The St. Louis BallPork Plan, Bad for Cass County, Bad for Missouri

By Mike Ferguson

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The plan includes:

• $210 million for the new Cardinals’ stadium
• $294 million for improvements to the Royals’ and Chiefs’ stadiums in Kansas City
• $32 million for a convention center in Branson and
• $18 million for a new exposition center in Springfield

Despite the other three cities involved in the plan, it is really about the St. Louis Cardinals’ attempt to dig into the wallets of Missourians and the help they are getting from legislators in Jefferson City. I’ll explain that later in this article.

Economically, this boondoggle is a recipe for disaster for Missouri. Our nation is in recession. Our state’s budgeting woes have become so bad the Governor Holden, who supports the stadium plan, is asking the legislature to dip into the “Rainy Day Fund” in order to pay the state’s bills.

Some supporters of the plan claim the money would be a good investment for the state because of the revenue it would generate in taxes. Other supporters go as far as saying the handout is necessary to keep the Cardinals in St. Louis. Both claims are simply without merit.

Missouri has a very recent sports-related corporate welfare deal to look at when the “good investment” argument is made: the $12 million per year the taxpayers throughout the state are currently providing to pay off the Edward Jones Dome (formerly the Trans World Dome) located in, ironically, St. Louis. Despite luring the Rams to St. Louis from Los Angeles and despite the team’s tremendous winning record (with two Super Bowl appearances), the actual revenue from the dome is significantly less than what stadium backers promised in their 1989-1990 projections.

All investments involve risk. Taxpayers throughout the state are still taking the loss. All the talk about the investment value of the stadium plan leads to one simple question: if the new stadium and related developments are such a great investment, why are private investors not lined up to invest (and risk) their own money on them?

Another effort to drum up support for the corporate welfare plan takes the approach that claims the Cardinals might move into St. Louis County, East St. Louis or even to another city if they do not get the desired handout. This scare tactic is ridiculous.

History provides us with a fascinating fact: “big league” sports teams that actually own their own stadiums hardly ever move to another city. Since 1961, only one Major League Baseball teams has moved away from a privately owned stadium. By comparison, many Major League baseball teams have moved from publicly owned stadiums.

Teams that actually own their own stadiums have a vested financial interest in staying put and in keeping the surrounding area near their stadium vibrant. Giving the Cardinals a publicly- owned stadium actually increases the likelihood that the team will someday leave St. Louis.

The entire debate over the stadium deal proves what Libertarians have been saying for years about our state government: our financial problems are the result of a spending crisis, not a revenue crisis. The priorities of the Governor and of those in the legislature that support this plan are horribly out of order. Missouri has some of the worst and most dangerous highways in the nation; highways that we do not have enough funding to repair – even with federal funding. Missouri’s taxpayers simply deserve better.

The backward priorities in this debate are also evident in the politics that surround it. When supporters saw they were short of the votes needed in the legislature they added the projects in Kansas City, Branson and Springfield. All four projects became parts of the Cardinals’ deal.

In simple terms, the plan’s backers are bribing legislators from around the state with “pork” that taxpayers will have to pay for if the plan is approved.

Not only is the Cardinals’ stadium welfare plan economically wrong, it is morally wrong as well.

This is corporate welfare at its worst and most arrogant. This is a slap in the face of Missouri's’ taxpayers, including us in Cass County, who will be forced to pay for the stadium if this plan finds fruition.

The owners of the St. Louis Cardinals are billionaires who live in Ohio. What moral justification is there for a plan that requires taxpayers – wealthy, middle income and even poor – to pay for the business enterprise of someone else? Remember, taxes are taken from people whether they like it or not. To take money away from, say a low income family of four in Harrisonville or Belton only to give it to an out-of-state billionaire is indefensible.

But that is precisely what many of our legislators, both Republican and Democrat, are fighting to do right now.

All private business should stand on its own with resources either earned or obtained voluntarily (like investors’ money). Consumers and the free market should decide who wins and loses.

The fact that this bill is still alive, not to mention progressing also shows us the shortcomings of the two major political parties.

Governor Holden and the Democratic Party are once again proving how fiscally irresponsible they are by backing a $550 million dollar ( Ed. Note: Again, now $644 million.) corporate welfare plan in the face of a current state budget that is indicating a $200 million shortfall.

The Republican Party’s silence on this issue shows that it is not the party of smaller government at all, as it sometimes likes to claim in election years. A party of smaller government would oppose forcing taxpayers to finance any corporate welfare, especially one on a grand scale like the Cardinals’ stadium plan.

Instead, many Republicans are actually working in favor of it.

Among the Republican leaders who are fighting for this terrible plan are: U.S. Senator “Kit” Bond, who has already personally lobbied at least seven state legislators on behalf of the plan and state House Minority Leader Catherine Hanaway, who is among the top and most active supporters of the deal.

In Cass County, and in Missouri, the Libertarian Party is the only established political party that is standing up on behalf of what is right and on behalf of Missouri’s taxpayers. The Libertarian Party, both the Cass County affiliate and the state party, has been actively fighting this rip-off since last year. Only the Libertarian Party is fighting this attempt to force us all to provide a ballpark for billionaire business owners and millionaire players.

The Libertarian Party is standing with Cass County’s and Missouri’s taxpayers; where are the Cass County and Missouri Republican and Democrat parties?

Mike Ferguson is the Vice Chair of the Cass County Libertarian Party. He is also an independent financial advisor who lives in Belton, MO. Mike can be reached at michaelaferguson@yahoo.com.