St. Paul, Minn. — While Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has proposed cutting state grants to many private agencies that serve disabled persons, he wants to give $500,000 in state funds to start another program for the disabled that is closely associated with longtime friends actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, television reporter Maria Shriver.
In his budget proposal, Ventura has recommended granting the money to Best Buddies, a nationwide program that links high school and college students with mentally retarded persons.
The program's founder and president is Shriver's brother, Anthony Kennedy Shriver. Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, who socialize frequently with Ventura, have helped raise large private donations for Best Buddies.
The governor's generosity toward one program at the apparent ex-pense of others sparked a rebuke from the chairman of the Minnesota Senate budget panel.
"It's hypocritical of the governor to cut off almost every other nonprofit and provide funding for this particular nonprofit," Sen. Richard Cohen said Wednesday, the day after his subcommittee heard the Ventura administration's grant request.
"The governor, for the second time in a row, refuses to recognize the significant support that many of the nonprofits have provided to this state," Cohen said. "He has eliminated almost all funding for pass-through grants to nonprofit organizations. This is the one significant exception to the rule.
"He's doing it, first, for an organization that doesn't exist in Minnesota, and, two, he's doing it for a buddy of his."
Cohen was referring to Schwarzenegger, with whom Ventura appeared in films in the 1980s. Schwarzenegger attended Ventura's inauguration and he and his wife have appeared on the governor's radio program.
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