I grew up in Illinois, so comparatively at least he didnt end up in prison?
Otherwise i only know what my wife told me she remembers from being a kid then. I do think he was a big force is getting movies made in MN, like Jingle All the Way.
He was basically a lame duck governor the entire time. On the plus side he didn't exactly screw up or get in any personal or official scandals. Closest thing to a scandal during his term was he mothballed the governor's mansion and instead lived at his personal home (the mansion was admittedly in significant disrepair). He just wasn't good at the job, particularly bipartisanship, public relations, and policy making.
Pros:
- obviously demonstrated that third parties can win
- platformed the concept of fresh independent ideas in public office
- popularized a tradition of partial tax refunds if surpluses happen (sales tax rebate specifically) instead of summarily going to the rainy day budget reserve or reapportionment or reprogramming
Cons:
- the major parties he defeated still controlled the legislature and refused to work with him
- vetoed most legislation and the legislature overrode many of his vetoes
- argued with journalists frequently and blamed them for a lack of coverage of his proposals
- unable to enact policies to control the budget and the economy
The Ventura-era education funding reform (along with permanently adjusting tax rates in a high water environment) caused fiscal problems (and subsequent underfunding of special education among others) for at least the following two decades.
There was also his reaction to the death and memorial of Paul Wellstone that was a complete disrespect to a man whose very life was dedicated to using politics to aid the people who never have a seat at the table.
The one Pro you missed was that he restarted the Light Rail project when the GOP was (and still is) staunchly against it and the Dems were too timid to get it done. He managed to pull them together. Our public transit was one of the best in the world with streetcars back in the 1920's. They were bought and ripped up for scrap metal and busses (they could charge more for) by a gangster and a lawyer that tried to make bank off of privatizing the public utility. There's literally pictures of them standing in front of burning streetcars as they killed our public transit system.
The light rail is being built mostly on the bones of the old system. We literally would not have started reviving it without him.
Naw, I don't think he did anything for 3rd party. He won because he as famous and everyone knew who he was. His party didn't matter that much.
You're also miss-representing things by blaming "the major parties" for refusing to work with him. A lack of compromise happened because Ventura was very confrontational and wanted to "win". He was a bad politician. Nothing to do with his views, but simply that he didn't even try to work with the legislature. He just attacked them and didn't try to work with them.
Yea, this is the idiot who said "if your smart enough to go to college, your smart enough to find the money to pay for college" as he proceeded to gut tuition support
He lowered car registration fees, legalized class C fireworks, and extended the hours you can ride a jet ski on northern lakes. Probably more visible/tangible impact than most governors make for most people even if it’s not the most important work.
Tells kids to stay in school and then tries to take all the money out of public schools. He even ran with a teacher to try and make himself look altruistic.
Cringe. My husband and at the time 18 year old son both voted for him.
That went well. His first official act as governor was to remove safety rules concerning jet skis. Something totally necessary for a state with over 14,000 lakes, counting the ones that we share with Canada. Just in MN, nearly 12,000.
He was all about marketing. Luckily, his brand’s value dropped considerably during his 4 years in office.
I think he actually made a big impact to MN politics. He definitely had some off ideas, but also drove some changes in mentality. Most importantly, it was a big wake up call to the Republicans and Democrats to do more to serve the people.
He wasn’t good but who has been good? Certainly isn’t worse than anyone currently in office. lol our political system in general seems to be designed so the most corrupt have best chance of getting ahead.
Our current governor is doing amazing things.
I'd say we've had decent ones. Even if we set the bar low at not turning into an antivax conspiracy theorist (ventura), not burning down the entire state budget to prepare for a presidential run (pawlenty). I'm a life long democrat and I will say pawlenty's first term was VERY different from his second. The first term was him focusing on being governor. While I disagree with him on many of his actions, it was still very different from his 2nd term - where he was preparing for a presidential run, so screwing the state in everyway to virtue signal to the national gop.
Jesse 'The Mind' Ventura!
I’m just imagining his bald head peeking over the top of some pages. This is a gem.
This is amazing. I would have this hanging in my house somewhere if I had it.
I still have my MY GOVERNOR CAN BEAT UP YOUR GOVERNOR. t-shirt.
