On February 21, the state legislature attempted to deliver a new budget to Gov. Jesse Ventura, only to find that he'd headed for the hills. In typical nostalgic Minnesota fashion, reporters dredged up the tale of Joe Rolette: In 1857, Rolette, a territorial legislator, absconded with a bill that would have made St. Peter the capital of our fledgling state, rather than St. Paul. The way the story goes, Rolette hid in a downtown St. Paul hotel for a week, drinking and playing poker, and didn't emerge until it was too late to get the bill signed into law. As University of Minnesota historian Hy Berman opined to the Pioneer Press, in classic "You shoulda been here when" mode: "[Ventura]'s certainly no Joe Rolette."