Baseball supporters sang. A D.C. Council member waved a bat in glee. The mayor and council chairman appeared together after weeks of feuding. A plan to build a baseball stadium in Washington, they said, was finalized.
Or was it?
D.C. Council members Kevin P. Chavous, clockwise from top left, Vincent B. Orange Sr., Jack Evans and Linda W. Cropp voted for the amended baseball bill, but three incoming colleagues might be able to reopen the issue.
(Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)
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In fact, there might be a slim chance that the baseball bill, approved by the council Tuesday, could be reopened after the three new members take office Jan. 2. Those members, who replace backers of baseball, have all expressed opposition to a publicly financed stadium.
"At this point, I'm still looking at the terms of the agreement," said Kwame Brown, a Democrat who won an at-large seat by defeating Harold Brazil. "I don't know what all the options are."
Like a mid-level team analyzing its playoff chances, stadium opponents considering the machinations that would have to happen for the baseball bill to be reopened would find their chances remote -- but, perhaps, plausible.
After the council voted 7 to 6 to approve the legislation Tuesday, Brazil immediately moved to reconsider the vote. That alarmed council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) because Brazil, along with Evans and Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5), are the council's strongest baseball supporters. "What are you doing, guys?" Evans asked.
But Brazil and Orange assured him they were conducting a parliamentary maneuver to ensure that the stadium bill -- the focus of three council votes and fierce debate for weeks -- could never be reconsidered.
Before the council could vote on Brazil's move, Orange moved to table the reconsideration. That was approved by the council on a voice vote.
Orange said that the maneuver effectively tabled a reconsideration of the legislation forever because no date was attached to the motion.
But, according to Phyllis Jones, the council's secretary, such a maneuver is meaningless. Jones said that a simple majority of the 13-member council could vote to undo the tabling. Another vote could reopen the bill for debate -- and possible amendments. (Orange said yesterday that he disagrees with Jones's interpretation.)
The legislation would become permanent once it is signed by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), who had not received the bill from the council before leaving yesterday for Los Angeles, spokeswoman Sharon Gang said.
Williams will have 10 days to sign the bill once he receives it, which should be sometime next week, after staffers add the amendments adopted Tuesday.
The new council will hold its first legislative meeting Jan. 4, meaning that if Williams didn't sign the bill before then, the council could possibly reopen debate.
Evans and Orange chuckled when asked if, somehow, they could still end up striking out on baseball. "Oh, God, I don't think so," Evans said. "No one's going to bring it up now."
Vincent C. Gray, who won a council seat from Ward 7 by defeating Kevin P. Chavous, said he was glad the new legislation contains provisions for private funding, which could convince him that this deal is better for the city.
"I'm not out to create chaos for the sake of chaos," he said.
The third new council member, Marion Barry, who beat Sandy Allen in Ward 8, has said repeatedly that he will do all he can to stop the stadium.
But Cropp said she does not expect the new council members to do anything that could delay the project and lead to cost overruns.
In any case, such speculation will probably end next week.
"The mayor plans to sign it as soon as possible," Gang said of the baseball bill.
"He'll return to town on Sunday. He's going to sign it next week. He's eager to sign it."
