Henco To Voters: "Pony Up. Forever."

So a while ago, Hennepin County's commission rammed through a stadium deal.

As the spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down, they solemnly promised "But we won't throw for the roof. Yet. Promise. Really."

I remember countless conversations, on and off the air; "They'll want the roof." And the pollyannas: "Noooo! No way!"

Way.

Whatever Nick Coleman's many flaws as a columnist, he's got this one right:

Anyone following this year's installment of the Let's Give All Our Money to Carl Pohlad Reality Series will be shocked -- shocked! -- by the latest wrinkle: a last-second plan to add a roof to a $500 million stadium financed by the public.

Knock me over with a feather. This pitch is so fat you can see it from the cheap seats.

If you swallow the fairy tale that the Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball would settle for an open-air stadium in a northern city where it snows in June and September and hungry bears prowl the dumps beside the garbage burners, you and your money will soon be parted.

It might happen anyway.

Might? It's Hennepin County. It's a government body that is to sneaky taxation what Michael Jordan was to hoops.

The fix is in on the stadium, which is expected to lurch back from the Un-dead at any moment somewhere in the bowels of the State Capitol, where it has lain, moribund, on a cold slab since the start of the special session. The eyes are fluttering, legislators are sewing body parts together, and lightning bolts are flying above the generators. It's alive!

And it has a top hat.

And publishes the Strib, among other things, we might add.

Posted by Mitch at June 10, 2005 05:55 AM | TrackBack