Come for the T-Shirt, Stay for the Protest

By Elissa Silverman and Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 16, 2006

Monday's D.C. Council hearing on financing the proposed $412 million National Capital Medical Center left those in the audience with lots of questions: Who would run the hospital? Who would decide what services it would provide?

And who was responsible for the T-shirts?

Worn by approximately 25 people wandering in and out of the council chamber all day, they bore bright red letters:

"NCMC. N=No. C=Charitable. M=Medical. C=Care.

"NCMC Stands for No Charitable Medical Care=If you do not have insurance the NCMC will not treat you like D.C. General would."

Although at first glance the shirts looked supportive of the proposed public-private partnership between the city and Howard University, the message mimicked the mantra of David A. Catania (I-At Large), a hospital opponent who chairs the D.C Council's committee on health and who repeatedly said during the lengthy session that the NCMC would not be a replacement for D.C. General Hospital. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) ignited a firestorm when he decided to close the city's public hospital in 2001. Though the hospital was beloved by some city residents for caring for all regardless of ability to pay, