Ed Kohler at The Deets reports that Minnesota Vikings Now #1 Most Arrested Team in the NFL, a fact that suggests ideas to bail out the Wilf family from the cost of a new stadium may end up in the hands of Leno, Letterman or their local counterparts.
Cornerback Chris Cook's arrest certainly isn't going to help Representative Kurt Daudt's proposal to use Legacy funds--set aside by a constitutional ballot measure--to fund the stadium. MPR's Tom Scheck and Tim Nelson reports in Some Republicans want arts amendment money for Vikings stadium:
Daudt said the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund could generate about $50 million annually to finance the stadium. He said that would be enough to pay both the state's and Ramsey County's share but is unsure if that would be the plan.
"You certainly can't argue that the Minnesota Vikings and these sports teams in the state of Minnesota aren't a part of the state's heritage and certainly part of the state's legacy," Daudt said.
That's special.
And wrong, as editors in New Ulm and Mankato have noticed and given Daudt's great notion the thumbs down. The New Ulm Journal calls the idea "specious." The Mankato Free Press goes a bit further, suggesting in Our View: Legacy of football not an art:
Daudt uses a tortuous justification of how a pro football stadium would be a justified recipient of tax money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund:
“You certainly can’t argue that the Minnesota Vikings ... aren’t a part of the state’s heritage and certainly part of the state’s legacy.”
If simply putting the words “legacy” and “heritage” in a sentence justifies funding, we could pay for all kinds of things. Norwegian bachelor farmers are certainly a part of our state’s heritage and legacy — let's give them some arts money, too.
Bluestem believes that the tradition of Norwegian bachelor farmers is more storied than that of the Vikings, but with ag subsidies potentially on the chopping block, the agrarian gents might be just as endangered, though perhaps more law-abiding.
To be sure, our ficticious Norwegian bachelor farmers have benefitted from the Legacy funds. A fact sheet posted by MPR notes that the funds paid for a free performance of Prairie Home Companion for high school students in FY2010.
Bluestem suspects that cost considerably less than the $50 million Daudt mentions.
Photo: Actually, these guys are from Wisconsin.
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