How was Ventura's record in office?

[Syringer]

I hear a lot from both sides about how effective he was..but are there any specifics as to how MN was after he left?

 

[Flyermax2k3]

Jesse Ventura was an entertaining, yet ineffective governor. I saw no benefits from his leadership and he caused more scandals than anyone has a right to. I'm glad he decided not to run again and turn the race into a circus. I'm not saying he's a bad person, just a bad governor.

 

[BarneyFife]

I'm sure most governors looked good during the late 90's with the great economy. I remember that he wrote checks out to everyone with the surplus. Kind of stupid if you ask me considering that Minnesota is having a cash crunch right now. I guess he hasn't heard of a rainy day fund.

 

[Flyermax2k3]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
I remember that he wrote checks out to everyone with the surplus

Funny, I never got one... I seem to remember paying taxes that year as well. If I remember correctly though, the "surplus checks" were being paid out based upon sales taxes paid that year, in which case pretty much every citizen should've been eligible for the surplus checks. Rather than make a permanent difference and make sure said surplus never happened again though, sales taxes stayed at the same level and once again the state ran a surplus. Sounds more like a PR move than a solution to a recurring problem if you ask me.

 

[zephyrprime]

The rebates were paid out based on sales only because it was a way to dodge federal taxation of the rebates. Lot's of people who paid sales tax didn't qualify and I believe they actually calculated how much sales tax you paid based upon your agi.

The real problem with Jesse was that he was immature. He couldn't handle criticism from the media and he couldn't handle the fact that there was no way the the legislature was going to agree to some of his ideas like widening the sales tax, having a unicaramel legislature, and dealing with the current deficit in advance. (the legislature refused to cut spending or admit a deficit because it was an election year so they held off. Proof that neither democrats or republicans are fiscal conservatives)