Paging Dr. Grubman

After the Mayo Clinic's majordomo mentioned that there were 49 other states that might want to have the Mayo Clinic, the matter of the money for Rochester came before the lege yesterday. Let's just say it didn't go well:

The “49 states” line was a sore point for committee members, who were seething over a comment Mayo President and CEO Dr. John Noseworthy made to the Star Tribune Tuesday while speaking in Washington. If the Legislature didn’t pass the bill, Noseworthy warned, “49 states” are eager to help the Mayo Clinic relocate.

“It was a dumb thing to say. It was dumb, dumb, dumb,” said state Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, adding that Noseworthy’s remark made him less inclined to vote for the bill. “Your CEO [was] going to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and wagging a finger at the Minnesota Legislature. That’s what it looked like to me … I was thoroughly disgusted.”

Yep -- finger-wagging is the legislature's job. The Mayo needs to get its mind right. Alternatively, they could use a better threatmaker. About this time last year we were getting the alarums from the button man for the National Football League, Eric Grubman, concerning the Vikings stadium. Good times, good times:

"In the 20 years that I've watched teams change hands, a lot of things get talked about. But until things are really ripe, nothing happens. This is getting ripe," NFL executive vice president of business operations Eric Grubman told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "You have a very dejected ownership. They've run out of options. They feel like they've done everything they've been asked to do and they can't get a vote. No one will answer the question, 'What is it going to take?'"

"The Vikings have said, 'Give us A, B and C, what would you like us to do?' They've been told A, B and C, and they've done that. And they still can't get through. So what makes anyone think it's going to be any better or different next year or the year after?"

Now see, that's how you make a threat.