Following a late afternoon meeting with legislative leaders Wednesday, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, declared that a stadium push was in "limbo" and complained state leaders weren't getting on board with his plan for a special session before Thanksgiving. As a result, he has cancelled future meetings this week, including one on Friday with Vikings owner Zygi Wilf, and is abandoning plans to release his own stadium proposal, which was scheduled Monday.
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Gov. Mark Dayton |
Word spread earlier in the day that House Speaker Kurt Zellers, a Republican, opposed to a special session. He emailed his 71 Republican colleagues - including my state representative John Kriesel - and said the issue should wait until the 2012 session. But the Vikings and Dayton hope to have the issue resolved before the team's lease expires at the Metrodome in January.
I can't
blame the Vikings and their fans for being disappointed in Wednesday's news. It not only increases the costs to the $1.1 billion stadium. It also gives the impression that the Vikings are not wanted in this state. Although there were no specific threats of relocation, team spokesman Lester Bagley warned that after this season the Vikings "will be the only team without a lease."
"The strategy of avoiding a stadium issue has not worked," Bagley said. "It only gets more costly and more difficult to resolve, especially if they allow the lease to expire with no action."
Along with higher construction costs and a possible relocation elsewhere in the country, there are other reasons why Zellers' idea is a bad one.
House Speaker Kurt Zellers |
Second, major spending bills like this never get done until the end of a regular session. The last time the Legislature passed a stadium bill was in May 2006 and after the Twins stadium proposal went through many hoops, including a fight whether to bypass a state law requiring voters to approve an increase in sales taxes. Zellers opposed funding for a new stadium then and continues to do so now.
Third, bills that ban abortion and gay marriage, along with voter identification requirements have been the focus of Zellers and other Republican leaders instead of jobs. Taking the familiar cue from former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Republican leaders will avoid the stadium issue and continue focusing on social issues to build their base before next November.
Finally, 2012 is an election year and every seat in the Legislature will be up for grabs following redistricting. Stadium funding continues to be a sticky issue for both Republicans and Democrats. Given the overall mood of the electorate, every legislator is going to be more concerned about getting re-elected than showing any political courage and getting finishing the stadium issue.
So what now?
Dayton and the Vikings should not abandon a special session or any efforts to get a stadium bill passed. Republican leaders and other skittish Democrats need to show political courage and take this issue head-on by answering why or why they don't support a new stadium. Avoiding the issue is not only a disservice to the Vikings, but also the citizens in this state who have a right to know where their legislators stand on the issue.
Legislators also need to hear from you - the voters and fans - on this issue too. You can find your legislators here. And if you don't live in Minnesota but still want the Vikings to stay, you can contact Dayton here, and write to our legislative leaders in the House and Senate. I recommend emailing them all so they can hear why the Vikings are important to this state.
Either way, voters and Vikings fans need to fight for this team. Otherwise we can kiss them goodbye and face the possibility of never luring another NFL team back to Minnesota.
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