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Introduction from Jesse Ventura - 
Reform Party Candidate

Among Minnesota's major party gubernatorial candidates, 
Jesse Ventura is the only one who is not a career politician. 
He is the only one who is not a lawyer. He is the only one who 
does not accept special interest PAC money.

And he is the only one who has no obligations to either the 
Democratic or Republican parties.

This gives Jesse the ability to rise above partisan differences 
and build coalitions as no Democrat or Republican could. As 
Jesse has said many times, "It doesn't matter to me which 
party originates a bill in the legislature.

If a bill is good for the people of Minnesota, I'll sign it. If not, 
I'll veto it."

Jesse's many attributes are attracting support not only from 
independent voters, but from traditional GOP and DFL 
constituencies as well. In a three-way race where you may 
only need 35% to 40% of the vote to win, Jesse's grass-roots 
coalition can provide more than enough votes for victory. That 
popular grass-roots support will follow Jesse into office and 
provide all the influence he'll need to overcome legislative 
roadblocks, and enact laws that serve the people.

Among the major party candidates, Jesse is the only one who 
has succeeded in a variety of private sector career fields. 
He is the only military veteran.

He is the only union member. He is the only parent who has 
sent his children to public schools for their entire K-12 
education. And he is the only one who has pledged to veto any 
tax increase that reaches his desk.

On the campaign trail, Jesse is free to speak without looking 
over his shoulder to make sure what he says is OK with the 
special interest PAC's.

Jesse refuses all PAC money. The reason he can be as clear 
and outspoken as he is, is that he's free of the puppeteer-like 
strings that connect his opponents to the PACs. In the next 
broadcast candidate debate, listen carefully. Notice how Jesse 
puts his answers in terms of the people, and how his 
opponents dodge and weave so as not to jeopardize their PAC 
money support.

While Jesse has staked out positions on a wide variety of 
issues (see http://www.jesseventura.org/issues/is_main.htm), 
his two main issues are taxes and education.

Jesse believes all Minnesotans are over-taxed. Before the 
Democrats and Republicans got their hooks into the budget 
surplus and spent the money, Jesse publicly advocated 
returning 100% of it to the taxpayers.

Jesse's commitment to public education is demonstrated by 
his choice of Mae Schunk for his running mate. Mae is an 
award-winning public school classroom teacher with 36 years 
in education. With Jesse and Mae in office, improving the 
quality of public education will be a front burner issue every 
day for the next four years. Already, they have taken action 
to reduce class sizes (see 
http://www.jesseventura.org/education.htm).

Detailed biographical information on Jesse is available at 
http://www.jesseventura.org/jvbio.htm. Mae's biography is 
at http://www.jesseventura.org/msbio.htm.