Soccer Stadium in Minneapolis (cancelled)

[LakeCharles]

That's true. Let's give them all the cities money so they can do something good with it.

[Wedgeguy]

If I remember there is a tax bonus for writing of loses on investments. Not sure why the Bill would not want to shield his tax liability when he could get a benefit from the tax write off for the soccer loss if there were to be one.

[Rich]

So the fact that he had to work all the way up to CEO before that happened means nothing?

So we should ignore his crimes because he climbed the corporate ladder before committing them?

Look, I’m not anti-billionaire. It’s just that McGuire doesn't seem particularly trustworthy.

[BigIdeasGuy]

I was talking with a buddy the other day about the new stadium and what it's going to take to get the thing built especially considering Mayor Hodges likely veto. We started counting votes on the MPLS City Council, as it takes 9 votes to override a veto, and according to our count we think there a plausible path forward for the stadium.

It's important to note that we NO insider info and even less knowledge about the internal politics of City Hall. The whip list is solely based off our memory of news articles and best hunches/guesses on which way people would be likely to vote. We assumed if a member voted no the Vikings stadium they would vote no on a MLS stadium as well but if they voted yes on the Vikings Stadium they wouldn't automatically vote for a MLS Stadium.

The info is formatted Ward, Member, Vote on MLS Stadium, Vote on Vikings Stadium if applicable.

1. Reich - Unknown - Yes on Vikings
2. Gordon - No - No on Vikings
3. Frey - Yes
4. Barb Johnson - Unknown - Yes on Vikings
5. Yang - Yes
6. Warsame - Yes
7. Goodman - No - No on Vikings
8. Glidden - No - No on Vikings
9. Cano - Yes
10. Bender - Yes
11. Quincy - Unknown - Yes on Vikings
12. Andrew Johnson - Yes
13. Palmisano - Unknown

By our count we had 6 Yea's and 3 Nay's with 4 unknown. 3 of the unknowns voted for the Vikings Stadium so I would guess they would be more inclined to support something. The only member we had no clue on was Palmisano.

If anyone has any more info or think we we're incorrect in any of our guess's feel free to chime in.

[mplsjaromir]

Pretty hypocritical of Bender to support this stadium, but to make a big stink about supporting an existing sports facility, The Target Center, San Francisco values I guess.

Besides I am pretty sure Andrew Johnson is not a yes.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2015 ... tional.php

[FISHMANPET]

I've actually chatted briefly with Bender about the stadium and she seemed cool on the idea.

[Nathan]

At a wedge action meeting she was super against it, but I tried to make a few arguments for it. I was the only one in the group of people who thought it was a good idea.

[Nick]

Bender and A. Johnson are both no on a subsidy.

[mplsjaromir]

Pretty hypocritical of Bender to support this stadium, but to make a big stink about supporting an existing sports facility, The Target Center, San Francisco values I guess.

Besides I am pretty sure Andrew Johnson is not a yes.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2015 ... tional.php

What I meant is that Johnson is a no. Looks like there are five on the council in line with the mayor at this point.

[Snelbian]

So the fact that he had to work all the way up to CEO before that happened means nothing? Or how about the community banker who saved Twin Cities Rapid Transit from a convicted fraudster? Or the hotel empire builder that began with a $55 loan and a stamp trading business? Please, spare us the "rich people are evil" line, it's not productive at all and only serves to make the left look like a bunch of jealous whiners. If being a Billionaire was as easy as schmoozing and kissing babies people like Jacob Frey sure as hell wouldn't be a lowly city council member.

LOLWUT

Defrauding investors and getting fined by the SEC is a thing that happened. It's fact. Politics doesn't enter into it, or didn't until...whatever that was you were trying to express.

[Didier]

I think the point that acs is trying to make is that, for all of McGuire's legitimate baggage at UnitedHealth, his money has also been attached to some noteworthy philanthropic causes, including some that undoubtedly make our city better, notably Gold Medal Park, the Guthrie and the Walker.

Pretty much by definition, his legacy is "complicated."

[go4guy]

The thing about the whole options backdating, is that it was common practice in companies across the country. Many times it was used as a way to reward a CEO or management for increasing the companies stock and performance. McGuire's was approved by the entire board as a way of rewarding him for performance. So it isnt like he was the only one in the country who benefited from options backdating, and it isn't like he did it all on his own. Steve Jobs and Micheal Dell are a few other high profile executives who benefited from options backdating. And McGuire was forced to pay back his benefited amount, also paid a large fine, and was terminated (with a huge buyout). He paid for his mistake, and has still been a huge donor in this area. In my personal opinion, he paid the price for what he did and probably lost billions of dollars of future earnings because of it. I will not hold that issue against him in this stadium building proposal. He has shown to be a far better part of the community than the Wilfs.

