Moolah Mystery

Although Joe Soucheray and I are far from sharing a page when it comes to political ideology, I can't help but take interest in his most recent columns in the Pioneer Press. They are, after all, laid out in front of me whenever I take a seat at UDS.

As of late, Joe has been discussing the enigma of the 35W bridge rebuilding project and how and why our legislators have decided on accepting a more expensive bid from Flatiron Constructors (out of Colorado) over a less-expensive bid from local builders. He doesn't understand why, and neither do I.

In his September 22 column, he summed it thus: ''I don't get it. The companies that lost out in the bidding don't get it, either. The companies that lost out, McCrossan and Ames-Lunda, filed a protest, like they want to see the instant replay. I don't blame them.

''OK. Flatiron needs 437 days and $234 million. McCrossan, based in Maple Grove, as in Minnesota, bid $177 million and needs 367 days. Ames-Lunda, Ames in Burnsville and Lunda in Black River Falls, Wis., bid $178 million and needs 392 days. I don't know whether Walsh-American, $219 million and 437 days, filed a protest, or might.''

With the help of Jeremy Kalin, a DFL representative out of Chisago County, Soucheray has solved part of the Flatiron riddle. He revealed new facts and figures, all in the tens of millions of dollars, in his column this Tuesday (October 2). Still, there remains a sum neither he nor I can place. It is a mystery $17 million dedicated to ''other state and local government costs''.

What are these costs spoken of? No one knows. Hence, mystery moolah.

Although I think I'm a little more liberal with my tax dollars than Mr. Garage Logic, I can't help but be a bit repulsed by the amount of money—specifically, the amount of mystery money—being tossed to an out-of-state construction company. Perhaps it is my year-old Poor College Student title that causes this repulsion. Perhaps it is my inclination toward, I don't know, having a paycheck for my labor that causes it.

Either way, if no one's going to explain where that $17 million is going (or why it's going to a Colorado company, for that matter), I can't help but agree with Soucheray—we might as well gold-plate the bridge while we're at it. What's a few months late on utility costs, anyway?