CARDINAL PRESIDENT SAYS NEW STADIUM WOULD PRESERVE ASSET

Attendees at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee two days ago heard a program on the proposed new stadium and Ballpark Village project for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Speaking to a large crowd was Mark Lamping, president of St. Louis National Baseball Club Inc. Lamping wowed the skeptical crowd with the presentation he made on behalf of Cardinals' ownership. This isn't just a stadium. It is a red-brick ballpark featuring Roman arches plus a neighborhood revitalization project totaling nearly $800 million. It would give Cardinals' fans and Missouri a baseball experience quite similar to that of baseball's priceless shrine -- Chicago's Wrigley Field -- only much better.

Contrary to the Redbirds' initial proposal, which called for only about 46,000 seats, the more recent version proposes over 49,000 seats, with more inexpensive seats than the current ballpark. Moreover, whereas now two-thirds of the inexpensive seats are in the upper deck, the new ballpark will reverse that ratio.

More seats. More affordable. Much closer to the field.

Cardinals' ownership is listening to the pleas of those of us who have made the case for more seats nearer the field for the average fan and his or her family.

We Cardinal fans pay the highest ticket taxes in major league baseball, somewhere north of 12 percent. The ownership is asking the state to dedicate its portion of the taxes -- approximately $4.5 million annually -- to the debt service for the new park. The adjacent $380 million Ballpark Village would be entirely financed privately. Schools would be made whole against any loss.

Lamping not only wasn't afraid to take questions and answers, he invited the large audience to ask him "the tough ones." These he dealt with straightforwardly.

If you weren't there, make it a point to talk with someone who was and who heard this most impressive case for why we must do something to keep one of Missouri's most priceless assets competitive into the 21st century.

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Nixing frivolous lawsuits: The Missouri Senate spent nearly all of two days debating my bill to ban frivolous lawsuits (Senate Bill 123) filed by cities such as St. Louis against gun manufacturers. Over two long days during which opponents offered something like 18 amendments, the most votes they won on any roll call was eight out of 34 members. The bill won first-round approval and will go to the House after final passage next week. There it is assured of even more lopsided support. Looks like this one may get to the governor's desk.

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Tobacco-lawyer fee update: My bill seeking to pull the plug on the biggest rip-off in 180 years of statehood is out of committee with a unanimous vote -- including those of three Democrats and on the Senate calendar for debate. The only opposing hearing witness gave misleading testimony he is now backing away from amid calls that he apologize to the committee. That would be assistant attorney general Chuck Hatfield, there to mislead senators on behalf of his boss, Attorney General Jay Nixon.

The race is now on till the May 18 adjournment date to see whether we can stop payment of up to $480 million in fees to Nixon's hand-picked special counsel and recover a portion to fix roads, schools and for health care needs.

~Peter Kinder is assistant to the chairman of Rust Communications and president pro tem of the Missouri Senate.