Paul Thissen

Paul Thissen
Minnesota House Minority Leader
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 2011
Preceded by	Kurt Zellers
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 63A district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 6, 2003
Personal details
Born	(1966-12-10) December 10, 1966 Bloomington, Minnesota
Political party	Democratic Farmer Labor Party
Spouse	Karen Wilson Thissen
Residence	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Alma mater	Harvard University, University of Chicago Law School
Occupation	Lawyer

Paul Thissen (born December 10, 1966) is a Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 63A, which includes south Minneapolis and Richfield in Hennepin County, which is in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. He is the current Minnesota House Minority Leader. He was first elected in 2002, and has been re-elected every two years since then. From 2007 to 2010, he chaired the House Health and Human Services Committee.

In November, 2008, Thissen launched an exploratory campaign for the 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial race. On July 24, 2009, he officially announced his candidacy, noting that he would focus on the issues of health care, renewable energy and education. He subsequently withdrew from the governor's race at the April 2010 State DFL Convention after the 5th round ballot demonstrated a two-person race between House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

On November 4, 2010, the House DFL Caucus announced that it had elected Thissen to serve as Minority Leader in the upcoming legislative session.

Family, education and professional career

Thissen was born in Bloomington, Minnesota. His parents, Frank and Barb Thissen, were both lifelong educators. Frank, who grew up on a farm in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota that the family still owns, worked for the St. Paul School District as a teacher, counselor and administrator. Barb worked for many years as a special education teacher for the Richfield, Minnesota schools.

After graduating from the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Thissen attended Harvard University and graduated with high honors in 1989. He earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1992.

Thissen clerked for the Honorable James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and then went to work at the Minneapolis law firm of Briggs & Morgan. He specialized in general litigation and appellate work. He also worked for the Minnesota State Public Defenders Office. He served as Chair of the firm's Pro Bono Committee. During his tenure, the firm more than doubled the hours of free legal services it provided to low-income individuals and non-profits. He also founded "Access for Persons with Disabilities," a group of lawyers dedicated to providing legal services to persons with disabilities.

In 2006, Thissen was named one of "Forty Under 40" top business professionals in the Twin Cities by the Twin Cities Business Journal. In 2008, Thissen was named one of Minnesota's 100 Influential Health Care leaders and one of the Twin Cities "Best Brains"

Thissen is married to Karen Wilson, with whom he has three children. He continues to work at Briggs & Morgan when the legislature is not in session.

Public service and legislative record

Thissen in 2009.

Thissen was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2002, which was his first run for public office. He has been re-elected every two years since then.

During his first two terms, Thissen served as a member of the minority party. Nonetheless, he developed a reputation as someone who could work across party lines. He was a key player in passing significant legislation including major changes to Minnesota's eminent domain laws to protect the rights of individual property owners, the merger of the insolvent Minneapolis Teachers Retirement Fund into the statewide teachers pension fund, a nation-leading law to curb abusive tax-preparer practices and an overhaul of state campaign law.

During the 2006 election, Thissen served as Finance Co-Chair of the House DFL Caucus and succeeded raising more dollars than the Republican opposition. The DFL picked up nineteen seats and a strong new majority. Politics in Minnesota named Thissen was named one of the big "winners" of the 2006 election in its November 9, 2006 edition.

In 2007, Thissen was appointed Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. He also sits on the Health Finance Committee, the Biosciences Committee, the Telecommunications Division, the Finance Committee, the Rules Committee and the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement. He also served as Speaker pro tempore of the Minnesota House.

Thissen was Chief Author of HF 1, the Children's Health Security Act. The proposal, which would provide health coverage to all Minnesota children in families who make under $60,000, passed off the floor of the Minnesota House.

Thissen served on the Health Care Access Commission and also served on Governor Tim Pawlenty's Health Transformation Taskforce. In 2008, he was instrumental in passing health reform legislation that the Minneapolis Star Tribune named the prize of the 2008 session.

See also

• Paul Thissen, Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2010.

External links

• Paul Thissen at Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
• Paul Thissen on Twitter
• Paul Thissen on Facebook
• District 63A official web page
• Campaign Website and Resource Guide
• Rep. Thissen Speech on Children's Health
• 2010 gubernatorial campaign videos