What's in a name? Ask your legislator

Minnesota lawmakers are vexed with name-calling this year.

It's not so much with each other but with what to label landmarks — from a lake in Minneapolis to some parks to bridges.

That was on display a few times just this week.

The House voted to honor former Democratic Vice President Walter F. Mondale, now 91, by putting his name on several state park features along the St. Croix River.

In an interview Thursday, Mondale said he is "flattered" by the gesture.

"It would connect me with that great river, but I'm just going to wait and see," Mondale said. "I haven't asked for anything, and my life doesn't depend on it."

Neither Mondale nor the public will know how it turns out for a few weeks. Even since Monday's vote, there's been a development.

Former state Rep. Dan McElroy showed up at the Capitol on a personal mission. A building in Wild River State Park that would be named for Mondale now carries the name of his family, a tribute to his father's work to establish the park.

Dave McElroy was a Northern States Power Co. chairman and chief executive, who headed up the task force that led to the park. A couple of years after his 1976 death, then-Gov. Rudy Perpich was among those who came out for the dedication of the visitor center in McElroy's honor.

"Two or three times a year, I like to take his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There's a sign there, McElroy Visitor Center, and they love having their picture taken with their grandpa's sign," Dan McElroy said.

McElroy, a Republican, considers himself a Mondale fan and said he supports the tribute to Mondale given his legacy of conservation efforts. But he had a plea for lawmakers: "not to dishonor one pioneer to honor another."

House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, said it was an oversight. He said he would work to preserve the McElroy recognition while honoring Mondale in the other areas.

Lawmakers have had their hands full with naming concerns this session.

After a court of appeals ruling this week, Minnesota House Democrats moved immediately to preserve Bde Maka Ska on a popular Minneapolis lake that until recently was called Calhoun. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka isn't inclined to go along.

"I think the solution going forward is something about sharing some of the things we have in our culture," said Gazelka, R-Nisswa.

But that sense of sharing is at the root of another naming controversy at Fort Snelling. Senate Republicans have voted to slash a budget for the Minnesota Historical Society after it added a Dakota word to signs at the centuries old military outpost.

Winkler considered it to be petty.

"There are two words on a sign that offend them so much that they have to strip money out of the Historical Society," Winkler said. "That they have time for, it's absurd."

There have been about 20 bills introduced this year to rechristen Minnesota roads, bridges or parks. A transportation bill that is part of final negotiations has eight stretches of highway or bridges that would be named after soldiers or law enforcement killed in action or notable politicians and business leaders.

Also this week, Sen. Mike Goggin successfully changed part of a transportation bill that would have removed former President Dwight Eisenhower's name from a bridge from connecting Red Wing, Minn., to Wisconsin. The new name would have been Bridge of Valor.

The plan now: the Eisenhower Memorial Bridge of Valor.

"President Eisenhower was a great patriot and a great soldier in World War II. We just wanted to be sure we kept his name in there," said Goggin, R-Red Wing. "We also wanted to recognize all of our veterans, all of our military and all of our police officers and first responders."

Goggin shrugged off the session's naming frenzy.

"This year we have a lot of people we are trying to recognize," he said.

As for the tributes to Mondale, there would be a visitor center, a scenic overlook and trail, a canoe route and a day-use area that would carry his name.

Mondale said the St. Croix River area is a cherished place for him and his late wife, Joan.

"I had my first date with her on the St. Croix in a canoe," Mondale said. "And it worked. We got married."

He said it's now too lonesome to go out there.

"But my heart is still there," he said.

Usually Minnesota lawmakers wait until a person dies to attach their name to something — there's even a law on the books dictating that standard.

"The Republicans usually say if I will take care of my side and disappear from this earth, they'll name stuff for me," Mondale said, a bit later adding, "that's sort of a joke."

"I must be getting to the age where people are thinking about that."