Zygi Wilf Wants Welfare Queen Equality #vikings
It’s great to hear the Minnesota Vikings’ Zygi Wilf admit that it’s more important for him to receive welfare than it is for the citizens of the State of Minnesota to have a say in whether Zygi qualifies for welfare.
Well, I guess he didn’t exactly say that. Instead, he said that Ramsey County should cover his welfare checks in the same way that Hennepin County covers the Twins’ welfare checks:
Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said the same should occur for the Vikings’ stadium proposal. “We would like to be held on the same playing field as the Twins,” Wilf said to reporters after a very brief question-and-answer session with audience members at the St. Paul Rotary luncheon.
Asked if he thought a referendum would fail, Wilf said he couldn’t say.
And, Wilf wouldn’t say whether taxpayers would go along with his personal welfare proposal because he didn’t want to go on record as THAT much of a welfare queen. There are times when it’s better to keep your mouth shut.
But, Rochelle Olson did manage to get Ramsey County Commissioner, Tony Bennett, to go on the record with a referendum prediction in the very next paragraph of her article:
But Ramsey County Commissioner Tony Bennett told the 100-plus Rotarians at the luncheon that any referendum, including the sales tax for a stadium, would fail “in this climate.”
To me, it sounds like Commissioner Bennett is saying, “Sure, Zygi Wilf is a welfare queen, but he’s OUR welfare queen. Sure, he lives in New Jersey, but we should STILL force taxpayers to subsidize his private entertainment business. Sure, there are other locally owned businesses, actual general welfare issues like education, healthcare, and bridge maintenance that we could better invest our limited resources in, but Zygi really wants our money so we should give it to him.”
It makes me wonder who Tony Bennett is really representing in this attempt to redistribute wealth to outstate wealthy.
August 31st, 2011 at 10:43 am
LOL. if Ziggy wants to be held on the same playing field as the Twins, they all should have just stayed at the Dome, where they were literally on the same playing field.
Could have saved everyone a few million bucks.
September 3rd, 2011 at 11:56 pm
I’m in favor of the Vikings getting the same deal as the Twins: win 2 championships, and then wait 15 years for a new stadium.
November 15th, 2011 at 9:33 am
Over 100 shopping malls, 30,000 rental units. He has done a great job of building a family empire. I wonder how much of that was built with taxpayer money? A team that generates $200 million in revenue and he can’t make it in the dome? Please send them to L.A. I can’t stand the thought of another 51 disappointing years watching the Minnesota Vikings get close but NO CIGAR. That is no super bowl championships.
November 15th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
It’s tough to endure, but you’d miss them if they were gone. They’re the Minnesota Vikings. I don’t even follow them that close. Could barely get through the first half last night. But I always promise myself to jump back on the bandwagon one season. Pick it up again some time. Haven’t been to a game in about 20 years, but I grew up with them — watched them with my Old Man. Huddled in crowded dorm rooms with my college buddies. Listened to them out ice fishing. Followed them when I lived in Atlanta and Miami. It’s hard to imagine a Minnesota without them. Think of those people who are loyal fans. What a kick in stomach that would be if they left….
November 15th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
@Rat, based on how you describe your affiliation with the team, it sounds like we’re not far apart, other than it looks like I attend more games than you. I’m sure a lot of Minnesotans fall into the same category as both of us. The issue comes down to whether you’re willing to put your own money into keeping a tradition that you value alive. If you value it, what are you willing to kick in? If you only value the team enough to justify building a 21,000 car parking lot based on extracting revenue from gamblers, it sounds like you could live without the team.
November 16th, 2011 at 9:06 am
In my bottomless capacity for empathy, Ed I’m not thinking about myself. I thought maybe you would have surmised that from my statement.