Sitting at the State Fair the other day, the leader of the Minnesota Senate was asked the last time she met with Zygi Wilf, the Minnesota Vikings owner.

After thinking for a moment, Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said she couldn't recall meeting him.

"I've never met Zygi," she said. "Maybe I did meet him at a dinner one time," but she said she could not recall.

For all the debate over the Vikings' $1 billion, publicly subsidized stadium plan, the team is likely to need powerful legislative allies when it eventually is debated on the Senate floor.

Koch, a Republican from Buffalo, controls a state Senate that for the first time in more than a generation is led by the GOP. Republicans, who swept into office vowing to hold the line on taxes, are also some of the most ardent opponents to using tax subsidies for a new stadium.

Wilf has met with Gov. Mark Dayton and, according to Vikings spokesman Lester Bagley, also met with House Speaker Kurt Zellers -- who, with Koch, is one of the Legislature's two top leaders.

In April, with the Legislature in session, Wilf also made a widely reported visit to the State Capitol to meet with legislators and held a news conference with Sen. Doug Magnus, R-Slayton, a co-author of the Vikings' stadium legislation.

Koch said she didn't meet with him that day because the state's budget deficit was more pressing.

While Koch still hasn't met with team owners, she is wielding influence in the process. She now wants a countywide voter referendum for any Vikings stadium plan.

Requiring a public vote, with public opinion polls showing widespread opposition to using taxpayer money for a stadium, could jeopardize the project.

Koch said she remains opposed to using direct tax dollars for the project and would examine closely any plan that proposed user fees or other indirect taxes as part of the state's $300 million contribution to the stadium.

Bagley said two attempts to get Wilf and Koch together failed. Bagley said he and several Vikings' lobbyists have met with Koch. "We have a good relationship with Senator Koch," he said. "She's been open."

Koch minimized her lack of contact with Wilf. "Everybody wants to keep the Vikes in Minnesota," she said. "It's all about the details."

Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673

Dayton, GOP want funds for honor guards sparedThe Dayton administration and a Republican leader want to make sure state funding for honor guards at military funerals continues.

That funding appeared to be in question because the state's new budget did not include a special line item.

Sen. Mike Parry, R-Waseca, said Friday he plans to create a new law next year to ensure the honor guard continues to be funded. Gov. Mark Dayton pledged to do "whatever I can to support it in next year's session."

Tweet of the week

"Come 2 the mn house of reps booth and watch me taunt the Senate booth noon to 2pm today," -- Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, on his State Fair duty.

Next week

Michele Bachmann will be among several top Republican presidential candidates who will participate in a debate Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California.