The effort to keep the Seattle SuperSonics in the Puget Sound area is on life support, according to state Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Renton), chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means committee.

“They are about as close to (being gone) as I have experienced,” Prentice said. “It’s a shame. A lot of people are going to be disappointed. It’s a disgrace to lose a team for no good reason.”

And Prentice doesn’t mince words when asked who’s to blame for the NBA franchise’s imminent departure from the Emerald City – pointing a finger at the City of Seattle.

“Seattle has painted itself in a corner because it’s impossible now,” Prentice said. “They are desperate, trying to figure out a way to make it work, and it doesn’t work.

“Too may people have engaged in wishful thinking, hoping that the fairy godmother is going to arrive, and there’s no such person out there.”

The comments were the Renton senator’s harshest since Sonics chairman Clay Bennett and his Oklahoma City-based ownership group purchased the team in July 2006. Prentice said Seattle city officials, along with the powers-that-be in Olympia, worked to kill an effort proposed by Bennett’s group during last year’s legislative session to build a new arena for the Sonics within her district in Renton.

“I know for a fact that he wanted to stay,” Prentice said about Bennett. “He spent a lot of time and money trying to make it work here. And the real tragedy is we had the votes in both houses.”

Looking ahead to the 60-day 2008 session of the Legislature that begins Jan. 14, Prentice said chances are slim for a new arena proposal to develop. Prentice appears to have an ally in the house in state Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle), who backed the proposal for an arena in Renton.

“It’s a dead duck as far as I know,” Pettigrew said. “I haven’t heard any whispers or anything. But as a business supporter and someone who has always been a fan of the Sonics and Storm I would be supportive if someone is willing to step up and come up with a creative way to make it work.”

Seattle deputy mayor Tim Ceis has said the city will introduce a revamped KeyArena proposal in the near future. It will include a price tag considerably less than the $500 million Bennett’s ownership group has asked for in a new arena. But Ceis has not given a specific date when that proposal will be released. Ceis didn’t return phone calls to The News Tribune on Monday.

“(Bennett) has made it very clear – KeyArena will not work,” Prentice said. “I spoke to him today. I had called just to see if there was any room for him and the city to talk, and he won’t discuss anything that includes KeyArena.”

When asked if the Sonics would support a new arena proposal in the Legislature, Dan Mahoney, a spokesman for Bennett, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, the NBA has created a relocation committee to review the Sonics ownership group’s application to move to Oklahoma City. Bennett’s group filed for relocation on Nov. 2. According to NBA by-laws, the committee has 120 days to make a recommendation to the full board of governors. NBA spokesperson Tim Frank said the issue is scheduled for discussion April 17-18 during semiannual meetings in New York.

The process is in its early stages, Frank said, adding that the relocation committee has not scheduled a time and place for its first meeting.

“Obviously they will review the proposal and do their due diligence on the other aspects of the proposal, and then make a recommendation to the board,” Frank said.

The seven-member committee is headed by Micky Arison, managing general partner of the Miami Heat. Arison also serves as chairman of the board of governors. Other members include Jerry Buss (Los Angeles Lakers), Chris Cohan (Golden State Warriors), Lewis Katz (New Jersey Nets), Herb Simon (Indiana Pacers), Ed Snider (Philadelphia 76ers) and Peter Holt (San Antonio Spurs).
Seattle’s pending lawsuit against the Sonics could affect the relocation process.

Last month, attorneys for the Sonics ownership group requested a scheduling conference to speed up a possible federal court trail. However, the team’s request was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez.

The city and the Sonics are going through discovery, exchanging documents and making pre-trial motions before Martinez sets a trial date.

The only other arena proposal to be presented publicly, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s market feasibility study on a site the tribe owns next to Emerald Downs in Auburn, received a tepid response from both the Sonics ownership group and the state, with neither formally replying, spokesperson Rollin Fatland said.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has said she will continue to work to keep the Sonics in Seattle. But even if the city gets the result it wants and the Sonics have to honor their lease through 2010, Prentice said the decision only prolongs the inevitable.

“They will absorb that,” Prentice said about Bennett’s group keeping the Sonics in Seattle another two years. “And I think he (Bennett) will be regarded as a hero back home.

“I don’t know if Clay Bennett even wants to continue talking, but I certainly will because there are supporters and fans of the Sonics out there.”