From staff reports

Our governor has once again put his personal feelings ahead of his public duty.

Saturday, August 28, 1999

Our governor has once again put his personal feelings ahead of his public duty.

With hurt feelings after a critical editorial last week, Gov. Jesse Ventura decided to make readers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press pay. They will no longer be privy to some of his thoughts on politics, he said.

It’s one thing to decide he won’t read or subscribe to the paper, but it’s another not to provide the paper with needed interviews in regards to state politics, legislative matters and government.

In effect, the governor is putting an unfair burden on a business because of his hurt personal feelings.

The issue isn’t whether or not the paper publishes advertising for adult entertainment as Ventura claims. The issue is that the paper – the second largest in the state – dared question his behavior last Sunday.

And, evidently, it’s not the first time to make him upset.

Ventura’s ego is bruised and he’s looking for a way to fight back.

Well, that’s the wrong reaction. We expect our leaders to act like adults.

The act of running for public office and winning means one thing. He is a public official. What he does, day or night, he does as a representative of all Minnesotans, not just the ones who elected him.

It’s time for the governor to grow up and realize everyone in the state isn’t going to like him.

While these words might cause the governor – who has already refused an interview with Tribune staff during a local visit – to turn his back on local readers, it’s important that he be told such actions can not be tolerated.

We need a governor that won’t threaten businesses in the state simply because they are critical of him or do something he doesn’t like.

We need Ventura to become that governor.