Politics & Government

Q&A: Sen. Thompson Discusses Upcoming Legislative Session

State senator from District 36 addresses stadium funding, projected budget surplus, constitutional amendments and spending reforms.

The Minnesota State Legislature reconvenes Jan. 24.

To prepare for the upcoming session, Patch called Sen. Dave Thompson (R-District 36) of Lakeville to discuss such subjects as the construction of a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, the state’s projected $876 million budget surplus and expectations for the coming months.

Patch: Could you start out by telling me some of the big issues Minnesota residents can expect to see the Legislature addressing in the coming months?

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Thompson: I think everybody understands that a deal to do a Minnesota Vikings stadium certainly is going to be something that’s going to get a lot of attention from the public, as well as legislators and the media. And with that, gambling will undoubtedly become a part of the discussion because many of the stadium proponents would like to see gambling as one of the ways to get it done … Clearly, there will be a discussion of constitutional amendments. I, personally, will be looking at authoring the Employee Freedom, or what many refer to as “Right to Work,” Amendment, for the [state] Constitution.

Patch: Where do you stand in terms of funding for the Vikings’ stadium?

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Thompson: I oppose public funding. I don’t believe that’s the proper role of government. The only kind of proposal that I could sign on to would be one that we would perhaps agree to help with infrastructure, possibly some tax relief on materials put into the stadium. In short, the kind of thing that we would do for any business. I do not support going significantly beyond that and I don’t support a direct public subsidy.

Patch: Where do you stand in terms of how the newfound budget surplus should be used?

Thompson: All that really did was replenish the cash reserves, and so there really isn’t money there to play with, unfortunately … I think we still need to be fiscally prudent. I think we should work on policy changes and a change in the direction of spending.

Patch: What would you like to see the Legislature focusing on this session?

Thompson: I would like to see us focus on reforms that gets the cost of government down, focus on the constitutional amendments that I think are important to the citizens of Minnesota. Obviously, as a chief author of the Employee Freedom/“Right to Work,” that’s a very important one for me. We have a pattern of decades now of having financial problems and difficult forecasts because of the fact that we continue to ratchet up the cost of government faster than the people can afford to pay for it, and we need to change that model through reform and changing what we expect from government.


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