Rep. Thissen Visits Grand Meadow High School

December 12, 2008| Posted in Education archives, Events, In the News, Past Events, Uncategorized

STATE REP. PAUL THISSEN ADDRESSES GMHS STUDENTS

Meadow Area News, December 11, 2008

State Representative Paul Thissen addressed Grand Meadow High School students on Friday, December 12, 2008. 

Representative Thissen described his education background, his legislative experience, reasons for running for governor and then answered a series of questions from Grand Meadow high school students.

Representative Thissen compared serving in the legislature to being in high school in that there is a lot of learning that goes on and there are both conflicts and friendships that develop.

Six generations of Thissen’s family have lived in Minnesota.  He told an interesting story about his great grandfather that built a wooden work bench that has been passed down the family to him.  He compared this early investment in time and resources to what needs to be done now in state government.  He stated that we need to do long term investment in our state by providing a quality education, good paying jobs, and safe infrastructure.

When asked by a student what has Governor Tim Pawlenty not done for Minnesota, Thissen gave two examples:  He stated that we need to invest in early childhood education for three and four year olds and we need to make higher education more affordable by lowering tuition.

Representative Thissen discussed the current state deficit of $5.2 billion by predicting that the legislature would need to cut some programs and increase some taxes.  The main way to reduce the state deficit is to increase the number of good paying jobs by making Minnesota friendlier to businesses and corporations.

He gave three criteria when considering raising taxes:  1) Fairness; 2) Tax policy that reflects changes in the economy from 20 years ago; 3) Tax policy that promotes job growth.

Representative Thissen addressed the following issues:  State deficit, corporate bailouts, health care costs, transportation infrastructure, renewable energy, job growth, the housing crisis, No Child Left Behind education legislation, universal health care, nursing homes costs and nursing home scandals, the legislative page program, the Wind Energy Production Tax and Q-Comp and school funding.

Grand Meadow Jim Baudoin also asked a question about the status of Local Government Aid.