Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura (born July 15, 1951 as James George Janos) was elected the 38th Governor of Minnesota on November 3, 1998, after a career as professional wrestler, actor, mayor and radio talk show host. He ran for the Reform Party and "shocked the world," as he termed it, when he unexpectedly beat the major-party candidates: St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman (Republican) and Minnesota Attorney General Hubert "Skip" Humphrey (Democratic-Farmer-Labor). He served as governor from January 4, 1999 to January 6, 2003.

Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura

Education, Entertaining, and Early Politics

Ventura was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He (then known by his legal name of Janos) graduated from Minneapolis's Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1969. From 1969 to 1973, he served as a Navy SEAL in the United States Navy. He returned to Minnesota and attended North Hennepin Community College in the mid-1970s at the same time he began weight lifting and wrestling. He began to use the stage name Jesse "The Body" Ventura. In 1975, he married his wife Terry (the couple now has two grown children).

Ventura continued to wrestle until the mid-1980s when health problems forced him to retire from the ring. He began to do color commentary on television for wrestling, and then did the same on radio for a few National Football League teams. Ventura acted in the 1987 movie Predator, whose cast included future California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and future Kentucky Gubernatorial Candidate Sonny Landham. He had a starring role in the 1991 sci-fi movie Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe.

Ventura ran for mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota in 1990 and served from 1991 to 1995. Between 1995 and his run for governor, Ventura had a radio call-in show in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market.

Political Positions

Ventura's main campaign promise was a tax refund to Minnesota residents. The state was running a budget surplus at the time, and Ventura believed that the money should be given back to the public. In political debates, he often admitted that he hadn't formed an opinion on certain policy questions. Ventura frequently described himself as "fiscally conservative and socially liberal."

Later as governor, he came to support a unicameral (one-house) legislature, light-rail public transport, property tax reform, gay rights and abortion rights. While funding public school education generously, he opposed teachers unions, and did not have a high regard for the public funding of higher-education institutions. Additionally, Ventura supported the use of medicinal marijuana. Prior to the presidential election of 2000, Ventura supported the role of third parties in national politics, and voiced interest in the concept of instant runoff voting.

Lacking a party base in the Minnesota House and Senate, Governor Ventura's vetoes were often overridden.

Ventura was elected on a Reform party ticket, but it wasn't long before he and the party started to find different paths. When the Reform party was taken over by Pat Buchanan supporters before the presidential elections of 2000, Ventura left the party in February 2000, referring to it as 'hopelessly dysfunctional'. However, he maintained close ties to the Independence Party of Minnesota, which also broke from the Reform party around the same time.

Controversies as Governor

Prostitution

Ventura has produced several controversial quotes. In one of his books, he mentions a visit to a prostitute in Reno, Nevada and states that prostitution should be legal.

Education

Ventura was helped through college by support from the G.I. Bill, and he has recommended that individuals join the military to pay for college. During one protest of college students, he said:

"If you are smart enough to go to college, you are smart enough to figure out a way to pay for it."

Religion

In a Playboy interview, he said:

"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."

Ventura endorsed equal rights for people who don't believe in God by declaring July 4, 2002, "Indivisible Day" through this proclamation:

"WHEREAS: The unique feature of this nation at its founding was its establishment of a secular Constitution that separated government from religion - something never done before; and WHEREAS: Our secular Constitution has enabled people of all worldviews to coexist in harmony, undivided by sectarian strife; and WHEREAS: President James Madison made clear the importance of maintaining this harmony when he said, "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the endless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries"; and WHEREAS: The diversity of our people requires mutual respect and equal protection for all our citizens, including minority groups, if we are to remain "One nation, indivisible"; and WHEREAS: It is the unfettered diversity of ideas and worldviews that have made our nation the strongest and most productive in the world; and WHEREAS: Eternal vigilance must be maintained to guard against those who seek to stifle ideas, establish a narrow orthodoxy, and divide our nation along arbitrary lines of race, ethnicity, and religious belief or nonbelief. NOW, THEREFORE, I, JESSE VENTURA, Governor of Minnesota, do hereby proclaim that Thursday, July 4, 2002 shall be observed as: INDIVISIBLE DAY In the State Of Minnesota."

Supposedly by accident, Ventura also proclaimed October 13 to 19, 2002 as "Christian Heritage Week."

Pledge of Allegiance

Ventura vetoed a bill to promote recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, saying:

"I believe patriotism comes from the heart. Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief. A patriot shows their patriotism through their actions, by their choice [such as voting, attending community meetings and speaking out when needed]. No law will make a citizen a patriot."

Exploitation of Popularity

Ventura has been criticized for privately profiting from his heightened popularity. He was hired as host for the failed XFL football enterprise and published several books during his tenure as governor. On his weekly radio show, he often criticized the media for focusing on these deals rather than on his policy proposals.

Cuba

After a trade mission to mainland China in 2002, he announced that he wouldn't run for a second term as governor. During another trade mission to Cuba in the summer of 2002, he denounced the economic sanctions of the US against that country.

Wellstone Memorial

Ventura greatly disapproved of some of the actions that took place at the 2002 memorial for Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and others, who died in a plane crash on October 25. Ventura, like many others, believed that the memorial (which got to be very raucous at times) had turned into a sort of political rally. Ventura's opinions of the event were widely publicized. Because of the dispute, he appointed Dean Barkley to represent Minnesota in the Senate until the votes of the November 5 election were tabulated.

Post-Gubernatorial Life

Because of what he saw as overeager journalists trying to make mountains out of molehills in the media, Ventura decided to drop out of the political spotlight and announced that he would not run for a second term as governor in 2002. He was succeded in his office by Tim Pawlenty in a race that saw four major-party candidates (at the time, the Republican, DFL, Independence, and Green parties were all considered to be "major" by the state).

Ventura began a cable television show in October, 2003 on MSNBC called Jesse Ventura's America. The show is broadcast once-a-week, on Saturdays, unlike many MSNBC shows which are on five-nights-a-week (this show was originally planned for five-nights-a-week as well, but MSNBC executives changed their minds). Jesse Ventura's America is the only national television show filmed in Minnesota.

In 2004, Ventura started teaching a course at Harvard University for a semester as a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics. His 90-minute course mostly focuses on politics, though other subjects have been included. Ventura scheduled multiple famous friends to appear for his seminars.

On March 14, 2004, Jesse Ventura appeared as an honored guest on World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Wrestlemania XX as part of the "WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2004." Later in the evening, he approached the ring to interview Donald Trump, who was in attendance and who affirmed that Ventura would receive his moral and financial support were he to ever re-enter the world of politics. Alluding to the 2008 election, Ventura announced boldly that he thinks "we need to put a wrestler in the white house in 2008," much to the delight of the crowd. As of yet he has made no official announcement concerning whether or not he will run for President.

Preceded by: Arne Carlson

Governors of Minnesota

Succeeded by: Tim Pawlenty