Vikings Stadium Deal Fleeces St. Paul Taxpayers

Let me say this to start, I bleed purple.  One of my earliest football memories was going over to my uncle's house for a football party to watch the Vikings play in something called the Super Bowl back when I was 7 years old.  I remember watching both Fran Tarkenton's and Jim Marshall's last games at Met Stadium.  I went crazy when Ahmad Rashad caught Tommy Kramer's Hail Mary pass to beat the Browns in 1980.  I've suffered through the Les Stekel year, Darrin Nelson's dropped pass in the end zone in 1987 and the Hershel Walker trade. I was at the NFC Championship in 98 and watched Randall Cunningham take a knee.  I was humiliated by 41- doughnut in the 2000 NFC Championship. I had season tickets for years, until I got married and had a family and couldn't afford them anymore.  I never fully embraced Favre, but got on the bandwagon only to be disappointed again by having 12 men on the field. I've got authentic Robert Smith and Daunte Culpepper jerseys hanging in my closet -- and I still HATE the new uniforms!  Every fall I live and die with the Vikes, and have from Grant, Tark, Blair, and Studwell, to Browner, Doleman, McDaniel and Millard, to Carter and Moss, to Petersen, Harvin, Hutch and Winfield.

With that said, as a St. Paul resident and Ramsey County taxpayer I cannot and will not support the proposed Vikings stadium deal to build a $1B football palace in Arden Hills.  Ramsey County Commissioners Rafael Ortega and Tony Bennett say they have the votes to impose a half cent sales tax on Ramsey County resdents to finance their "share" of the cost -- approximately $350 million.  In St. Paul, that would push our sales tax to 8.125% -- making it the highest sales tax in the state.  Looks like I'll be doing most of my shopping in Eagan from now on!

I've heard all of the arguments about "if we don't step to the plate and get a stadium deal done, the Vikings will leave."  How many times did we hear that during the Twins debate over the last 15 years.  Hennepin County ultimately added .15% to its county wide sales tax to fund Target Field.  What's .5% here, and .15% there anyway?  It all adds up, and what it means is that all those Vikings fans from around the state who are now backing this deal won't pay "their fair share," while those of us who live, work and shop in Ramsey County will get disproportionately fleeced on a daily basis.

This deal should have been put together with a combination of "user fees" such as ticket taxes, taxes on team jerseys and memorabilia, hotel taxes, liquor taxes, parking taxes and income taxes on player salaries -- with the team picking up the difference.  The fact that it wasn't done with user fees shows that there wouldn't have been enough money there.  Why is it that a billion dollar industry like the NFL needs a taxpayer funded subsidy? 

My only hope at this point is that with a GOP controlled House and Senate, that this deal is DOA at the legislature this year.  With the out of control spending at the Legislature, the last thing in the world we need is for the state to be spending $300 million on a Vikings stadium.  Hopefully all the new GOP legislators will have the courage to just say No.  It's time the taxpayers stare down these billionare owners and tell them we aren't going to be shaken down anymore.

Bennett and Ortega -- As a constituent in St. Paul, consider this a warning that we'll remember this at election time!

Making News Again: St. Paul City Councilman's Office Sends Shameful Email To Constituent By Mistake

Thankfully, Dave Thune isn't my city councilman, his ward borders mine.  I doubt this liberal blowhard will do anything about his staffer, but Barb Benson clearly should be fired.  (It would be nice to see Thune do the honorable thing, but I'm not holding my breath.)

From Minnesota Democrats Exposed

Kudos to KSTP for breaking the story out of St. Paul [Friday] when the assistant to St. Paul City Councilman Dave Thune, Barb Benson, sent a nasty response to a local business man looking to honor a local legend.

Thune’s assistant sent an email accidentally replying to the businessman, and not her office gossip buddy: “A statue of Bill Bowell?????? Gag. Barf. This is the gay guy that always runs against Dave for City Council”

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S2088916.shtml?cat=1


From the story:
Businessman Bill Hosko sent the Mayor and Council a letter suggesting that a statue be placed on Harriet Island to honor long time boat captain Bill Bowell. The assistant reacted to the idea by sending back an inflammatory email denouncing the idea. The email was not intended to be sent to Hosko, but was by mistake.
An internal investigation into the matter is underway at City Hall.

This is far from Thune’s first run-in with shameful behavior. In 2008, Thune joked about the World War II bombing of Nagasaki during a visit from a Japanese delegation to St. Paul. In 2008 as well, Thune sent a profane email from his official city account to a constituent (from MDE).

Here’s one of the stories from 2010 when Thune told someone through email “F*** You”.
The time has come for City Councilman Dave Thune and his partisan staff to step down before he makes another deranged and inappropriate comment on behalf of the city of St. Paul.

Cross-posted at MN Democrats Exposed - comments welcome.

Senator Cohen Staffer Tweets Offensive Slur Against Christians

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm one of the 30% of voters in Highland Park in St. Paul who doesn't vote straight line DFL in every general election.  My state senator, Richard Cohen, has been in the state legislature since I was six years old (and I'm 41 now.)  The guy literally is the poster boy for term limits.  Thanks to last fall's election he's also the FORMER Chariman of the Senate Finance Committee. 

In any other legislative district in Minnesota, Cohen would have been bouned last fall.  He's everything that the voters in MN overwhelmingly rejected last fall.  Cohen has had his hand on the purse strings of this state for 30 years. It's really about time that he push his seat "away from the table." His challenger last fall, Tony Hernandez is a young, energetic leader within the community who ran a great campaign and connected with voters.  Unlike Cohen, Hernandez actually has been seen around the community.  He performed well in the one debate he had with Cohen.  Hopefully he'll be back.  However, here in District 64, the same voters who routinely send St. Paul's village idiot Betty McCollum back to Washington, regularly punch Cohen's ticket back to the Capitol. 

Thanks to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for uncovering the fact that over the Easter weekend, one of Cohen's staffers, Nicole Kaplan, tweeted the following: "Oh, I wonder if Jesus will see his shadow tomorrow! That's what this holiday is about right?"

I can only imagine what the media would have done if a Republican staffer had tweeted a joke in poor taste about Ramadan or Passover? 

I'm not calling for anyone to be fired. But Senator Cohen -- how about at least issuing an apology?  Alienating your non Jewish constiuents is never a good idea!