Paul Thissen: Innovation in Action

Cold Weather Rule: Keep the Heat on this Winter

Struggling with heating bills? Worried about staying warm this winter? There is help. Minnesota’s Cold Weather Rule helps homeowners and renters protect and reconnect heat during the winter months. But you need to contact your electric and/or natural gas company to make and keep an affordable payment plan. Or you can contact the Public Utilities Commission for more information at consumer.puc@state.mn.us or 651-296-0406 or 1-800-657-3782.

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Paul on Music with Minnesotans on Classical MPR

Listen here:

Paul Thissen is the minority leader in the Minnesota House. He is an attorney and has served in the legislature since 2002.

A couple of years ago, he announced his candidacy for governor. His run for governor was our gain musically because it was during this time that Representative Thissen was alone in a car for hours and hours driving all over the state, meeting folks, getting to know the furthest corners of our beautiful region and listening to classical music.

On his playlist is the wonderfully lyrical ballet “Appalachian Spring.” Though we’re far from the eastern mountains, Copland became his soundtrack for the Glacier Ridge Scenic Byway and much of Western Minnesota.

Another choice on Paul’s playlist is the first movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, a piece he says he stumbled upon while exploring the winding alleys of Prague and stumbling upon an orchestra playing it outdoors. The music, the location and the people listening made their imprint and this piece is a favorite.

I am most intrigued by the jagged and rough edges of Shostakovich that Paul tells me he heard played by the Emerson Quartet in concert. While music often provides relaxation, focus and a soothing escape, Paul says he loves the complex emotions evoked by this string quartet, as well as its very specific social commentary on the lives of people of that era, something he hopes our vibrant classical scene in Minnesota can also provide its people.

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Paul Thissen’s playlist:

J.S. Bach, Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ – Alfred Brendel

Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 “From The New World” – Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner

Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 3 – Emerson String Quartet

Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring – Minnesota Orchestra/Eiji Oue

Rep. Thissen Takes on Irresponsible Governor in National Press

“I think it’s largely political theater to advance his presidential ambitions,” said State Rep. Paul Thissen, a Democrat who is chairman of the chamber’s health-care and human-services committee. “We may miss out on a few hundred thousand dollars of federal money but…the damage he can do is going to be over in four months.”

Statewide Commentary: M.A. Option Is Common Sense

The Republican TV ads for November must already be filmed and ready to go. Republicans running for state offices have clearly decided to jump on the bandwagon of opposition to the national health care bill.

And so Republicans in the Legislature — led by gubernatorial candidate, Tom Emmer — walked away from $1.4 billion in health care investments that would have immediately shored up struggling hospitals and clinics and held down your health care premiums. This is cynical politics at its worst and Minnesotans should be outraged.

Here’s the background: Minnesota currently pays the cost of health care for about 82,000 of the poorest, most vulnerable Minnesotans without children using only state tax dollars. But this year, we are being given the opportunity to immediately move those individuals to Medicaid, which means that the federal government would pick up half of the cost of their health care. Taking advantage of the offer would be incredibly beneficial for Minnesota.

Indeed, the deal is so good for Minnesota that Gov. Tim Pawlenty (no fan of federal health care reform) initially offered to include the Medicaid option as

part of the final state budget agreement — until Republican legislators raised such a political ruckus that the governor retreated.

So what does the Republican?s decision to kill the opportunity mean?

First, thousands of health care jobs in Minnesota will be lost at a time when we can ill-afford more unemployment. Local hospitals and clinics will miss out

on dramatically improved reimbursement rates and will suffer millions of dollars in losses instead. And every one of us with private health insurance will experience higher premium increases in the future to make up for those losses.

Moreover, by refusing the new Medicaid option, a cash-strapped state of Minnesota will miss the chance to draw down $1.4 billion in federal funds, money that will now go to other states to help balance their state budgets. Passing up the federal help makes little sense for Minnesota which today only gets back about 76 cents for every federal tax dollar paid to Washington, D.C.

Moreover, we could draw down the $1.4 billion with an investment of $190 million state dollars. It boggles my mind that Republicans, who seemingly pride themselves on their business acumen, would have passed on the opportunity to get back $7.45 for every dollar invested.

But that’s not the worst of it. The same Republicans in the Minnesota House who vehemently oppose the Medicaid option today actually offered and supported an essentially identical proposal to move those 82,000 Minnesotans into Medicaid just one year ago!

So why did the Republican legislators flip-flop and reject the chance to preserve good jobs, hold your health care premiums down and get back some hard-earned federal tax dollars to Minnesota?

The answer is obvious: Electoral politics. The Republicans, from Tom Emmer on down, want to scare the people of Minnesota with the specter of “Obamacare” to gain votes in November.

Don’t buy into the fear-mongering. The Medicaid option is not government take-over of health care. It is simply a fuller utilization of a health care program that began in 1965 and is largely administered by private health insurance companies.

In other words, when a Republican legislator or candidate says he opposes “government take-over of health care”, what he’s really saying is that he wants to get rid of a program that already provides coverage for more than 500,000 Minnesotans each month; more than half of them are children and families, the remaining are seniors and people who have disabilities.

So next time you see Tom Emmer or a Republican legislative candidate, ask him why he doesn’t want Minnesota to get more of your hard-earned federal tax dollars back. Ask him why Republican legislators were overwhelmingly for the Medicaid option before they were against it. And ask him why he is unwilling to stand up for Minnesota hospitals and clinics and fight to preserve Minnesota jobs. And when you go to the polls in November, remember the answers.

Thissen Thanks DFL

Despite falling short of the DFL endorsement, it is time to be profoundly thankful.

I am thankful for my amazing opponents – statesman and moral compass John Marty, gutsy and outspoken advocate Tom Rukavina, inspirational and hopeful leader RT Ryback, and smart and diligent worker Margaret Anderson Kelliher.

It seems like such an incredible understatement to simply say thank you for your support. I am humbled, thrilled and inspired by those of you who got involved for the first time because you wanted to work together to take back the governor’s office. I’m heartened to the longtime activists who through their experienced eyes, saw someone that they could trust in me.

I am thankful for my family’s constant support and encouragement. My dad and my wife, Karen, made literally thousands of phone calls. My mom and my sister were my rocks as I traveled Minnesota, taking care of everything from my children to feeding my campaign staff. My kids have been patient while they waited for their dad to get home from being on the road campaigning with my team. My family was and is the foundation of our team.

And that campaign team– the whiz kids who made up my staff proved that with countless hours, a little heart and a lot of moxie – that the future of the DFL is filled with potential and that they will not be out-worked, out-organized, or out-shone.

Most important, I am thankful to all of you for seeing the same vibrant future for Minnesota that I do. Over a year ago, when I started this campaign, I was the tall guy with the white hair and the hard-to-pronounce last name.

The past year was filled with thousands of miles, traveling from Hawley to Rochester, Marshall to Bemidji, the Twin Cities and finally here to Duluth. Over all of those miles, I heard over and over again from people who knew that it was Minnesota’s time.

My campaign’s story is a Minnesota story. It’s a story where the person with fewer advantages who is less well known becomes successful with hard work, grit, and sheer determination.

For an entire year, I had the overwhelming opportunity to envision a better Minnesota with all of you. Even though I fell short of becoming your nominee, I am lucky and blessed to share that vision of a vibrant future. With that in mind, I have no regrets and I leave this election in your capable hands.

Thank you all for your incredible support.