T. PAUL - Governor Jesse Ventura's comments in a Playboy magazine interview touched off a host of critics demanding that he mind his mouth.
Ventura neither apologized nor distanced himself from his comments in the interview, telling listeners of his weekly radio show, ''Judge me as governor, not what you read in interviews.''
Ventura told Playboy that organized religion was ''a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people'' and that the Navy's Tailhook sex scandal in 1991 was ''much ado about nothing.'' He also endorsed legalized prostitution and said he would like to be reincarnated as a woman's bra.
In Washington yesterday, Reform Party Chairman Russell Verney demanded that Ventura resign from the party, saying the interview ''brought shame'' to Ventura.
A Ventura spokesman brushed off the demand, saying that Verney ''never supported the governor when he ran for office and he isn't supporting him now.''
Verney will soon be replaced as party chairman by a Ventura ally.
On his radio program, the governor said he was just speaking his mind in the interview.
''I've learned something very profound,'' he told listeners. ''I've learned you will have an extremely difficult time if you get elected to high office and you're honest and you speak the truth and speak honestly about how you feel.''
In response to one caller who inquired about the Tailhook affair, in which Navy pilots allegedly engaged in groping and other improper behavior, Ventura read back his comments in the interview, saying he did not condone their actions but understood what happened.
''These are people who live on the razor's edge and defy death and do things where people die,'' he said. ''I'm speaking on behalf of them. ... I'm speaking on how I know they feel because I did it for four years,'' said the former Navy SEAL and professional wrestler.
''They're not going to consider grabbing a woman's breast or buttock a major situation. ... They were court-martialed and they should have been,'' he said.
But his remarks triggered criticism.
Regarding Ventura's comments on organized religion, Joan Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said, ''Karl Marx said something like that. I don't think he wants to be associated with him.''
Merlyn Scroggins, president of the Catholic Defense League in St. Paul, said, ''We should feel terribly sad that we have a man of this nature as our governor.''
David Wangaar, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, located a block from the Capitol in St. Paul, ''I plan to preach on the subject this Sunday. ... The role of organized religion is precisely to stick its nose into other people's business because Jesus stuck his nose into people's business.''
Karen Johnson, a National Organization for Women vice president and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, took issue with Ventura's comments on the Tailhook scandal.
''There were 83 women and seven men assaulted,'' she said. ''He's absolutely right. On the scale of things a Navy pilot has to deal with, this is not a major thing. However that's part of the problem.''
But Marie Castle, president of Minnesota Atheist, a 300-member group in Minneapolis, said, ''He is really telling the truth.''
In an editorial yesterday, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis said, '' The entire Playboy interview is a jolly good read. Taken in context, the governor comes off as a quick, almost thoughtful straight-shooter.''
