under way for 2010. But no matter the final choices, candidates visiting a Senate District 21 DFL fundraiser Saturday said it was important that Democrats stand united…

…Thissen said another challenge to rural Minnesota is how to encourage agriculture when fewer and fewer young people are becoming farmers, and high land prices provide an obstacle to getting started. Thissen said he is working on legislation that would provide tax credits or other incentives for buying farmland or transferring it to a new owner.

Thissen said he also had some concerns about health care. While the passing of the national health care bill was a positive thing for many people, he said, “I worry we’re not going to be able to maintain the system” financially. That system might need further regulation, he said.

Thissen wasn’t the only official to mention the health care bill Saturday. U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson addressed his voting against the bill during a short speech at the fundraiser.

“I’m aware people are very much disappointed in my vote,” Peterson said, citing thousands of phone calls and e-mails at his office. “There are reasons for it,” although he said it would take more time than he had to explain them all. Now that it has passed, however, Peterson said, “I will support it, and I will work to make this work.”

Full text is available at www.marshallindependent.com

Thissen proposes health care solutions

Lawmaker, candidates look for extra health care money

Associated Press
ST. PAUL — A Democratic state lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate says Minnesota could get extra federal health care dollars for moving ahead with plans to coordinate medical care for those with chronic conditions.

Rep. Paul Thissen of Minneapolis is pushing state human services officials to ask for more money for tracking patients through clinics designated as medical homes.

He wouldn’t estimate Wednesday how much the state could get.

Thissen is one of 11 Democrats running for governor.

Forty Minnesota clinics are in the process of becoming certified as medical homes under a 2008 state law.

The federal government pays 90 percent of medical home care for subsidized Medicaid patients with chronic conditions or serious mental illnesses under the new health law.

Thissen rallies with labor activists in Rochester

Rochester Post-Bulletin

Swanson, Dayton and Thissen pay a visit

Rochester is proving to be a popular spot today for DFL candidates…

…This afternoon, the Southeast Minnesota Area Labor Council is organizing a march and rally that starts at 4 p.m. at the Labor Temple in Rochester and will stop at Wells Fargo at 21 1st St. S.W. The march is part nationwide protests by labor groups focused on banks that took bailout money. They want these banks to loosen tightened lending restrictions to help average citizens. The march will end at the Kahler Grand Hotel at 20 2nd Ave. S.W.

DFL gubernatorial candidates Mark Dayton and Paul Thissen are expected to attend and address the crowd. Thissen is also having a meet and greet from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Dos Amigos Restaurant, 20 4th St. S.E.

Thissen wins recent online poll

Minnesota Progressive Project – Friday Poll

Poll

Who do you think will win the DFL gubernatorial endorsement?

Margaret Anderson Kelliher – 22 votes (21.57%) R.T. Rybak – 23 votes (22.55%) John Marty – 3 votes (2.94%) Paul Thissen – 28 votes (27.45%) Tom Rukavina – 4 votes (3.92%) Matt Entenza – 19 votes (18.63%) Mark Dayton (mysteriously) – 0 votes (0%) No endorsement – 3 votes (2.94%)