Mayors from Minneapolis and St. Paul "pitched their
competing stadium proposals" for the Twins to Gov. Jesse
Ventura yesterday as a deadline approaches for team Owner
Carl Pohlad to choose a city, according to Kahn, Stassen-
Berger & Sweeney of the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. St. Paul
Mayor Norm Coleman said that Pohlad "must decide within a
week whether to pursue a ballpark in St. Paul or commit the
team to a Minneapolis-Hennepin County plan" before he
gathers signatures to put a voter referendum on the ballot
in November. Both proposals would have to be approved by
state legislators, and several lawmakers have already said
that the Legislature "is unlikely to approve" either St.
Paul's plan for state funding or Minneapolis-Hennepin
County's proposal for a local sales tax (PIONEER PRESS,
6/11). Ventura, "who has opposed the use of public funding"
for stadiums, was "noncommittal" toward either proposal.
Ventura: "I don't have an opinion on it. They're taking an
initiative, as I understand it, to keep the Twins in the
Twin Cities and build an outdoor stadium, I guess"
(Brunswick & Diaz, Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 6/11). In
Minneapolis, Sid Hartman writes that no matter where the
ballpark is built, Ventura's support "is necessary, and that
might be difficult to get" (STAR TRIBUNE, 6/11).
