Two days after Minnesotans went to the polls on Nov. 3 to elect a new slate of local officials, one politician, DFL Rep. Paul Thissen, was still hard on the campaign trail.

Speaking to an intimate gathering of Carleton College students and faculty members last Thursday, Thissen (pronounced “T-sun”) discussed his candidacy for governor and fielded questions on policy issues.

Students stopped in on the meet-and-greet session on their way to afternoon classes, settling into armchairs arranged in a circle in Carleton’s Sayles-Hill Lounge as the legislator spoke frankly about the 2010 Minnesota governor’s race.

“Our strategy is very much about being a grassroots effort,” said Thissen.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

The kids and I had fun accompanying Paul to the Senate District 29 and 30 Chili and Chocolate Cookoff.   Paul sampled and judged all the chili, and I spent much of my time making sure the kids didn’t eat all the chocolate before it could be judged!

We talked with a lot of great southeastern Minnesota DFLers, and as always the kids made friends of their own.  It was also great to be able to remind them as we passed the Mayo Clinic that they were looking at one of the very best hospitals in the whole world.

As always, we look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail soon!

Have a great week,

-Karen

Of course, this bill is not without its flaws and I’m hopeful that after conference committee, more aggressive payment reform measures are included.  We need to reduce costs by paying for the right things and the federal government should look to Minnesota for successful ideas. The final bill also needs to make sure Medicare geographic payment inequity is addressed in a meaningful way.       

Much will remain to be done in Minnesota, but this first step from the Federal Government is welcome help to the aggressive health care reform we already have underway here in Minnesota.

With Governor Pawlenty out of the running, there are plenty of DFL’ers looking to take over. Tonight in Le Sueur, a handful of the candidates were on display for the community. News 12’s Ryan Gustafson has the story.

The sparsely populated auditorium at Le Sueur-Henderson High School gave way to some big names tonight. The party’s faithful were able to meet the candidates beforehand, and see them in action on the big stage. Here’s a peek at the potential candidates:

Paul Thissen says, “We need to be talking about and thinking about 2015 and 2020 and 2025 and if we do that, that’s the way we’re going to deliver both for Minnesotans, and deliver the governorship for the Democrats, which I think is fundamentally important.”

To watch the video and read the accompanying article, click here.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) The Minnesota Department of Human Services outlined a plan Friday to maintain health insurance for more than 30,000 low-income adults whose coverage runs out March 1, by moving them from one state program into another.

Commissioner Cal Ludeman said the agency will automatically transfer 28,000 people from the General Assistance Medical Care program into MinnesotaCare, a bigger subsidized plan for the working poor. Another 8,000 GAMC enrollees already are switching or dropping coverage.
The plan aims to catch those who otherwise would have become uninsured after Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty eliminated nearly $400 million in funding for GAMC as part of a decit  earlier this year. The future of the program’s patients will be one of the top issues in next year’s legislative session, starting in February.

“I was not going to simply be left in a position of having no coverage for these people for any period of time,” Ludeman said.

Democrats said it would be diffcult for the poorest, most vulnerable residents to handle a program that requires premiums and paperwork to stay enrolled. GAMC covers 36,000 very low-income adults — some homeless, others with incomes as low as a couple thousand dollars a year. MinnesotaCare is insurance for 125,000 working poor who pay monthly premiums on a sliding scale.

“Within six months, tens of thousands more Minnesotans will be uninsured at great cost to all of us,” said Rep. Paul Thissen, one of a dozen Democrats running for governor.

To read the full article, click here.

Contact: Gia Vitali (612) 386-1879

Statement from Rep. Thissen on the Governor’s Proposed Constitutional Amendment

Governor Pawlenty is proposing that we govern the state by looking in the rearview mirror instead of looking to the future. This is a simplistic approach to tackling Minnesota’s challenges coming from a governor who has taken little interest in actually managing the state budget to meet our needs.

Under his watch the number of political appointees in state agencies has grown, interfering with our ability to transform how government services are delivered in the state. He has shifted over $2 billion onto local property tax payers and he has repeatedly proposed funding programs by putting the cost on the state’s credit card.

I’m running for governor because we need someone who will take the responsibility of managing the state budget seriously.

The agenda began with a recap of Blooming Prairie Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Becky Noble’s trip in September to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Executives (MCCE) fall conference in Nisswa…

…After the meeting special guest Rep. Paul Thissen addressed the group.

He is running for Governor in 2010 and has strong roots in Blooming Prairie.

Thissen’s father, Frank, lived on a farm west of Blooming Prairie and still keeps up with the happenings in town.

The Representative has spent a lot of time in town and was happy to back.

In the last ten months of his campaign he has traveled to 74 counties in the state and has seen first hand the challenges the cities have been facing. He has many ideas about how to keep communities thriving.

Thissen discussed the need to invest in infrastructure. Some important points he made included the need for rural transit and road maintenance. This would keep people in their homes and help them continue to get their needs taken care of.

Thissen told the Chamber that transportaion is a top priority.

He went on to discuss many of his priorities and goals. The goals he had for keeping people in their homes, keeping young people in the small communities, balancing taxes, economic development in Greater Minnesota and agriculture and energy policy.

“We need to rely on answers already out there and share in the decision making,” Rep. Thissen said.

Thissen fielded questions from the chamber following his speech.

At 3:30, he was at the Bakery to talk to the community and answer even more questions.

To read the full article, click here.

First, it was for a great cause: Urban Embassy aims to educate and mobilize minority and under-represented voters through community meetings and targeted legislation, and has done a lot of important work since its founding.
Second, it was great to have the candidates relax and have some fun, and vary from the typical stump speech.

Even though Paul has a beautiful voice and was the lead role in some of his high school musicals, he still needs to be prodded to sing publicly, so I was thrilled to be able to make him sing this weekend! We sang a duet version of Prince’s “1999″ – one of our favorite artists, and a Minnesotan to boot, of course!

We’re having a blast on the campaign trail and look forward to seeing you at an event soon. To check out where we will be next, visit our events section.

I hope everybody has a great week!

-Karen

P.S. There is another embarrassing photo after the break.