| For Immediate Release | For more information contact: |
| March 3, 1999 | Bill Walsh (651-296-0640) |
Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum welcomed the broad themes put forward by Gov. Jesse Ventura in his first state of the state speech Tuesday, but urged the governor to take a more active role in specific policy discussions.
"The governor's speech touched on a number of Republican themes such as personal responsibility, lower taxes, and less government. Now it's time for him to actively join the debate so we can actually accomplish something in this new three-party system."
Sviggum was also pleased that Gov. Ventura has increased his commitment to farmers, putting him closer to the original House position. In his speech, he increased spending for farmers from $10 million to $60 million over three years. The House proposal has $70 million for farm relief in this year alone. "Gov. Ventura has come a long way on farm relief and we will continue to educate him on the need for even more relief to those families hit hardest by the current farm price crisis," said Sviggum.
There are other major policy issues that still divide the new governor and the House majority, including how the tobacco money is distributed. The House rebate proposal calls for all of the tobacco money to be sent back to the taxpayers, because that was the premise for the lawsuit in the first place. Ventura wants to use the tobacco money to set up several endowments, which will fund new government programs.
"You can't talk about smaller government and self sufficiency on one hand and then advocate creating huge new government programs on the other," said Sviggum. "Families always know better than government when it comes to spending their hard-earned money."
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