Ballpark bill leaps ahead in House

Fresh off three narrow political victories in four days, the Minnesota Twins' proposal to build a $522 million stadium in downtown Minneapolis might be on the verge of House approval within less than a week.

The stadium's improbable success continued Friday when the House Taxes Committee voted 15 to 13 to approve the 42,000-seat open-air facility. The vote came one day after the committee narrowly approved a move to use sales taxes in Hennepin County to build the stadium without requiring a referendum, and just three days after the Hennepin County Board reaffirmed its support of the stadium by just a one-vote margin.

As Friday's nearly seven-hour hearing ended, House Speaker Steve Sviggum predicted that the stadium plan would pass a vote of the full House on Wednesday.

"It's not going to be an overwhelming vote," he cautioned, but "I think it's in the best interests of the state of Minnesota."

No action is yet scheduled in the Senate, where the plan has cleared one committee.

With the Legislature just a month from adjourning, the Twins' success suddenly brightened the prospects that two stadiums might be headed for overall approval -- one for the Twins and the other an on-campus football stadium for the University of Minnesota.

The Minnesota Vikings are also seeking legislative approval for a new stadium in Blaine, and a Vikings official disclosed Friday that the team had worked during the past two days to lobby the House Taxes Committee for the Twins stadium in the belief that the Twins' success would aid the Vikings' chances.

Clearing the House Taxes Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Phil Krinkie, a leading critic of the project, was a major accomplishment for the Twins stadium's supporters.

"We're ready to keep moving," said a relieved Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Comfrey, the stadium plan's chief House author. "When it comes to stadiums, it doesn't get much tougher than the House Taxes Committee."

Krinkie, a Republican from Lino Lakes, afterward shook hands with Jerry Bell, the lead stadium negotiator for the Twins. "You're farther on down the road now," Krinkie told Bell.

But Krinkie said that nothing had persuaded him to drop his opposition and that taxpayers in Hennepin County were being unfairly asked to pay the bulk of the stadium's cost without being able to vote on the plan. "Those people who go to the ballpark should pay for the ballpark," he said.

The stadium plan overcame its toughest hurdle late Thursday when the committee, after a raucous public hearing in a school auditorium in Bloomington, voted 15 to 13 to allow Hennepin County to levy a 0.15 percent sales tax without holding a referendum as required by state law.

An estimated 700 people crowded into the school for the hearing, and stadium opponents were largely jeered as they testified against the project.

Under the plan, Hennepin County would contribute $392 million to the stadium's construction, with the Twins adding the remaining $130 million.

A move to add a retractable roof -- and to widen the sales tax statewide to pay for it -- was defeated Friday.

Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, said adding a roof to the stadium only made sense. "The Twins are going to be back here looking for a roof," he said. "Everybody in this room knows it."

But Bell insisted that would not happen. "We will not be back," he said.

The Twins' success was watched closely by the Vikings and Anoka County, whose proposal for a $675 million football stadium in Blaine is also before legislators. Anoka County -- like Hennepin -- is asking for an exemption to state law that would allow it to levy a sales tax to help pay for the stadium without being required to have a referendum.

The Vikings in fact did more than watch.

Lester Bagley, the Vikings' vice president of public affairs and stadium development, said the team used its internal database to contact Vikings fans, asking them to call members of the House Taxes Committee and urging them to approve the Twins' plan.

"We weren't just sitting around watching. We were working," he said. "This is a big step in getting all three stadiums done this year."

Mike Kaszuba • 612-673-4388