Are Chris Hansen’s methods too underhanded for Seattle?

Taken from Monday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

Chris Hansen was a hero in Seattle, but man he is a villain in Sacramento now.

“The Maloofs should send him a Christmas card because he’s now right up there in Sacramento with most hated in light of last Friday’s events,” says Sacramento radio host Carmichael Dave.

Hansen is the guy Seattle stood behind as he meticulously put together an arena plan to bring the NBA back to Seattle. Now, we find out that Hansen, after he congratulated Sacramento fans on prevailing in the battle for the Kings, surreptitiously funneled $100,000 to an anti-arena group in Sacramento to try to stop the necessary component of a new arena getting built for the Kings.

Dave, who was a huge backer of Sacramento’s efforts to keep the Kings, says his gut reaction was mainly surprise at how “dumb it was.”

“I thought he was smarter than this,” says Dave. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for his deal-making abilities.”

The whole thing comes off shady. How did this happen? How did a guy who was so meticulous, almost flawless in putting together an arena deal here in Seattle. How did he misstep so badly here?

Chris Hansen has released a statement. The opening is line: “I made a mistake I regret.”

I don’t think he regrets making the mistake. I think he regrets having gotten caught. But he did give the $100,000 to stop the arena from being built in Sacramento.

Dave, who fought hard on the other side, says he can understand going to great lengths in this battle.

“I was deeply involved in the grassroots efforts here in Sacramento during the entire process, and other than doing something illegal – and even then I’d probably consider a few misdemeanors – keeping these teams and the jobs in Sacramento, there was no class [involved],” says Dave. “Personally, it’s all about you’re trying to take what’s ours, and we want to keep it. And I really don’t care about the methods.”

In Hansen’s statement, he said, “everyone can appreciate how easy it is to get caught up in the heat of battle.”

But in Seattle, we’re not used to ruthless business people who play to win. Chris Hansen plays in a different league.

I think people up here are being really wimpy about it. Danny Westneat’s headline in The Seattle Times reads, “Hansen secrecy might cool council on arena.” He writes that this might turn the Seattle City Council against Hansen’s arena plan.

That doesn’t make any sense to me. Why wouldn’t the Seattle City Council want somebody who plays to win on their side?

Seattle is a tough place to get an arena plan pushed through because there is a lot of knee-jerk, anti-sports opposition here, and Hansen was brilliant in how he put it together. I guess that’s what surprises me the most, is just what a blunder it is.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of damage this revelation does in his continued efforts.

Taken from Monday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

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