Former Gov. Arne Carlson Takes Issue With Private Stadium Meetings

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A former Minnesota Governor is taking issue with the closed-door talks that produced the final Vikings stadium package.

Arne Carlson, a Republican who served two terms as Governor, said the private meetings on Wednesday in which a final bill was worked out run counter to Minnesota's standards of good government, even if the open meeting law was never violated.

"Much more importantly, the public has a perfect right to know how public policy and expenditures are being made," said Carlson. "And the more you vet a bill, the better the ultimate product is."

Carlson also said, "This secrecy I think will come back to haunt them."

NewsRadio 830 WCCO's Steve Murphy Reports

Lawmakers involved in the closed-door negotiations said they took steps to make sure they never had enough people in the room to require a public meeting.

And they say they simply ran out of time to go through the normal process.