I’m only able to stand here today running for Governor because of the Minnesota values held tenaciously by the two public school teachers who raised me.
My parents recognized a duty to educate the next generation not just in their classrooms, but by working second jobs in order to help my sister and me go to college.
My generation of Minnesotans came of age in a state whose leaders understood that investment in higher education is the key to our sustained economic success.
But in the last decade we’ve badly lost our way. We were a perennial leader among states in supporting our public colleges. That distinction is gone. We’re not even average anymore.
To bridge the gap, tuition at the University of Minnesota has doubled since 1999. And today’s MnSCU students are being asked to carry not the traditional one-third — but fully one-half — of the actual cost of in-state higher education. Not surprisingly, Minnesotans now graduating college carry the fifth highest debt load in the nation.
It is the worst kind of shortsighted folly to reduce our investment in higher education while radically increasing the tuition we charge for it. Full support of our state universities results in better research and development, more valuable patents, more innovative alumni, and more successful enterprises and jobs in Minnesota.
And my focus as Governor will also be on our community and technical colleges. Those institutions hold incredible potential for shaping Minnesota’s future. We need a renewed commitment to post-secondary education in Minnesota, and creative thinking about how to make that commitment a reality.
In addition to direct and smartly targeted investments in the University of Minnesota and our MnSCU institutions, as Governor I would provide tax relief to offset the repayment of student loans for college graduates who stay in Minnesota and return home to their communities after graduation.
And I won’t forget the growing numbers of nontraditional students who, after years in the world of work, are returning for additional education. We should provide extra incentives for employers to partner with local community colleges to fund advanced training for their workers.
Affordable higher education for more Minnesotans is not a luxury. It’s the solution. Our parents and theirs before them understood that. It’s now time for this generation to step up. And as your next Governor I’m ready to work with all of you to make sure that happens.
Someone once told Hubert Humphrey that Wisconsin was the gateway to paradise. And Humphrey responded: “That’s right. Minnesota’s just across the border.”
As a fifth-generation Minnesotan, I grew up among friends and neighbors and relatives who truly believed that our state was a special place.
Now we’re experiencing some challenging times. And we’ve just lived through a decade in which our leaders have lost sight of fundamental values that we Minnesotans used to consider our own doing things the right way, honoring hard work, looking beyond our narrow self-interest, and creating opportunity for the next generation.
Sad to say, this era has resulted in a diminished Minnesota, with its extraordinary promise too far out of reach for too many of its citizens.
But we can change that. Everywhere I go now, there is an energy among Minnesotans. An energy to change how we do things. An energy for a fresh start for our state.
I am thrilled that from Waseca to Brainerd, from Moorhead to Albert Lea, people are coming together to make a difference, drawn by their fierce belief in the promise of this place and a deep commitment to making it even better – more fair, more just, more prosperous for everyone.
This is Minnesota. Our greatest successes have always come when we act together, acknowledge that we do owe obligations to one another, and take responsibility to honor those commitments.
This is Minnesota. We know that our legacy is not going to be judged by our tax ranking, but rather by the quality of our childrens’ education, the affordability of our families’ health care, and the purity of our waters in our lakes and our streams.
My name is Paul Thissen and I’m running to be the next governor of this great state of Minnesota.
In 1886, a time when unwed mothers were largely denied hospital admission, Dr. Martha Ripley established this maternity hospital and opened it to any woman regardless of financial or marital status. Dr. Ripley was also an early president of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association. She died in 1912, eight years before women won the right to vote.
In 1915, on the 6th floor of the Plymouth Building, Lena Olive Smith opened her office as the first African-American woman realtor in Minnesota. At night, she attended law school one flight up. In 1921, she became the third black woman lawyer in America, and for the next forty years she battled discrimination as a founding member of the Urban League and the first woman president of the Minnesota NAACP. She lived to the age of 81: just long enough to see the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
In 1971, not long after he organized the first Vietnam teach-in at the University of Minnesota, Brian Coyle came out. He spent the next twenty years of his life fighting for civil rights, as a tenants’ rights activist and a tireless advocate throughout the 1980s for a domestic partnership ordinance in Minneapolis.
For more than a century Minnesotans have put themselves on the line to break down discrimination and to deliver on America’s promise of equal opportunity and equal justice. But that fight is far from over.
We can’t rest until every Minnesotan is protected against discrimination. None of our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, should be treated differently because of a disability, their sexual orientation, their religion, their age, their gender, or their race. I will advocate for marriage equality and will proudly sign legislation that reinforces America’s ideal that all are created equal.
