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DECC Plan Gets Leaders' Support: EXPANSION:Top Lawmakers Say the Proposed Arena Will Be Built Next Year, After the Coming Election.

Posted on: Friday, 16 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Chris Hamilton, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.

Jun. 16--Minnesota's top three lawmakers say they are on board with fully funding the DECC Arena expansion during the 2007 legislative session.

State Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, was in Duluth on Thursday to meet with local lawmakers and officials from the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, University of Minnesota Duluth, labor unions and city.

Johnson said a letter is being drafted to the state Department of Finance endorsing the entire $37.9 million bonding request to help build the $67 million facility.

The DECC bill failed last month despite intense lobbying by Mayor Herb Bergson and a successful advisory public referendum from Duluth voters for a restaurant and bar sales tax increase. The tax, as well as money from UMD, would pay for much of the rest of the project.

The referendum was at the behest of Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who in a stop in Duluth last month said he also would support fully financing the expansion. The aging arena needs to be replaced, he said.

Pawlenty made a similar pledge before the last session. This time, he said he is 95 percent certain the DECC will gets its money.

Reached by telephone Thursday in Florida, House Majority Leader Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said he also supports fully financing the DECC through a special supplemental bonding request.

"It's a project which should be done in the best interests of Northeast Minnesota and for Minnesota itself," Sviggum said.

He and Johnson mentioned keeping the DECC request separate from other city bonding needs.

This is an election year for the governor, as well as members of the House and Senate who aren't retiring. Pawlenty probably will face DFL-endorsed Attorney General Mike Hatch or state Sen. Becky Lourey, DFL-Kerrick.

Both sides of the aisle accused the other of failing Duluth on the DECC issue. Bergson said Pawlenty didn't come through on his promises, while the governor blamed the DFL-controlled Senate.

The Senate never put the DECC money in its version of the bonding bill.

"I think Duluth got caught up in some political crosswinds," Johnson said. "I rather we move ahead than point fingers, and try to get the matter resolved."

Sviggum said House Republicans offered it up nine times in final negotiations for the$1 billion bonding bill. The last two times were for the full amount, he said.

Sviggum said he and Pawlenty also offered to pay for the DECC in cash through a tax-reduction package that Democrats rejected.

Johnson said the DECC was swept aside when the Senate had to prioritize projects across the state to meet the governor's spending cap. They had requests for $3 billion, while Pawlenty set aside only $881 million to spend, he said.

On Thursday, the Senate's Capital Investment Committee chairman, Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, was in Duluth with Johnson to throw his support behind the project in the coming session.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Duluth News-Tribune, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Duluth News-Tribune (Duluth, Minn.)

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