Paul Thissen: Innovation in Action

Who is Paul Thissen?

My ancestors came to this state in the 1860s, settling in western Minnesota. And my family still owns this farm, which my Dad grew up on and which my grandparents settled years ago, during the Great Depression.

I grew up in Bloomington, a typical suburban kid, and I’ve lived all my life in Minnesota, except for the four years that I spent in college at Harvard, and the three years at the University of Chicago law school, where I met my wife, Karen.

Minnesota is where I’ve always wanted to make a life. Karen and I are now raising our three kids here. And after moving back, I didn’t have a political career in mind. But public service has always been an important part of our lives.

I served as a state public defender, and built a legal career at the law firm of Briggs and Morgan, where I focused on business law, but was also proud to chair our pro bono committee. And I’m really proud that, during my tenure, we doubled the level of free legal services that we provide to nonprofits all across the state, and also to low-income Minnesotans.

Then, eight years ago, I began to feel that I could make a difference in my legislative district, which includes Richfield and parts of South Minneapolis. To win the race in a district that has a strong independent streak and that voted for Jesse Ventura in 1998, I knocked on every door, most of them several times, and I campaigned by listening to what people had to say.

To me, that kind of hard work is the only way to win elections. And listening is the only way to govern effectively.

So I’m a citizen and an elected official and a husband and the father of three kids, but maybe the simplest answer to who I am is that I’m my parents’ son.

My Mom and Dad taught for sixty years between them in Minnesota’s public schools. My Mom in Bloomington and Richfield, and my Dad in St. Paul. And in my legal career, and through my community involvement, and now in government service, I feel as if I’m continuing their life’s work.

My parents dedicated their professional lives to building and strengthening the community institutions that bind us together, and make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. And they raised me to understand that as the highest calling that there is. So that’s really who I am and where I come from.