May 03, 2012

New Vikings plan dead, old plan to face vote on Monday

Finished reading this morning's news item about the Minnesota Republicans' new proposal to fund a Vikings stadium, and how it was gaining traction? Good — now forget all about it, because that plan is dead:

Republican legislative leaders said Thursday they would drop a last-minute proposal to finance a new $975 million Minnesota Vikings stadium by issuing bonds directly tied to the state's general treasury. The House scheduled the Monday vote on an existing proposal reliant on a gambling expansion.

They said it's up to supporters, particularly Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, to round up the needed votes. It is destined to be close.

"The fate of the stadium is now in the governor's hands," said House Speaker Kurt Zellers.

From the sound of things, the Republicans couldn't get enough support for their bill, so threw up their hands and said, "Fine, vote for your fershlugginer bill with the e-pulltabs and the racinos and the gambling, feh." (Okay, they probably didn't say "feh.") Whether the old bill stands a chance of passage is totally unclear now — Zellers says he opposes it, and the only reason anyone was taking the new plan seriously is that the old one didn't have a ton of support. But then, when push comes to shove and commissioners start rattling move-threat sabers, a lot of strange things can happen. It's going to be an interesting Monday — if things don't change another five or six times between now and then.