As a young lawyer, I served as a public defender, fighting to make sure that Minnesota lived up to its ideal of equal justice under the law. I founded the organization Access For Persons With Disabilities to break down barriers to understanding and opportunity. And I represented families fleeing violence in their own countries and seeking asylum here in the United States.
But I know that good laws on the books are meaningless without practical results in the community. I will work with you to make sure that we close the achievement gap. I will continue my fight to eliminate disparities in health and in housing. And I will keep working with you to root out youth violence that is tearing communities apart.
The work of Minnesotans like Martha Ripley, Lena Smith, and Brian Coyle is ours to finish. Together, let’s get the job done.
Minnesota’s farm economy faces a critical decade ahead. Rural Minnesota’s future depends on our ability to provide midsize and small farmers across this state with more of these three things: stability, predictability and opportunity.
To accomplish this above all, we need sustainable fair commodity prices that will allow a hard-working farmer to raise a family.
I’ll work with our federal partners – and enforce the corporate farm laws – to help our family farms grow and compete in this era of consolidation.
I’ll reach out to farmers and others with forward-thinking policies to help attract the next generation of talent to agriculture.
I’ll work with the private sector to develop financial tools for today’s farmers to modernize and create new value-added enterprises that they can pass on to the next generation.
And I’ll help agricultural innovators solidify our state’s prominence in developing fields like clean energy and green chemistry – areas where I’ve been proud to have been a leader in the legislature.
Visiting 83 counties in 2009 has renewed my belief that the fertile fields of our state are as critical to our economic future as the bank towers in Minneapolis or the suburban office parks in Plymouth or Woodbury.
I want to work with you to lead Minnesota’s farm economy to a brighter future.
Hola, bienvenidos a la campaña de Paul Thissen para gobernador.Soy Karen, la esposa de Paul.He tenido la suerte de vivir en Latino América por varios años, pues trataré de usar mi español para presentar Paul a Uds.
Paul está haciendo la campaña para gobernador porque necesitamos un gobernador democrático quien desafiaría a la gente de Minnesota para que piensen en una manera creativa y grande sobre nuestro futuro.Necesitamos alguien quien puede ver las conexiones entre la vida de cada persona en nuestro estado y las ordenes públicos que adoptamos.Paul es conocido como un líder estratégico y decisivo en la legislatura de Minnesota.El tiene gran experiencia en cuidado médico, educación y política económica.
Gente por todos lados de Minnesota está respondiendo al mensaje de Paul.El esta agarrando el apoyo en cada rincón del estado.El fue endosado por la Asociación de Enfermeras de Minnesota.Y los medios de comunicación se han dado cuenta de cómo la campaña de PaulThissenestá aumentando la fuerza.
El mensaje de Paul a Minnesota es sobre cómo podemos hacer un mejor estado para todos si agarramos los recursos y espíritus creativos de las personas quien nos rodea.La comunidad Latina es una parte muy importante para el distrito de Paul en Richfield y Paul está comprometido a asegurar que la economía, las escuelas y el sistema de cuidado médico de Minnesota trabajan para la comunidad Latina.
Esperamos que tomaran unos minutos con nuestro website.Por favor mire el video “Quien es Paul Thissen?” – tiene traducción al español.Pronto van a ver lo que Paul significa cuando él dice que “Es tiempo para que digamos “Sí” al futuro de Minnesota.”
Muchisimas gracias y nos vemos pronto!
Hello! Welcome to Paul Thissen’s campaign for governor. I’m Paul’s wife Karen. I was lucky enough to live in Latin America for several years, so I am going to try out my Spanish to introduce you to Paul!
Paul is running because we need a decisive Democratic governor who will challenge Minnesotans to think big and creatively about our future, to see the connections between every person’s life in this state and the public policies that we adopt.
Paul is known as a strategic and decisive leader in the Minnesota legislature. He has great experience in healthcare, education and economic policy. People all across Minnesota are responding to Paul’s message. He’s gathering support from Democrats in every corner of the state. He’s been endorsed by the Minnesota Nurses Association. And the media too has taken notice of the momentum that Paul’s campaign is gathering.
Paul’s message to Minnesota is about how we can make a better state for everyone by seizing upon the resources and creative spirit all around us. The Latino community is a very important part of Paul’s district in Richfield, and he is committed to ensuring that Minnesota’s economy, schools and healthcare system work for the Latino community.
We hope that you will spend a few minutes with our website. Please watch the video ”Who is Paul Thissen?” – it is captioned in Spanish. You will soon understand exactly what Paul means when he says that it’s time for all of us to “Say Yes to Minnesota’s Future”.
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