April 27, 2004

MN legislators hammer stadium bill

As expected, Minnesota's House Taxes Committee asked some tough questions about the Twins and Vikings dual-stadium bill in its first day of hearings this week. Legislators wondered why the price tag is so high (the Vikings' proposed dome in suburban Blaine is nearing $645 million, which would be the most expensive in NFL history, unless the Jets get their $1.4 billion Taj-Mahal-on-the-Hudson in gear first), and how the state can set a cap on subsidies for the proposed stadiums. Committee chair Ron Abrams was especially critical of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's bill, saying it had "fundamental flaws," including a financing structure that could require a 60% "supermajority" vote in the Legislature, likely an insurmountable obstacle.

Even backers of past stadium bills seemed less than thrilled by Pawlenty's proposal. Rep. Alice Hausman, a supporter of Twins stadium bills in 1997 (yes, this has really been going on that long) and 2002, declared, "I'm a 'no' vote for a thousand reasons," adding, "I'm feeling we're all being used to pass a bill. This whole process feels backward to me. It feels so wrong." And Rep. Tom Pugh won understatement-of-the-year honors for his observation that it would be bad for the legislature to pass a stadium bill without getting around to such things as, oh, passing a state budget: "It would feel funny for most legislators and perhaps look bad to the public."