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Vikings spent big on lobbying in 2006

The team wanted to ensure its bid for stadium money wasn't lost amid requests from the Gophers and Twins.

By Pat Doyle, Star Tribune

Last update: March 19, 2007 - 8:09 PM

Hoping to gain political support to subsidize a new stadium, the Minnesota Vikings spent nearly $1.2 million in 2006 on lobbying, about equal to their total lobbying expenses of the three previous years.

The spending made the football team the third-biggest spending lobbyist last year, trailing the Education Minnesota teachers union and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

The Vikings' lobbying ramped up as the team sought help from the Legislature to build a stadium in Anoka County. In the end, the Legislature declined to approve sales tax increases for Anoka County or the metro area, or state funds to help build the stadium.

The lobbying expenses disclosed Monday by the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board include spending to influence legislation, state agencies and larger cities in the seven-county Twin Cities area.

The Vikings spent $707,000 on advertising in the first five months of 2006. Lester Bagley, the team's vice president of public affairs and stadium development, said Monday that the football team opted for a media blitz to raise the profile of its stadium needs and to ensure that the proposal wasn't lost amid bids by the Minnesota Twins and University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team for government help to build stadiums.

"A significant amount was spent on advertising to get our issue to the table with the Twins and the Gophers," Bagley said. "Our initial effort was an attempt to just get heard."

The Vikings greatly outspent the Twins, which won legislative approval for a Hennepin County sales tax increase to finance a new stadium in Minneapolis. The baseball team spent $340,000.

"We feel like we got a fair hearing," Bagley said.

A large TV ad campaign before the November elections made Education Minnesota the top-spending lobbying organization in 2006, with reported expenses of $1.5 million -- nearly twice what it spent in 2005.

More than half of that money was spent by the teachers union on advertising that began before the 2006 legislative session. The campaign is continuing into the 2007 session, focusing in part on reducing higher-education tuition, providing all-day, every day kindergarten and reducing class sizes, said Education Minnesota spokesperson April Nelson.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce had the second-highest spending in 2006 -- $1.4 million -- compared with $1.2 million in 2005.

Overall spending on lobbying declined to $45 million in 2006, down from $55 million in 2005 and $50 million in 2004, the previous election year.

Pat Doyle • 651-222-1210 • pdoyle@startribune.com