Pawlenty: Twins stadium a priority

05/05/2006

Governor opposes Senate’s tax proposals

BY ARON KAHN and BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press

Three storied teams hunt desperately for new stadiums, but Gov. Tim Pawlenty says the Minnesota Twins are at the top of his list.

In his first public comments on major DFL changes in stadium legislation, the Republican governor said Thursday the Twins are his highest priority for a stadium and that two newly proposed stadium-related taxes are dead on arrival at his desk unless major changes are made.

“The real urgency or concern here is the Twins,” Pawlenty told reporters. “The others can be considered on their own merits in their own time, in their own way, but the one team that we’re at risk of losing now or in the near term is the Twins, and so we will stay focused on that as a priority.’’

Pawlenty said he favors stadiums for the Minnesota Vikings and the University of Minnesota football team under the right circumstances but will not approve a half-cent metrowide sales tax to help pay for Vikings and Twins stadiums.

Neither will he approve a 13 percent state sales tax on sports memorabilia, at the wholesale level, to help pay for a Gophers stadium. The taxes are being considered in the Senate.

“I think we’ve got to focus on first things first,’’ said Pawlenty, who more than once gave notice that he doesn’t want to lose the Twins “on my watch.’’

Although the Twins haven’t threatened in the last few years to leave Minnesota if a ballpark isn’t built, Pawlenty and Twins ballpark supporters fear a departure through league contraction or moving elsewhere.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, the top Democrat at the state Capitol, said DFLers in his chamber “think the Gophers ought to go first, and then the two professional teams second.”

Johnson, of Willmar, accused the governor of being late to the game, and dictatorial to boot.

“This is the first decisive statement he’s made about a stadium and demonstrated any leadership whatsoever,” Johnson said.

Pawlenty supporters contend the governor has led the stadium dialogue, initially through forming a citizen’s steering committee that recommended financial guidelines for construction of Twins and Vikings stadiums.

He has not been very visible on the stadium issues lately, however, other than repeating a pledge to sign a Twins bill similar to one passed in the House recently. He said he prefers that the bill’s proposed Hennepin County-only sales tax be placed on the county ballot, yet he said he’d sign the measure without such a vote.

But Thursday, the governor jumped wholeheartedly into the stadium debate, which lately has trumped most other matters at Capitol.

He said a half-cent metro sales tax for a Twins ballpark in the Minneapolis Warehouse District and a Vikings stadium in Blaine “would be dead on arrival,’’ as would the sports memorabilia tax for the university. Both await a Senate floor debate, probably Monday.

Pawlenty implied Senate Democrats were being disingenuous.

“We thought we had reached an understanding about the nature of the Twins bill,’’ he said, referring to several meetings with legislative leaders of both parties. “To come in and change the whole deal at the 11th hour, I didn’t think was particularly helpful.”

State Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday pulled the Vikings’ lagging stadium campaign even with the Twins’ effort by drafting a plan for retractable-roof stadiums for each team, financed with the metro sales tax.

The newly composed bill also offers a huge incentive to mass-transit advocates. The proposed tax would yield nearly $13 billion over 30 years, more than $12 billion of which would go to rail and bus improvements.

Pawlenty said he’s opposed to that tax as well as a proposed sports memorabilia tax in the Senate’s Gopher bill. Neither of those taxes is in bipartisan Twins and Gophers bills approved by the Republican-led House.

The Gopher bill in the Senate nixes a naming-rights deal with TCF Bank and also other financial elements, in favor of the tax. “Why would you take out a private donation and delete it and ask the taxpayers to pay the bill for that?’’ Pawlenty asked.

The Twins’ Metrodome commitment ends this season, but stadium-subsidy opponents contend the team will remain in Minnesota for years without a new ballpark, because attendance is good and the choice of relocation sites is slim.

The Twins’ payroll of $63 million ranks 19th among 30 teams, but the club’s $114 million revenue in 2005 was lowest of the teams. The Twins say that ranking will not permit average payrolls in the years to come.

After learning of Pawlenty’s comments, Twins point man Jerry Bell said, “We’re thrilled with that.”