Cardinals won't try again on ballpark

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- St. Louis Cardinals president Mark Lamping made it clear to lawmakers last week: If the team gets a third strike this year in its effort to get state subsidies for a new ballpark, it is out.

And it won't take another at bat in the Missouri Capitol.

"We are committed to the stability of the Cardinals -- a new ballpark is critical to that," Lamping said. "But this is the last time we will drive down here."

Lamping made his comments before the House Commerce Committee, which on Thursday sent a Senate-approved $644 million stadium funding bill on to the full House of Representatives.

Money paid over 30 years to renovate existing football and baseball stadiums in Kansas City, maintain the Savvis Center in St. Louis and to build convention centers in Branson and Springfield is also included in the measure, but the Cardinals plan is at its heart.

The state would pay $210 million over three decades to retire bonds to build the new downtown ballpark. The team would contribute $120 million in cash and land, with the St. Louis city and county also participating.

The Cardinals first sought stadium legislation in 2000, but it was introduced late in the legislative year with the main goal of starting the debate rather than actual passage. Last year, the plan was considered the committee level but never debated on the floor of either legislative chamber.

The big push came this year, with the Senate last week narrowly passing the measure with a two-vote majority. Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, is the sponsor.

But House resistance, especially from rural members, is expected to be fierce. Most estimates show the bill failing by at least 20 votes.

Cardinals officials have said that if the bill is defeated they will consider leaving St. Louis, perhaps going accross the Mississippi River. The measure's opponents predict the team is even less likely to get a subsidy from the Illinois legislature.

While Lamping promised not to try a fourth time with Missouri lawmakers, he and other team officials last year said the ballpark bill had to pass then or never.

They later changed their minds.

Legislative pay

Though a largely symbolic move, state Sen. Jim Mathewson has introduced a resolution calling on lawmakers to forgo receiving their salaries and money for meal and travel expenses for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Mathewson, D-Sedalia, said legislators need to do their part as the state grapples with a $230 million shortfall in the current budget.

The resolution, which would be non-binding, states that lawmakers should give up their pay because "the House of Representatives has yet to act to spare our state and our citizens unneccessary financial chaos and humiliation." That was a slap at House Republicans for blocking a Senate-approved bill that would have authorized using state savings to address the budget crisis. Following the measure's defeat, Gov. Bob Holden announced he would withhold payments due to public colleges and force 6,000 state workers to go without two days of pay to help resolve the shortfall.

Name change dead

An effort to drop the compass reference from Southwest Missouri State University's name appears dead.

The bill, which would rename the Springfield school Missouri State University, was on the fast track to passage in the House thanks to the support of House Speaker Jim Kreider, D-Nixa, but stalled in an unfriendly Senate.

Opponents fear the proposed change would be a prelude to the school seeking funding on par with the University of Missouri at the expense of other regional colleges, such as Southeast Missouri State University.

The bill's Senate handler, state Sen. Rosanne Bentley, R-Springfield, had two hours of floor time, but couldn't overcome the opposition.

Abandonment bill

A parent could legally abandon an infant at a hospital or with police or firefighters under a bill sent to the governor last week.

The Safe Place for Newborns Act is intended to save the lives of unwanted babies by giving parents an option that would spare them prosecution. The protection would apply so long as the infant had not been abused or neglected.

The final legislative action on the bill came on a 121-0 House vote.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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