Hypocrisy + Blind Greed = Bruce Lambrecht

As a Twins fan, I was giddy when last year’s legislature allowed Hennepin county to impose a county-wide sales tax to finance the construction of an outdoor stadium behind the Target Center, thereby freeing the Twins from the Metrodome. It was the culmination of years of effort by team officials, county commissioners, and state officials. Finally, the Twins would have a baseball park.

But some recent developments have cast doubt about not only when a new Twins ballpark will open, but if it will open at all. From what I understand, county officials failed to secure the land before a $12.95 million purchase option had expired. Now, the land owners, an investment group lead by Bruce Lambrecht, has reportedly requested somewhere between $40-60 million for the same piece of land. With an already tightly budgeted stadium project, that’s just not going to work. But unfortunately, as it exists today, the stadium deal is site specific so the investment group and Bruce Lambrecht have the Twins and Hennepin County over a barrel.

Yesterday, I was IM-ing with Joe about these recent Twins stadium developments. I suggested that someone should publish the names and addresses of the investment group so that the public can *ahem* tell them what they think about their “negotiation” tactics. For that mater, the Hennepin County officials who dropped the ball on the original purchase option should also get a heaping helping of public ire for creating the mess to begin with.

Then today, I got my wish. Patrick Reusse wrote a column ripping the investment group for their suddenly inflated demands. He also pointed-out how hypocritical Bruce Lambrecht has been throughout the whole process. It seems that Lambrecht

“was the co-founder of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility. Among the ideas that he opposed vociferously was the creation of a train line, the North Star Line, from St. Cloud to downtown Minneapolis.

Then, Lambrecht discovered that the train would run through land that he owned with others on the northern edge of downtown Minneapolis.

Uff-da! Lambrecht had an epiphany and started attending pro-North Star meetings and showing his support.”

So now, a one time “fiscal responsibility” advocate, Lambrecht is attempting to stick it to Hennepin county tax-payers by fleecing them over the land needed to build a Twins stadium. Greedy AND hypocritical is no way to go through life. I hope that Lambrecht and his fellow investors get what they so richly deserve… nothing, other than public shame.

If you’d like to send Mr. Bruce Lambrecht a note, his address is:
2841 Ella Lane
Minnetonka, MN 55305*

Or if you’d rather give him a call, his phone number is:
(612)349-2775*

Sid's Take: Stadium Site Landowners Undermining Twins Plans

Downtown Journal story: Has Twinsville Struck Out?

*According to his 2005 Campaign Finance Board Filing