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Ventura rebuffs reporters pressing him on interview fallout

October 5, 1999
Web posted at: 5:44 p.m. EDT (2144 GMT)

MANKATO, Minnesota (CNN) -- An angry Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura Tuesday slammed reporters who tried to pin him down on the fallout his governorship may have suffered as a result of his recent interview in Playboy magazine.

"That interview has nothing to do with how I govern," he said.

Ventura, the highest-ranking Reform Party elected official, was speaking at a news conference following a speech at the Mankato Civic Center in which he laid out the first of four parts of what he is calling his "big plan" for Minnesota.

"Judge me by my policies, judge me by my commissioners and judge me by the work that we're trying to do, not a feeding frenzy of media so you can get ratings and make money," Ventura said.

In the interview, the former professional wrestler, mayor and Navy Seal called organized religion "a sham and crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."

He also called the Navy's Tailhook scandal where male pilots were accused of molesting women at a Las Vegas convention "much ado about nothing," criticized fat people and said he wanted to be reincarnated as a brassiere.

After the interview was publicized, outgoing Reform Party national chairman Russ Verney called for that Ventura leave the party to which he brought national attention because he "has lost his moral authority to lead."

Despite such reaction and a 20 percentage point drop in his approval rating according to a statewide newspaper poll, Ventura told reporters that interview was one of about 25 he gives every week.

"The media, you love the idea of what's going on because you create it," Ventura said.

"You deal with what you need to deal with, I'll deal with what I need to deal with, never the twain shall meet," he said.

Ventura's speech focused on strategies to maintain "healthy, vital communities" in his state, including a goal to make its elementary and high school public schools the best in the nation.


RELATED STORIES

Unrepentant Ventura deflects furor over Playboy interview (10-9-99)


RELATED SITES

Reform Party of Minnesota Web site

Reform Party Web site



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Tuesday, October 5, 1999






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