Brian Petrovek is the chief operating officer and managing owner of the Portland Pirates hockey team. I would like to share this open letter to him:

Hi Mr. Petrovek.

You and I don’t hang out or even meet casually, so I figured this would be a good way to share some thoughts and ask you some questions that are really eating at me. By the way, I understand your nickname is “Petro,” a spiffy moniker that I’m told you like.

I was really impressed with how hard you worked back in 2011 to convince the people of Cumberland County to vote for a $33 million bond to renovate the Cumberland County Civic Center. Your business even gave money to the political action committee, “Citizens for a Modern Civic Center,” to help get the bond passed. You were a tenacious campaigner, but then again, you had a lot to gain if the bond was approved.

You made it clear at that time that if you were going to keep the Pirates in Portland, you definitely needed a better building to play in, or otherwise, you slyly hinted, you might take your team to another city – not the first time you’ve played the “threat to leave” card, by the way.

Specifically, you wanted luxury boxes (higher priced tickets) included in the renovation and you also wanted more advertising space and, of course, a larger share of the revenue.

You probably don’t know this or even care, but there are thousands of hockey fans that love the Pirates and the game itself. All they really want is to watch their Pirates play. I’ve been a season ticket holder (buy four seats every year) for many years and I go back to when the highly respected Tom Ebright owned the team – long before you came to town.

You know, Petro, Pirates’ fans are hardcore loyal. Oh, being loyal means to be faithful and trustworthy, you know, having someone’s back.

So when you said that without the $33 million improvements to the civic center you might take your team elsewhere, we all heard you. If the bond passed, we thought you’d keep your word and our Pirates would stay right here in Portland for a long time. Then you said something that was music to our ears. We read that you said if the bond passed, you would sign a 10-year lease with the civic center.

Wow! Now all we had to do was vote to borrow the $33 million and, like you said, not only would you keep the team here, you’d sign a 10-year lease. The bond passed and you got just what you wanted. Time to celebrate. Let’s have a “Petro Bobblehead” night!

Now, fast-forward to Sept. 6, 2013, and we find that not only have you not signed a 10-year lease, but also you’ve filed a lawsuit suing the civic center. It seems you want more money, but you also are trying to prevent the civic center from booking other paying performances (needed to help pay for the new debt) on the game dates that you say you may not even use.

Question for you, Petro (you know, that name does have a spiffy sound): What about the people of Cumberland County who voted to go into significant debt to fix up the civic center, giving you what you asked for, luxury boxes and all?

I’m told you’re a “Harvard Man,” so you must know that borrowing $33 million is very expensive. In fact, by the time taxpayers pay off this debt, it will have cost more than $54 million, including interest.

Being from Massachusetts, you may not realize this, but in Maine, county government including the Cumberland County Civic Center, is primarily funded by local town and city property taxes. The property taxpayers are now in debt for 20 years.

Call me old-fashion, Petro, but it seems to me a “thank you” to the taxpayers would be more appropriate than a lawsuit. When you sue the civic center, you’re really suing every county taxpayer who will end up paying for lawyers and probably much more, especially if you can find a way to squeeze more money out of the civic center revenues.

And what about the fans, Petro, fans that have been there for you and your team in good times and bad? Did you just forget about those loyal, dedicated souls or are they just collateral damage?

Now you’re threatening (again) to move the team to Lewiston if you don’t get your way.

Another question, Petro. Don’t the taxpayers of Cumberland County deserve some loyalty from you? Oh sorry, loyalty means dependable and trustworthy, remember? You’ve got the taxpayers feeling like their Pirates’ fans and we know what that’s like.

By the time this column appears on the newsstands, the lawsuit and negotiations may be settled, or not, but the actions of some have become quite transparent.

It doesn’t look that spiffy.

Bill Diamond of Windham served as District 12’s senator from 2004-2012, and is also a former Maine secretary of state.