Where the women are strong and the governor’s a great butt of jokesOriginally published in Current, May 10, 1999
By Jacqueline Conciatore
With his boa and his bulk, Jesse the Body Ventura might seem too outlandish a figure for Lake Wobegon. And Jesse the Governor Ventura would seem too topical for that land of wistful make-believe. But Ventura has become a presence on Prairie Home Companion all the same. As Garrison Keillor said in press materials for his new book spoofing the Ventura phenomenon: “As an object of comedy, he’s irresistible.”
No doubt listeners love it—the barbs Keillor tosses Ventura’s way are pretty funny. One example, recently quoted in the Los Angeles Times—”You couldn’t pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.” After Ventura’s well-publicized comments that the Littleton massacre could have been foreshortened had more students packed weapons, Keillor said the governor would be fine if he just had a 24-hour delay on anything he says.
Are Keillor and Ventura going to wage an all-out feud? Ventura wants to cut funding to public radio in Minnesota [earlier article], but it’s arguable that desire is more connected to his commercial radio ties—he had his own talk show—and his belief that public radio appeals to an elite audience.
He got upset when Keillor published the quickie book, Me by Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente as told to Garrison Keillor [earlier article], saying the writer had co-opted his life story. But after that he was conciliatory, saying Keillor made Minnesota proud.
As for Keillor, he told the Times he wasn’t going to milk the material forever: “It’s only interesting for a while.” However, the next week actor Tim Russell was mimicking Ventura in a Guy Noir skit. Russell’s imitation is so good, Keillor said afterward, that “it’s tempting to go back to the barn.” Days later, a reporter said to Keillor that she’d been under the impression he had eased off the topic of Ventura. He just smiled and said, “I thought so, too. I thought so, too.”
After vowing to "get even," Ventura praises Keillor
Originally published in Current, Feb. 22, 1999
Steamed by satirical barbs aimed at him by Garrison Keillor, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura blasted the Prairie Home Companion host over his new book--a satirical novel about--guess what--a professional wrestler who becomes governor of Minnesota.
The book, titled Me, by Jimmy "Big Boy" Valente, as Told to Garrison Keillor, is due out March 1.
Ventura's complaints about Keillor go back to a post-election analysis that Keillor penned for Time. "Minnesota is a $12-billion-a-year operation and we have taken the janitor and made him the c.e.o.," he wrote.
Ventura, who is working on an autobiography, first accused Keillor of "cheating" for writing about him without his permission and said he wanted to "get even" over the janitor remark, but he later softened his tone in a Minnesota Public Radio interview, saying, "I could care less. He's an artistic person and very successful at what he does, and he makes Minnesota proud, you know."
Keillor, in an interview with MPR reporter John Rabe, said he was "not shooting the wounded. This is a work of satire about someone who is riding high at this point. That's who satire is supposed to go after. ... This is not a book about a dummy. He [Ventura] is not a dummy. He's very smart."
Ventura gives an elbow to station grants
Originally published in Current, Feb. 8, 1999
Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura wants to end state funding for public radio and TV. The Reform Party governor and former wrestler late last month said radio's subsidy should end within three years, TV's within four. His budget proposes a 25 percent cut for radio beginning July 1 and a 50 percent cut the next year. TV's support would drop 25 percent in 2000 and 50 percent in 2001.
For the 1998-99 biennium, the state gave radio $2.7 million and TV $5.9 million.
Ventura, who's had a commercial radio talk show, says state support gives public broadcasters an unfair competitive edge, and has repeatedly alluded to Minnesota Public Radio's success. "[At the commercial station] we wire our mikes together ... We use duct tape," he said on-air to MPR host Katherine Lanpher. "I've also been to public radio, where there's four or five producers for each show." Lanpher strenuously objected: "In my dreams!" She also said: "Instead of putting the money in the profit margin, they put it in the product here."
Were the cuts to happen, small stations outside the vast MPR network would be hurt worst. State funding accounts for 2-3 percent of MPR's budget, and MPR says it only uses the dollars for capital expenses, namely rural expansion. But tiny KAXE in Grand Rapids depends on the state for 11 percent of its budget, and without it faces the loss of either 1.5 full-timers or national programming, says manager Maggie Montgomery.
In TV, too, small stations would be hardest hit. However, KTCA G.M. Jim Pagliarini says state funding is "very important" to his Twin Cities station--2 percent of KTCA's operating budget and this year 25 percent of its capital expenses.
But nobody's panicking. Minnesota lawmakers in both major parties--Republican and Democrat, Farmer and Labor--have said they support continued funding for pubcasting.
Says Pagliarini: "We're very optimistic that the governor, once we have an opportunity to really bring him up to speed on the kinds of things that we're doing in the state ... will continue to fund public television."
Related interview: Q&A with Bill Kling, president of Minnesota Public Radio.
Web page created May 13, 1999
Current
The newspaper about public television and radio
in the United States
A service of Current Publishing Committee, Takoma Park, Md.
E-mail: webcurrent.org
301-270-7240
Copyright 1999
To Current's home page