What do you call a gorilla at the State Capitol? Anything but

What do polar bears, gorillas and a music lending library have in common?

They are red towels waved in the bullring of state politics -- descriptions of public works projects that have drawn attacks from opponents over the years.

So on Friday state Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, pushed successfully to strip references to polar bears and gorillas from a bill that would borrow $11 million to rehab their exhibits in her hometown Como Zoo.

"Some people get hung up on funding animals," Anderson told legislators at a meeting Friday. "This project is really about families ... we should stress that."

The linguistic gymnastics in the Senate Finance Committee underscore an unwritten rule of the Legislature: Be careful how you label a proposal.

The committee approved the change in the Senate's $1 billion bonding bill, which now refers only to "renovation of exhibits at the Como Zoo."

Afterward, Anderson said she wasn't trying to disguise the purpose for the money but determine whether objections to the funding were about animals or something else.

The penguin exhibit is among several projects totaling $21 million at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley that Gov. Tim Pawlenty recommended in his 2010 bonding proposal.

"If he still wants to kick around our zoo, then he needs to come out and say he doesn't like a free zoo in St. Paul ... he only likes a ... zoo that serves suburbanites," Anderson said.

Pawlenty in 2008 vetoed the $11 million proposal to complete the second phase of the Como Zoo exhibit; he approved a $9 million initial phase in 2006.

Gorillas a target

DFL support for the gorilla and polar bear exhibits at the St. Paul zoo became a big bonding target two years ago for Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, now a candidate for governor.

Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, a supporter of the Como Zoo funding, represents an area in southwestern Minnesota not far from Seifert's district and felt the sting of his tongue-lashing.

"I've already gotten criticized in my local paper for voting for monkey cages," Vickerman said at Friday's committee hearing.

"This issue was thoroughly demagogued in the past, about people loved gorillas better than children," said Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon.

Certain other terms have triggered sharp criticism in the Legislature over the years. Older staffers recall when "biodiversity" and "smart growth" prompted speeches by conservatives questioning whether the words had any currency.

The 2008 and 2010 bonding bills provide another example of how a rejected project can be resurrected with a name change.

"Spending money on the sheet music lending library ... tells you something about the mindset of the decisionmakers in this bill," Pawlenty said, noting that legislators didn't provide bond money for a nursing facility at a veterans home.

Proud of a library with collections dating to 1870, Chatfield residents have recast the proposal to include it in a much larger project with a new name: Potter Center for the Arts. The House bonding bill earmarks $7 million for it; the Senate bill $2.2 million.

It's not included in Pawlenty's 2010 bonding proposal.