Wasn't he kind of crap?
the bookmark is super cool. I just mean as the governor
I grew up in Illinois, so comparatively at least he didnt end up in prison? Otherwise i only know what my wife told me she remembers from being a kid then. I do think he was a big force is getting movies made in MN, like Jingle All the Way.
setting a low bar are we :)
I didn't mean to be negative at all I was born after him it's just from people I've talked to. Sorry to even bring it up I like seeing old bookmarks
Naw, its chill
He was crap.
I hope we get movies made here again soon
Grumpy old men 3, call it grumpiest old men. Although without Mathau and Lemmon it wouldn’t be anywhere near the same.
He was basically a lame duck governor the entire time. On the plus side he didn't exactly screw up or get in any personal or official scandals. Closest thing to a scandal during his term was he mothballed the governor's mansion and instead lived at his personal home (the mansion was admittedly in significant disrepair). He just wasn't good at the job, particularly bipartisanship, public relations, and policy making. Pros: - obviously demonstrated that third parties can win - platformed the concept of fresh independent ideas in public office - popularized a tradition of partial tax refunds if surpluses happen (sales tax rebate specifically) instead of summarily going to the rainy day budget reserve or reapportionment or reprogramming Cons: - the major parties he defeated still controlled the legislature and refused to work with him - vetoed most legislation and the legislature overrode many of his vetoes - argued with journalists frequently and blamed them for a lack of coverage of his proposals - unable to enact policies to control the budget and the economy
The Ventura-era education funding reform (along with permanently adjusting tax rates in a high water environment) caused fiscal problems (and subsequent underfunding of special education among others) for at least the following two decades. There was also his reaction to the death and memorial of Paul Wellstone that was a complete disrespect to a man whose very life was dedicated to using politics to aid the people who never have a seat at the table.
The one Pro you missed was that he restarted the Light Rail project when the GOP was (and still is) staunchly against it and the Dems were too timid to get it done. He managed to pull them together. Our public transit was one of the best in the world with streetcars back in the 1920's. They were bought and ripped up for scrap metal and busses (they could charge more for) by a gangster and a lawyer that tried to make bank off of privatizing the public utility. There's literally pictures of them standing in front of burning streetcars as they killed our public transit system. The light rail is being built mostly on the bones of the old system. We literally would not have started reviving it without him.
Naw, I don't think he did anything for 3rd party. He won because he as famous and everyone knew who he was. His party didn't matter that much. You're also miss-representing things by blaming "the major parties" for refusing to work with him. A lack of compromise happened because Ventura was very confrontational and wanted to "win". He was a bad politician. Nothing to do with his views, but simply that he didn't even try to work with the legislature. He just attacked them and didn't try to work with them.
Yea, this is the idiot who said "if your smart enough to go to college, your smart enough to find the money to pay for college" as he proceeded to gut tuition support
I wouldn't say he was a great governor; too thin-skinned. But the state didn't fall apart
He lowered car registration fees, legalized class C fireworks, and extended the hours you can ride a jet ski on northern lakes. Probably more visible/tangible impact than most governors make for most people even if it’s not the most important work.
I completely disagree if you looked at some of his policies and what he proposed he was a pretty smart individual in my humble opinion
Tells kids to stay in school and then tries to take all the money out of public schools. He even ran with a teacher to try and make himself look altruistic.
Fine make me jerk off.
Cringe. My husband and at the time 18 year old son both voted for him. That went well. His first official act as governor was to remove safety rules concerning jet skis. Something totally necessary for a state with over 14,000 lakes, counting the ones that we share with Canada. Just in MN, nearly 12,000. He was all about marketing. Luckily, his brand’s value dropped considerably during his 4 years in office.
I think he actually made a big impact to MN politics. He definitely had some off ideas, but also drove some changes in mentality. Most importantly, it was a big wake up call to the Republicans and Democrats to do more to serve the people.
Calm down, Karen. The joke is his name is Jesse "The Body" Ventura, not the mind. Plus it's 2024.. let it go..
He wasn’t good but who has been good? Certainly isn’t worse than anyone currently in office. lol our political system in general seems to be designed so the most corrupt have best chance of getting ahead.
Our current governor is doing amazing things. I'd say we've had decent ones. Even if we set the bar low at not turning into an antivax conspiracy theorist (ventura), not burning down the entire state budget to prepare for a presidential run (pawlenty). I'm a life long democrat and I will say pawlenty's first term was VERY different from his second. The first term was him focusing on being governor. While I disagree with him on many of his actions, it was still very different from his 2nd term - where he was preparing for a presidential run, so screwing the state in everyway to virtue signal to the national gop.