Wichita ? Mayor Bob Knight’s call to pull the vote for a downtown arena off the Aug. 6 ballot in Wichita could have political ramifications in his quest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, a political scientist said.

At a Wichita City Council workshop session Tuesday, Knight said he would ask the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission to delay the vote on the Wichita DynaPlex for an indefinite period of time.

He said Wichita voters would be unlikely to support the eight-year, half-cent sales tax increase to pay for the $140 million project in the wake of recent increases in state and school district taxes.

Another negative is that the Wichita economy particularly the aircraft manufacturing industry is still feeling aftershocks of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“Asking citizens to approve another sales tax increase in August may be too much,” Knight said.

Ken Ciboski, a political science professor at Wichita State University, said that if the DynaPlex were on the ballot Aug. 6, it could hurt Knight’s hopes of winning the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the same election.

To win, Knight needs strong support from his Wichita political base, Ciboski said.

“A lot of (Wichita) voters would be going to the polls just to defeat the DynaPlex,” he said. And those voters may associate Knight with the arena campaign because the city council has the final say on whether the proposal goes on the ballot.

Council member Joe Pisciotte, Knight’s closest council ally and a strong supporter of his run for the governor’s office, said Knight wasn’t worried about his own political chances when he recommended pulling the arena from the ballot.

“I think he’s got his hat on as mayor of this community, and he wants the best here,” Pisciotte said.

Knight said he thought the sports commission needed to work on generating broader support for the $140 million sport and entertainment arena.

The city council is scheduled Tuesday to make a final decision on whether to put the arena plan before Wichita voters.

It was originally scheduled for a vote last month, but a planned special election was canceled while the state Legislature considered automobile-tax legislation directly affecting the plan to finance the arena.

The sports commission will discuss Knight’s perspective on the issue when it conducts its regular weekly meeting today.

“Obviously, we need their support to put it on the ballot,” said sports commission president Bob Hanson.