By David Nakamura and Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 15, 2005
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.
Based on interviews and council members' public statements, there appear to be four votes in favor of the project: Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) and Orange; and four votes against it: David A. Catania (I-At Large), Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8).
Four other members -- Mendelson, Schwartz, Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) and Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) -- have strongly opposed public funding for the project. But Williams and his aides believe some or all of their votes could be won.
Cropp, who like Fenty and Orange is running for the Democratic nomination for mayor, has been weighing the stadium issue deliberately, knowing that winning a better deal for the publicly financed project could help her mayoral chances.
Council sources said yesterday that some council members might attempt to alter terms in the lease before it is approved.
In the John A. Wilson Building, the administration, council members and their aides were keeping scorecards of the vote breakdown. The lists changed throughout the day.
"It appears there are five votes for the lease, and it's going to take an all-out effort to get the other two," said Evans, counting Cropp among the supporters.
In a joint meeting with Patterson and Mendelson yesterday, the mayor talked about baseball, school renovation and other issues, including Mendelson's bid for reelection next year.
Patterson, who is running to replace Cropp as council chairman, has asked the mayor to promise to support a $1.3 billion school reconstruction bill that she is negotiating with the council.
"I hope to be able to support it," Patterson said of the stadium lease. "But I need to see more information. . . . What private developers will be kicking in, the case the mayor is making [for money from] the federal government. If we get something in writing nailed down, that puts them on the record."
Mendelson, who last year voted against public financing for the stadium, declined to comment on the specifics of the meeting but said an increasing number of residents are growing unhappy with the stadium deal.
"There doesn't seem to be a grip on what the total costs will be, and people are picking up on that," Mendelson said. "Either [the administration is] going to deal with those questions and concerns or continue to leave people feeling anxious."
Schwartz sent the administration a list of 26 questions about the lease, the stadium designs, baseball's contribution to the funding of the project and other issues she wants answered by Tuesday.
Graham, who has consistently voted against the stadium, said he was taken aback by the mayor's vow to campaign against stadium opponents.
"I voted no four times in 2004, and we worked together all year," said Graham, who is running for reelection next year. "We've had many joint endeavors this year. I expect the same in the future. Why wouldn't I?"
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