No one should be shocked that Gov.

Sunday, October 03, 1999

No one should be shocked that Gov. Jesse Ventura did an interview and said some stupid things.

With this governor, saying stupid things is the expected.

Nor should anyone be too shocked or appalled that Gov. Ventura decided to do an interview with Playboy Magazine in the first place.

Minnesotans have come to expect that Ventura will do things all leaders, and most individuals, would never do.

The state hasn’t exactly embraced all of Ventura’s antics with open arms, but we Minnesotans have done our best to be "nice" and accept the governor for who he is – some would call that respect.

In turn the citizens of Minnesota should expect to receive some level of respect back from the governor. For if it wasn’t for a percentage of Minnesotans, Ventura wouldn’t be in the position he is today.

Somewhere between last November and now, Ventura has forgotten – or perhaps he never knew – that respect is a two-way street.

His comments in the Playboy interview published this past week demonstrate again that Jesse cares only about himself and not the citizenry of Minnesota.

Ventura does not respect the citizens of Minnesota, he does not respect women and he does not respect religion, and that’s just the short list.

He claims his only fault is "honesty". Well, Jesse Ventura wouldn’t know honesty if it hit him square in the fanny.

Ventura’s idea of honesty is to open his big mouth, offend thousands and then come back hours later and say: "What I honestly meant to say was. . ."

That’s a bunch of hog wash.

Gov. Ventura is not a leader. A leader is a person of integrity, a person of honesty, a person who listens and hears what others have to say. Ventura lacks most, if not all, of those skills.

In the Playboy interview Ventura says, "It’s good to be king. The best thing is that there’s no one is this state who can tell me what to do."

That’s a shocking statement from an elected official, who was put in office by hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans and is responsible to millions.

First, the statement says Ventura doesn’t have to listen - and he doesn’t. Secondly, it says Ventura enjoys the power and feels he can do anything he wants. We all know that absolute power corrupts and that someone who believes he has absolute power is headed for disaster.

Ventura right now is more dangerous than President Richard Nixon ever was, because Nixon at least had some morals – our governor has none.

It’s time to end this sad saga in Minnesota politics. Ventura is a disgrace to himself, his family and the state of Minnesota. He needs to leave office immediately – nothing else is acceptable.

Neal Ronquist’s column appears Sundays