New challenges toss stadium a curve Suit on plan's legality, supervisors' changes could stall project Metro Edition

Meanwhile, a lawyer for opponents of the new stadium tax said the legislation violated more than a dozen federal and state constitutional provisions, most dealing with public financing of private projects. "Indeed, there are so many constitutional provisions that are violated that it's har...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMilwaukee journal sentinel
Main Author DAVE DALEY and GRETCHEN SCHULDT, Amy Rinard of the Journal Sentinel Madison bureau contributed to this report
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Milwaukee, Wis Journal Sentinel Inc 31.10.1995
Subjects
Bartley, Douglas
Klauser, James
Selig, Bud
Thompson, Tommy G
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Summary:Meanwhile, a lawyer for opponents of the new stadium tax said the legislation violated more than a dozen federal and state constitutional provisions, most dealing with public financing of private projects. "Indeed, there are so many constitutional provisions that are violated that it's hard to find any that aren't," said Douglas Bartley, a Milwaukee lawyer representing ALERT (Against Legislation Enacting Regressive Taxation), one of the citizens groups filing the suit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. "The key legal issue is there are no provisions in the Constitution to allow the state to finance a private business," Bartley added. An aide to Gov. Tommy Thompson, a key figure in pushing for state help for the Brewers, said the lawsuit came as no surprise to the governor, one of the named defendants, along with other top state and county officials and the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. Thompson's chief of staff, John Matthews, said some of the same constitutional questions were raised when the Legislature earlier this month debated plans for a new, $250 million stadium. The suit has been assigned to Circuit Judge John DiMotto. Both [James Klauser] and Bartley expressed hope the suit would get a quick hearing.
ISSN:1082-8850