ALBERT LEA – Donning a white smock and hard hat, Gov.

Thursday, January 13, 2000

ALBERT LEA – Donning a white smock and hard hat, Gov. Jesse Ventura toured Farmland Foods, pausing to sign autographs along the way Wednesday.

After the tour, he told reporters what he thought of the operation.

"I was getting hungry toward the end of the tour," Ventura said. "Seeing the workers trim the fat off the pork reminded me of how government should be working to trim the fat off of legislation."

Ventura’s visit to rural communities in southern Minnesota this week drew large crowds of onlookers who were anxious to see the governor and, perhaps, get an autograph. Outside Farmland Wednesday, one Albert Lea woman said that although she was suffering from a bad case of the flu, she mustered her resolve and camped outside in order to get a glimpse of the governor.

"I’ve been waiting for an hour and a half in the cold," retired Albert Lea nurse Terri Troska said. "I just wanted to kiss his big bald head. He’s such a handsome young fellow." Binoculars in hand, Troska waited patiently, but complained the security guard at the gate refused to let her in.

She waved as the governor’s bus passed by on its way to Waseca. Earlier Wednesday in Blue Earth,members of the student council braved the cold while waiting for the governor’s descent from the bus. When he did arrive, the students presented the governor with a copy of his book, "I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed" and a Jesse Ventura doll still in the box for the governor to sign. Student council President Nick Peter presented the governor with a cap, which he wore during his speech at the high school.

Peter later introduced the governor before the assembled crowd, and also presented Ventura with a list of hard hitting questions submitted by students involving a new stadium, abortion and homosexuals in the military.

One bus, three initiatives

During the two-day bus trip that began Tuesday morning, the governor visited 14 rural communities promoting his vision for the state. Along the way he invited local mayors and reporters to ride the bus and discuss his vision, which includes a unicameral, one-house Legislature, telecommunications initiatives including for rural areas, and better statewide transportation including a light rail system in the Twin Cities.

Albert Lea Mayor Marv Wangen and a reporter with the Austin Daily Herald were among the guests to ride on the governor’s bus, boarding at the Blue Earth Area High School Wednesday morning. The mayor spent much of the trip from Blue Earth to Albert Lea talking with Ventura’s transportation commissioner, El Tinklenberg. Albert Lea is pursuing a new interchange along Interchange 90 and Bath Road, and the two men discussed Ventura’s transportation plan and how it could help rural areas with local highway projects.

"What we are proposing is a $75 flat fee for all license tabs in the state," Ventura said. "We don’t expect to have hunters pay a larger fee if they use a better gun or fisherman who use more expensive fishing poles. Why then, would we charge people more for the cars they drive?"

Money from the flat fee would be dedicated to one fund for transportation needs statewide, including light rail in the Twin Cities, rather than being placed in the state general fund as it is now, the governor said.

"The fees would not only benefit light rail, which has been researched way before I took office, but it would also help rural communities with their highway projects," Ventura said.

Tinklenberg explained how it would work. "When local communities try to tackle a road construction project by themselves, one project can take years and totally wipe out the city’s transportation budget," Tinklenberg said. "What the governor is proposing is a fund dedicated to help those communities with their projects that would take less time and less money locally to complete."

Tinklenberg attempted to dispel what he called the "myth" of light rail.

"Opposition to the light rail have said that we have been upping the ante as far as the light rail is concerned," he said. "The truth is that it has always been estimated to cost $100 million. No more, no less."

Tinklenberg compared the cost of light rail to other road improvement projects. The estimated cost to redo one intersection in Bloomington by adding another lane would cost about $250 million, he said.

The governor also discussed reaction he has received from people in rural areas about the light rail plan.

"An elderly lady approached me one time and thanked me for not backing down on light rail," Ventura said. "I asked her why she was thanking me. She said she had been to some of the places that have light rail and she agreed with us that it makes commuter traffic more manageable and less congested in urban areas. And that is the reaction of someone who has lived in the country all her life."

The governor’s busy schedule prohibited him from pausing at every point, but that didn’t prevent him from talking to constituents along the way. During breaks in conversation with his ride-along guests, the governor answered questions of callers via cell phone.

"That’s the problem with these tours," the governor said, joking. "Everyone wants a chance to chat with you and there just isn’t enough time. And when you do make a stop, you have to be on, all the time. You can be brilliant nine times out of 10, but if you mess up once, that’s when the press will get you."

