Williams, MLB Turn Up Heat On Council's Stadium Foes

Mayor Anthony A. Williams and Major League Baseball officials began intensely lobbying D.C. Council members yesterday to win support for a stadium lease agreement that is critical to the future of a ballpark along the Anacostia River.

In personal meetings, Williams promised to support council members on some of their key issues, including school renovation, if they vote in favor of the lease Tuesday. By day's end, Williams and his top advisers said that they had firmed up more support for the lease and that they planned to continue lobbying until the vote.

Major League Baseball representatives also arranged meetings with council members, including Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large).

Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy and Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, baseball's lead negotiator on the stadium lease, arrived in Washington yesterday.

Jonathan Ledecky, who heads a group bidding to buy the Washington Nationals, made a new round of calls to members to push them to support the lease, said council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5), one of four members to endorse Ledecky.

With a majority of the 13 council members running or considering a run for election next year, including three bidding to replace Williams as mayor, Williams vowed to use his power to campaign for those who support him on the stadium and to punish those who do not.

"I will do everything in my power," Williams said at his weekly news briefing. "I know the people who will support this, and I'll work tirelessly and mightily to support them. The people who do not support it, I won't forget."

The all-out, eleventh-hour campaign comes as many of the council members question the rising costs of the stadium project. Natwar M. Gandhi, the city's chief financial officer, said this week that the project, including infrastructure, could cost $667 million, well above the city's budget of $589 million.

Some members have advocated building the stadium at another site, near Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Southeast Washington, but DuPuy said in a letter to the council this week that baseball would not agree to such a move.

"I'm not sure the letter was helpful," Williams said yesterday. "It looks like another decree from baseball."

Baseball officials and Ledecky declined to comment.

Williams administration officials are convinced that council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) could persuade a majority of the council to approve the lease agreement and predicted that she will ultimately support the project. She voted in favor of the stadium financing legislation last year but has been worried that the city's investment in the project would have to grow to cover rising costs. She has declined to say how she will vote.