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
May 21, 1999 - The wrangling over the largest tax cut in state history ended last Monday night, but the fight over who gets to take credit for it has just begun. The state Republican party bought a full-page ad in the Star Tribune yesterday thanking House Republicans for the tax cut -- and suggested Governor Ventura and the Democrats opposed it.
May 21, 1999 - On Sunday evening, NBC will broadcast "The Jesse Ventura Story" a made for TV movie commissioned shortly after Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota. Critics have panned the movie, calling it shallow and inaccurate. Still it presents a generally favorable --- if simplistic --- view of Ventura and his anti establishment message.
May 24, 1999 - One day after the "made-for-tv" movie "The Jesse Ventura Story" air from coast to coast on NBC, the reviews have been uniformly bad. And Governor Ventura added his own thumbs down today at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Film Board saying he only watched the first few minutes.
May 24, 1999 - Governor Jesse Ventura has moved from wrapping up a legislative session to selling his new autobiography. Ventura kicked off a promotional tour this weekend with a book-signing at the Mall of America. The event drew hundreds of fans, but the book and the tour have attracted some criticism as well.
May 25, 1999 - After three years of national welfare reform, we know fewer Americans are getting benefits, but we have little other information on how they fare when the checks stop coming. Today, an amendment by US Senator Paul Wellstone to require federal tracking of welfare recipients failed by just one vote. Wellstone says he offered the amendment because states need to make sure people going off welfare aren't falling into poverty.
May 26, 1999 - Legislators and special interests spent the day picking through the 37 vetoes Governor Ventura dropped on them last night . The vetoes are far-ranging, and they cancel about $140 Million dollars of state spending and borrowing, depending on how you count them. The beneficiaries of specific projects are up in arms over the vetoes... but legislative leaders are not so upset, now that they've had a few hours to look them over. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: Measured by sheer dollar amount, Winona State University lost the most from Ventura's flurry of vetoes. The University's physical plant manager, Dick Lande (LAND-ee), says the school was counting on $6 Million dollars in state bonding money to pay for three new boilers in the heating system. Ventura vetoed that money, and now Landee has to worry about possible structural damage if the old boilers fail before the Legislature can draw up a new bonding bill next year:
May 26, 1999 - MPR’s Mary Losure reports that Governor Jesse Ventura has vetoed a bill that would have loosened the Minnesota Pollution Control's regulation of animal feedlots. The bill would have exempted livestock farmers from state air quality standards when they were spreading manure on farm fields. It also would have eliminated a new set of rules that govern which feedlots are subject to environmental review.
May 28, 1999 - Six hundred people packed the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California yesterday to hear Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura talk about politics and his new autobiography, I Aint Got Time to Bleed. The crowd cheered for Ventura's political successes, laughed at his jokes and bought hundreds of books at 20 bucks apiece.
June 3, 1999 - The publisher of Governor Ventura's autobiography - I Ain't Got Time to Bleed - reports the book is selling well. According to Villard Press, it hits the New York Times bestseller list June 13, coming in at number 15 in hardcover non-fiction.
June 8, 1999 - This has not been edited. Republican Senator Rod Grams isn't up for re-election until fall 2000, but his campaign is now underway. Last night, Grams attended a dinner in Minneapolis to kick-off the fund-raising. And already several prominent DFLers have lined-up for the chance to challenge him.