Our Stadium Saga Continues....

 

 

"Some say this taxpayer behemoth is a Taj Mahal. I disagree - the Taj Mahal would have been cheaper..."

In the paper today, were two very interesting articles. The first being the differences between the three proposed budgets - the Governor's, the House, and the Senate. The House of course is the Republican budget. When I look at all three next to each other, there is barely a hair's difference between them. The Governor's is $42.9B, the Senate's is $42.7B and the Republican lead House is $42.6B. To that I say "Big Whoop!"

Now I am not going to get started this morning about how the Party of Lincoln has become the Party of FDR on a slight diet - that is for another day. Besides, I just ranted about that earlier this week. I will however, address how this state continues to pee money away. And that, does nothing but add to the cost (and size) of state government.

The Governor wants an additional $30M for a "fixer up project" at the capital. Seems as if we sustained some water damage. That on top of everything else we are doing to that place (like the unsustainable new Senate Building). So this multi-year project to fix up the joint is going to cost $300M. Before long, it will cost as much as our new Taj Mahal football stadium. I will use that as a segway to begin my next rant.

This billion dollar baby, which is projected to be used by the Vikings about eight to twelve times a year, is going to look very, very sharp. That is, unless you are a migrating bird. Today it was disclosed the gal with many names and a squeaky voice is acting like a "duffer" in a canoe with her stadium job. In other words, at $127,000 (of taxpayer money) she is just along for the ride. Her boss, Fritz Mondale's son, is doing quite a bit of her work as well as his. Don't worry about Teddy however - we are paying him handsomely - over $162,000 (of taxpayer money).

So why in the world do we even have this Michele Kelm-Helgen on the team? Silly question! It is crony capitalism at its finest. Seems that our Governor picked her to be on his "inner circle" when he first took office. Why her? She is part of the DFL machine in this state. Part of the machine which makes this state so expensive. Giving her this plum job on the stadium commission was just payback for being such a good foot soldier in the past.

So what is Kelm-Helgen's background to make her so uniquely qualified to earn this kind of money on this horribly complex project? Well, she did serve on her local school board. Then she served as the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative Affairs. She was also the Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Pogemiller. So her qualifications were basically na-da. Nothing. The stadium job was payback time.

Putting this state on a diet starts with the budget. The Speaker of the House needs to be bold. When you play poker, seeing the other guys bid and then calling is not bold. Our budget should not even be in the $40B range - more like the $30B range. Like I just pointed out, we need to bleed all the crap out of this state. No more cronyism. No more duplicity. No more graft.

Come on people - grow a pair. Do your job! The people paying the tab are not a bid happy right now.