[Snelbian]

If Wario is the bar by which the Twin Cities measures such things, we have a problem.

[mplsjaromir]

Options backdating was a common practice. Backdating options on specific dates to grossly increase your material interest is extremely uncommon and illegal.

vis the SEC

The Commission's complaint alleges that from at least 1994 through 2005, McGuire looked back over a window of time and picked grant dates for UnitedHealth options that coincided with dates of historically low quarterly closing prices for the company's common stock, resulting in grants of in-the-money options. According to the complaint, McGuire signed and approved backdated documents falsely indicating that the options had actually been granted on these earlier dates when UnitedHealth's stock price was at or near these low points. These inaccurate documents caused the company to understate compensation expenses for stock options, and were routinely provided to the company's external auditors in connection with their audits and reviews of UnitedHealth's financial statements.

According to the SEC's complaint, UnitedHealth filed with the Commission quarterly and annual reports, proxy statements, and registration statements that McGuire knew, or was reckless in not knowing, contained materially false and misleading statements concerning the true grant dates and proper exercise prices of stock options. Because of McGuire's misconduct, investors were misled to believe that stock options were granted with strike prices not less than the fair market value of UnitedHealth's stock on the date of grant and in accordance with the terms of the company's stock option plans. In March 2007, UnitedHealth restated its financial statements for each year from 1994 through 2005, and disclosed material cumulative pre-tax errors in stock-based compensation accounting that totaled $1.526 billion for that period.

In essence, he pleaded no contest to accusation that he committed securities fraud for a decade. But hey, whom among us hasn't defrauded investors hundreds of millions of dollars.

[HuskyGrad]

The thing about the whole options backdating, is that it was common practice in companies across the country. Many times it was used as a way to reward a CEO or management for increasing the companies stock and performance. McGuire's was approved by the entire board as a way of rewarding him for performance. So it isnt like he was the only one in the country who benefited from options backdating, and it isn't like he did it all on his own. Steve Jobs and Micheal Dell are a few other high profile executives who benefited from options backdating. And McGuire was forced to pay back his benefited amount, also paid a large fine, and was terminated (with a huge buyout). He paid for his mistake, and has still been a huge donor in this area. In my personal opinion, he paid the price for what he did and probably lost billions of dollars of future earnings because of it. I will not hold that issue against him in this stadium building proposal. He has shown to be a far better part of the community than the Wilfs.

Exactly, this was a grey area that the IRS allowed for quite sometime before deciding to enforce its power upon options backdating.

[amiller92]

LOLWUT

Defrauding investors and getting fined by the SEC is a thing that happened. It's fact. Politics doesn't enter into it, or didn't until...whatever that was you were trying to express.

The defrauding investors part is tricky with backdating because the unrecorded non-cash expense is a bit hard to look at as material (i.e., would anyone have cared if these companies showed a little higher payroll expense or even a lot higher exec pay?).

Add to that the "everyone was doing it and everyone knew it" that seems to actually be true at least for silicon valley and it seems not good but not an outrage.

[amiller92]

Options backdating was a common practice. Backdating options on specific dates to grossly increase your material interest is extremely uncommon and illegal.

There was no other reason to backdate an option and when people say it was common (which it was) they mean doing so in order to create in-the-money options without recognizing compensation expense.

[amiller92]

Exactly, this was a grey area that the IRS allowed for quite sometime before deciding to enforce its power upon options backdating.

To my recollection, it was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California that decided to crack down on backdating, which dragged the SEC and some other U.S. Attorney's offices into it.

That said, it wasn't much of a gray area. The accounting rules were clear. You had to recognize compensation expense if you granted an in-the-money option (one with a strike price below the market price). Some people convinced themselves that they were doing so by making a retroactive grant, actually effective as of that date in the past, but the waive of investigations and settlements that eventually came suggest that someone should have recognized that as a pretty thin pretext.

[BigIdeasGuy]

Pretty hypocritical of Bender to support this stadium, but to make a big stink about supporting an existing sports facility, The Target Center, San Francisco values I guess.

Besides I am pretty sure Andrew Johnson is not a yes.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2015 ... tional.php

What I meant is that Johnson is a no. Looks like there are five on the council in line with the mayor at this point.

Well that means to there is no MLS in Minneapolis, unless Hennepin County gets involved. I don't think there is any simpler way to put it.

[Nick]

as someone who likes the "scarves" part of soccer i'd volunteer to check the couch cushions at bill's and bill's and glen's houses and see if we can just resolve this and move on