By Forrest Adams

Language that came about late in this year’s legislative session has Chanhassen’s largest tourist attraction at odds with both Carver County state legislators.

The language was inserted on Saturday into the 250-page tax bill that legislators were negotiating with Gov. Tim Pawlenty. It involved subsidies for the planned 5.6-million-square-foot Mall of America expansion and would have prevented “an auditorium, theater, or similar live entertainment” from being located in the expansion, unless it had the specific characteristics of the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.The tax bill was drafted on Saturday at 1:23 p.m. Rep. Joe Hoppe, a Republican from Chaska, said he first learned about the amendment referring to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres from his party leaders around 2 p.m. on Saturday.

“I don’t know specifically who drafted it,” he said on Wednesday morning. “I don’t really know how it got there … The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres is the only theater

in the state that fits these characteristics. That was understood by everyone in the negotiations. Essentially what would have happened is that they would have used a public subsidy to move from Chanhassen to a new facility in Bloomington.”

He and Rep. Paul Kohls, a Victoria Republican, worked to eliminate the exception that would have allowed the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres to receive public funding if it moved to the Mall of America. The revised language prevents any theater from Minneapolis or any other city from using public money to move into the expanded mall.

On Saturday, when Tommy Scallen of Chanhassen Dinner Theatres heard about the Carver County legislators’ move, he was outraged and had a contentious phone conversation with Hoppe. In a news release issued Tuesday, he denounced the Republican as a radical with “no idea as to what is in the best interest” of the theater or its employees.

Chanhassen City Manager Todd Gerhardt on Wednesday said he’s surprised at the dinner theater’s anger. He, like Hoppe, said he recognizes the theater’s right to leave Chanhassen for another city, although city leaders would be sad to see the company go, but his main objection would be to see it happen using public funding.

“I’ve always told Rep. Hoppe that the city of Chanhassen opposes any type of public subsidy to cause the dinner theaters to leave for the Mall of America,” Gerhardt said. “Rep. Hoppe was looking out for the city’s best interests. For that to be a surprise to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres surprises me.”

Gerhardt pointed out it was legislators from Minneapolis who introduced language into the bill stating that no theaters could relocate to the Mall of America, with the exception of a venue with the characteristics of Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

“All Rep. Hoppe did was take out the exception,” Gerhardt said. “It’s the theaters in downtown Minneapolis that can’t go, too. When you go through and ask for special legislation, everybody is trying to protect their turf … For our state to provide incentives to the Mall of America to entice a tenant to move there from another city — that’s unfair.”

Scallen in the news release stated: “This is not about public subsidy; this is about a legislator stomping on the property rights of a privately held company in a late-night, backroom deal … We are no different from any other non-subsidized retail business that may or may not choose to do business at Mall of America or anywhere else.”

He added on Wednesday morning: “This is Chanhassen going through the back door… It’s a sleazy, crummy way of doing business.”

 Forrest Adams can be reached  at fadams@swpub.com.