Wright County Legislators Have Taken Stand on Stadium

While in last week, Sen. Amy Koch (R-Buffalo), the senate's majority leader for Minnesota, said she had qualms about a special session regarding any of the myriad of Minnesota Vikings stadium proposals on the table. 

"I think you have to have some consensus before you enter into a special session. You want to go in organized. Because if you don't, you could have a setback that throws everything off, and then you're in a Twins situation," she said. 

Koch, who is just shy of 40, said she remembers the controversy over the baseball stadium that nearly led to the franchise leaving Minneapolis, were it not for a court injunction. 

The Twins got their special session in 1997, and a stadium proposal failed, miserably. As a result, discussion were derailed for years, until Hennepin County rammed through a tax in 2006 to get a stadium in downtown Minneapolis. 

Koch has said she doesn't favor any general fund money – such as that raised by a sales tax for the stadium. But, she's all for "creative solutions," such as increased gambling on a tax on NFL apparell in Minnesota. 

That's a sentiment echoed by her Republican colleague in the House, Rep. McDonald, who released a letter to constituents Wednesday. 

"These are the Vikings we are talking about–Minnesota’s most popular team and a great source of state pride passed down from one generation to the next for the last 50 years. I have been a fan since the Purple People Eaters days. I do not wish to see the Vikings leave and will do what is fair and reasonable to help keep them here. I support using creative ways to fund a new stadium, such as using revenue generated from Racino, scratch-offs, and/or lottery sales, I do not believe the Legislature should be spending our tax dollars to publicly finance a private football stadium." 

The Minnesota Senate will hold hearings on the stadium proposals, beginning later this month.

A Republican from Chanhassen, Sen. Julianne Ortman, who leads theSenate Taxes Committee, announced Wednesday she would hold two informational hearings on the Vikings stadium on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6.

Those hearings would be open to the public.