Over the decades, MPR has presented the many different perspectives of Minnesota politics and politicians. This collection is home to a multitude speeches, interviews and debates on the issues of the day. Important topics of civil rights, environment, crime, budget, legislation, and campaigns are addressed.
Click on link to these well-known figures to see audio segments directly related to them: Michele Bachmann Arne Carlson Keith Ellison Hubert Humphrey Amy Klobuchar Eugene McCarthy Walter Mondale Tim Pawlenty R.T. Rybak Jesse Ventura Paul Wellstone
January 29, 1999 - A coalition of African American ministers and other community leaders today denounced Governor Jesse Ventura for failing to include any African Americans among his appointees. The group is demanding a meeting with the governor. But Governor Ventura is standing by his hiring decisions.
February 1, 1999 - DFL leaders say many of their proposals came directly from farmers who attended ag rallies in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Sioux City, Iowa in recent weeks. Representative Doug Peterson says Minnesota is working in concert with four other Midwest states to implement many of the farmers recommendations which also include loosening loan restrictions and providing state support for farmer-owned processing and marketing facilities. But Peterson say reforming the pricing system will be the main push this session. In particular, he says the DFL wants to require processors to disclose the "real" worth of the contracts they sign with farmers.
February 1, 1999 - The new farm crisis was expected to be a major topic in the legislature this year but you wouldn't know it from Governor Ventura's budget proposal. Scores of Red River valley farmers have left the business and hog producers are suffering one of their worst price slumps ever. Ventura though only made a couple of suggestions to help farmers and those ideas aren't finding much support.
February 3, 1999 - Minnesota Republican Senator Rod Grams wants to rename the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in honor of a prominent Democrat. Today, Grams introduced a bill to rename the BWCA the Hubert H. Humphrey Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Grams says doing so would honor the late Vice President.
February 4, 1999 - A new opinion poll published today shows a majority of Minnesotans polled think Governor Jesse Ventura is doing a good job. Ventura's 72 percent approval rating in the Star Tribune/KMSP-TV Minnesota Poll is the highest ever measured for a new governor in the half century of the poll. Ventura says he's encouraged by the results and predicts it will help him in dealing with the Legislature. Political Scientist Chris Gilbert agrees. Gilbert says lawmakers should try extra hard to appear tri-partisan.
February 5, 1999 - The Minnesota House has approved a Republican-sponsored plan to send $1-point-5 Billion dollars worth of rebates to Minnesota taxpayers. The plan bases the rebates primarily on a person's income level -- an approach bitterly opposed by the Democrats.
February 5, 1999 - Sam Costa is an arts instructor in the Minneapolis public schools and a dance choreographer. When his students learned he'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer, they wanted to do something to assist him. Last night, they organized a benefit dinner for Costa and invited a special guest.
February 8, 1999 - The DFL-controlled Minnesota Senate has passed a one-billion-dollar version of Governor Ventura's sales tax rebate plan. Senate Republicans tried to defeat the sales tax rebate approach, which they call unfair to the state's wealthier taxpayers. The Republican alternative -- rebates based on INCOME taxes -- has already passed in the House, which means Senate and House negotiators now have to find a way to reconcile the two plans.
February 10, 1999 - Governor Ventura had a more peaceful conversation today with Fred Grandy about welfare. Grandy is the head of Goodwill Industries International. The former Republican Congressman from Iowa now oversees a charity that serves two-hundred thousand people each year. Half of them are moving from welfare to work. Governor Ventura has been relatively silent about his views on welfare reform, and Grandy says that's exactly why he wanted meet with him.
February 10, 1999 - An encounter between Governor Ventura and a group of college students turned into a shouting match at the state capitol today.