PORTLAND, Ore. -- Some Oregon politicians are hoping the Montreal Expos will relocate to Portland, but others say the state can't afford it while it's still tussling with a big budget deficit.

"They're looking for corporate welfare from the state of Oregon,'' said state Sen. Lenn Hannon, R-Ashland. "They can seek their welfare from somewhere else.''

Officials in Portland and the Washington, D.C., area were contacted last week as Major League Baseball considers relocating the Expos. The team is the collective property of league owners, who want to sell it and move to another city by the 2004 season.

Portland Mayor Vera Katz said she would get "directly involved'' with any effort to bring the team to the city and would revive a stadium financing bill.

Katz said she would work with the Oregon Sports Authority after the holidays to bring the Expos to Portland and persuade the Legislature to approve the financing -- all by Major League Baseball's "soft'' deadline of late February.

But she emphasized the cost would be a key factor.

"I've said loud and clear we will not sacrifice city services,'' Katz said.

State Sen. Ryan Deckert, D-Beaverton, who spearheaded an effort to bring a team to Oregon in 2001, said he would lead a similar fight when the 2003 Legislature opens Jan. 13.

Deckert said he has met with baseball backers the last few days and the proposal would be the same as the one that fell short in 2001 -- a revenue bond backed by income taxes to be paid by future major leaguers in Portland.

Any use of other taxpayer money is "not in the cards,'' Deckert added.

Deckert argued the proposal would result in a net gain for the state budget because the jobs created by the stadium construction project would boost income tax revenue in a state that depends heavily on personal and corporate income taxes.

Drew Mahalic, CEO of the Oregon Sports Authority, said the strategy for the local government stadium share is the same as at the state level: floating bonds to pay for upfront costs, then using taxes and fees generated by the stadium and the team to pay the long-term debt.

But Mahalic said the estimated $350 million ballpark proposal by Portland Baseball Group President Steve Kanter was premature. "That's definitely putting the cart before the horse,'' Mahalic said.

The recruiting effort would stand a better chance if it was backed by a wealthy investor, supporters say, but attempts to attract a big corporate name have failed in the past.

Nike Chairman Phil Knight is one of the first names brought up when discussing potential owners of the Portland team. But Knight has resisted, partly because of concerns about an apparent conflict of interest if the Beaverton-based athletic clothing and equipment giant signed a player for less than market value and then offered the player a multimillion-dollar endorsement contract.

Tim Boyle, CEO of Portland-based outdoor apparel-maker Columbia Sportswear, said he's turned down stadium boosters who have approached him several times in the past few years.

"I would definitely go to a game or two,'' said Boyle, "but our business is not about organized sports, and really, I don't personally have all that much interest.''

Auto dealer Scott Thomason is another potential owner, but he said he hasn't talked with Kanter lately.

Tim Grewe, Portland's chief administrative officer, said the city doesn't know yet if the baseball proposal is realistic.

"The mayor's got an open mind on this issue,'' he said. "But until we look at the numbers we won't know.''

Hannon, however, said he has no doubt it is the wrong move.

"We don't have money to educate kids in this state,'' Hannon said. "Yet we have enough ... money to buy a baseball team that can't be supported by a big-time city in Canada.''