Lanning To Retire

Republican Rep. Morrie Lanning, the chief House sponsor of the Minnesota Vikings stadium legislation, announced Thursday he will not run for a new term in the Legislature.

 

 

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Republican Rep. Morrie Lanning, the chief House sponsor of the Minnesota Vikings stadium legislation, announced Thursday he will not run for a new term in the Legislature.

Lanning will retire after his fifth term ends rather than seek another two years in November's election. Lanning has been chairman of the House State Government Finance Committee.

It's the end of an era for Lanning.

"After careful and prayerful consideration, I have decided to announce that I will not be a candidate for re-election this fall," said Lanning. "In effect, I have been in a perpetual campaign mode for 14 elections over nearly 39 years. That's simply long enough and it is time to pass the torch to someone else."

The former college administrator supported the bill that provides a public subsidy for a new $975 million Vikings stadium in Minneapolis.

Lanning revealed that up to the last day, he thought the deal had the potential of falling apart.

"In fact, I can tell you about that very last night meeting with representatives of the Vikings and the governor, where I had to deliver the news to the Vikings that you either come up with $50 million more or we're not going to have a deal. They didn't like it, they didn't want to, but we saved the state and the city of Minneapolis $50 million of additional costs that would have been incurred."

House Speaker Kurt Zellers said Lanning is a "true statesman."

Lanning's seat is seen as competitive in the race for control of the state House.

(KFGO file photo)

 

Jim Monk

   

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