Thissen officially jumps into 2010 race for governor

Charging that GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s recent cuts to state subsidized health care “crossed a moral line,” state Rep. Paul Thissen said today in officially announcing that he’s running for governor in 2010.

“The reality in this state is we need to turn things around,” said Thissen, who will seek the DFL Party’s endorsement in 2010.

Thissen, who announced his candidacy outside his south Minneapolis home with supporters standing by, including his wife Karen and their young children, is running in an already crowded field of DFLers who are seeking to win the governor’s office for the party for the first time in 24 years.

Thissen, chairman of the House Health Care and Human Services Policy Committee, is focusing particularly on health care in a campaign that he said will raise issues of economic security. He told the story of a homeless woman who, due to the recently announced cuts to general assistance medical care, won’t be able to buy medication to handle the side effects of a double mastectomy.

“Cancer could not beat her, but bad, wrong-headed public policy may,” Thissen said.

Shortly before Thissen’s press conference, Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Tony Sutton issued a statment criticizing him as a “big city liberal” who supports tax and spending policies that “would hurt Minnesota’s middle class and businesses.”

In the runup to his candidacy, Thissen has worked on the “big city” label. Last year, he went to Farm Fest in Redwood County and issued a report on health care in greater Minnesota. At his press conference, he told the story of his great-grandfather, who farmed in western Minnesota. He emphasized that his campaign’s concerns go beyond the urban area: “We are running a statewide campaign.”

On tax and spending issues, Thissen voted in favor of 2009 legislation, vetoed by Pawlenty, that proposed to increase income taxes paid by the state’s highest earners. Thissen, however, said taxes won’t completely solve the state’s current budget problems. He said that, for example, lawmakers need to find ways to control the rising costs of health care.

Thissen, who said he will abide by the DFL endorsement, has one full-time staffer, Gia Vitali, who joined the campaign in March.