GOP hammers DFL on Senate building

With a legal challenge now out of the way, state officials will move forward this summer with the construction of a new office building for the Minnesota Senate.

Former Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach of St. Cloud filed a lawsuit last year to try to stop construction of the building on the grounds that the Legislature improperly included it in a tax bill instead of a construction bill. In February, a Ramsey County judge dismissed the suit.

Previously: Legal fight over Senate building takes new turn

When Knoblach appealed, a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in May that he would have to post an $11 million bond for the suit to proceed. After the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed this month, Knoblach dropped the appeal.

But that hasn't stopped Republicans from hammering away at Democrats for their support of the contentious $90 million project. It's a key part of the GOP message on the campaign trail.

Republican candidates argue that the new building is unnecessary and wasteful. DFL leaders view it as a reasonable solution to a serious space shortage caused by the renovation of the State Capitol.

Gov. Mark Dayton supports the project, even though he criticized an early design for the building as lavish and "un-Minnesotan." Dayton describes the building as integral to the Capitol restoration.

"If you don't have somewhere to put Senators during the final phase of the reconstruction of the Capitol, you don't have a functioning Legislature," Dayton said. "And if you don't have a place for them to go, you have very tight quarters and limited opportunities to use the Capitol as I believe it should be. It should be largely available to the public. It will be an issue like many other issues, and people will have to decide for themselves."

A recent KSTP poll found the public disapproval of the building at 68 percent. The four Republicans trying to unseat Dayton are making it a campaign issue, and so are their allies. The group Americans for Prosperity highlighted the issue in a new radio ad slamming Dayton.

"Let's not forget that he spent $90 million for a brand new office building for state Senators...and new offices for himself too," an announcer says in the ad. "So, Mark Dayton is building places for politicians while we struggle to make ends meet."

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GOP hammers DFL on Senate building