http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/11/gr-anderson-gets-scoop-at-rt-rybaks.html
GR Anderson Gets the Scoop at RT Rybak's Victory Party
Over at the
<http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2005/11/opat_to_pawlent.asp>City Pages
Blotter.
Opat to Pawlenty: Let's get it on
Architect of Twins stadium proposal sounds off on Guv
Everybody loves a winner, and that's never more apparent than on election
night. Tuesday was no different, with seemingly every politician in town
scurrying over to R.T. Rybak's victory party at the Ukraininan Event
Center, tucked away off the river on Main Street in Northeast Minneapolis.
Hennepin County Commisioner Mike Opat was there, reveling in Rybak's
victory rather than consoling his county board cohort and Rybak challenger
Peter McLaughlin, who was holding a wake over at the Holiday Inn-Metrodome
near the West Bank.
The Twins stadium issue came up, and Opat minced no words. "We need a
governor with a backbone," Opat declared. "He started a conversation and he
didn't finish it."
The source of Opat's frustration has much to do with Tim Pawlenty's obvious
handwringing over the prospect of a special session. Since the legislature
wrapped business this summer, Pawlenty has hinted that he would convene
lawmakers this fall to deal with three stadium proposals, one each for the
Twins, Vikings and Gopher football team.
We have John Knight to thank for this.
But Opat also hinted that he hasn't heard from the Governor at all on the
issue, and that the Twins were likewise in the dark. Opat negotiated the
current proposal with the Twins to build a stadium on a parking lot just
north of the Target Center as far back as a year ago. Hennepin County bears
most of the costs via a .15 percent sales tax; some figured Pawlenty would
go ga-ga over the deal because it involves no state money.
"I believed his heart was in it," Opat said, adding that nobody is really
talking seriously about the proposal now. "Maybe it's issue fatigue, I
don't know.
"The disaster scenario is that they think we're going to be there next year
with this proposal," Opat continued. "But I'm not going to sit across the
table from the Twins this spring and tell them we don't have a deal yet. If
this doesn't happen, there will have to be a proposal that uses state dollars."
Opat has also said he's not going to support a proposal with a referendum.
A referendum on this would be a perfect issue to help an Opat opponent.
State representative Frank Hornstein, who represents the area around Lake
Calhoun and Lake Harriet, might be one to burst Opat's bubble. Hornstein,
who was also at Rybak's party, offered that a special session wasn't
likely. "It wouldn't be until December, and then it doesn't make sense,
because you're talking about March when we start up again," Hornstein said.
"It wouldn't be worth the cost at this point."
Hornstein, who has expressed distaste for public funding of stadiums in the
past, said that the current proposal might have legs in the
legislature--"the Minneapolis delegation would vote against it, and half of
the Hennepin County delegation, but everybody else seems fine with it"--but
that he would rather see a proposal that involves the Twins ponying up more
than one-quarter of the cost. And, he said, if the deal changes to the
Twins needing state money, all bets are likely off.
So far no one has taken up my stadium proposal - which would exclude
Minneapolis from the stadium tax, and replace those tax revenues with
increased sales taxes on Dakota County (where the Governor lives),
Kandiyohi County (where Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson lives) and
Goodhue County (where Steve Sviggum wins).
Either way, Opat seemed resigned to walking away. "If this proposal isn't
hashed out, I'm done," Opat said, with just a hint of bitterness. "I've got
to move on with my life."
Good idea.
posted by lloydletta
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
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Lloydletta's Nooz
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
Dump Michele Bachmann
http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com
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http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1381.html
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