On his push for a unicameral Legislature, Ventura said it would make government more accountable to voters, and make the legislative process less cumbersome in part by eliminating conference committees that attempt to build compromises between House and Senate bills.

"Did you know that in order to follow a bill that interests you, and ensuring that the bill passes here in the Legislature today, you’d have to visit St. Paul on three separate occasions?" the governor asked. "You’d have to visit both the House and Senate before going back a third time to see how the bill fairs in the conference committee.

"And at each step, the legislators add more and more of their own amendments to each bill that have nothing to do with that particular piece of legislation. Why go through the hassle, and why would you hire more than one person to do the same job?"

Rural areas would be on the same footing as urban districts with a one-house Legislature, Ventura said.

"People in the country worry about losing representation, but that’s not going to happen. What is going to happen is that legislators are not going to be able to depend on their seniority as a way to broker power," Ventura said. "A freshman legislator will have the same say on a bill as someone that has been there longer."

Ventura said eliminating one house would eliminate powerful conference committee positions, and place every vote in the public eye. And, he believes one house would result in fewer laws being passed.

Support for farm diversification

During a speech at Blue Earth earlier Wednesday, the governor also praised area farmers for their commitment to the rural life.

"I’m worried about farmers. I respect their desire to keep their rural lifestyle while not sacrificing that lifestyle for the conveniences of the city ," Ventura said. "The reality is that farmers need to make a living, and to do so, they need to get a better price for their goods."

Ventura said the legalization of industrial hemp nationwide would go far in providing local farmers with an added income.

"There are many valuable uses for hemp and the reality is that much of it is grown in Canada and imported into this country," Ventura said. "It makes no sense to prevent local farmers from benefiting from that potential income. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are printed on paper made from hemp."

Ventura said that businesses and farms can further diversify by becoming involved in faster and better quality telecommunications, one of the key initiatives in Ventura’s "Big Plan."

"Farmers are businessmen too and they rely on better ways to sell their products. With improved telecommunications in the state, they can do that," he said.

Ventura’s telecommunications plan aims to rewrite telecommunications law, and accelerate availability of "high quality, fairly-priced voice data and video transmission," including phone, cable and Internet, statewide including in rural cities.

The governor also told those gathered that he supports the use of ethanol as a fuel source.

"Anything we can do to make us less dependent on foreign oil is something we should pursue," he said. "And if it helps farmers, so much the better."

The governor meets the champ

During the bus trip to Albert Lea, Ventura recalled his recent day-long meeting with former boxing champ Mohammed Ali at Ali’s Michigan home.

"It was an enjoyable meeting between two former athletes, but it was a little sad too," said Ventura, who appeared deeply moved by the visit.

"You can see his mind is clear and his eyes have their sparkle, but the Parkinson’s disease is slowly robbing him of his mobility. He doesn’t sting like a bee anymore."

But the former heavy-weight champ still floats like a butterfly, the governor said.

"If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes and if I didn’t have two state troopers with me who witnessed the same thing, I wouldn’t be talking about it," Ventura said. The governor explained that Ali is an amateur magician who performs an optical illusion in which he appears to levitate.

"His assistant told Ali, ‘Do you feel strong enough to do some levitating today?’ and he said OK. So, he levitated for us and we were all amazed. It really looked like he was floating about an inch off the ground."

The governor started his bus tour Tuesday morning at the capitol and visited Willmar, Clara City, Granite Falls, Cottonwood, Marshall, Slayton, Fulda, Windom and Fairmont. On Wednesday he visited Blue Earth, Albert Lea, Waseca, and Heidelberg before returning to his residence in St. Paul. Along the way he made appearances on KMSP-TV’s "Good Day Minnesota" show on Channel 9 Tuesday and on the CBS "The Early Show" Wednesday morning.

Ventura also made use of an opportunity to discuss how his image was presented to the public by the press. He praised the Minneapolis Star Tribune for its fairness following a change of ownership, while simultaneously bashing the Pioneer Press, with which he continues to clash.

"(They) claim that wrestling has a bad influence on kids while they continue to accept and run ads for pornography and escort services," Ventura said. "They say they have to accept those ads, but they don’t. They’re just being hypocritical.

"And there’s no way to prevent kids from getting access to that trash (pornography) when they can just look it up in their local newspaper," the governor said.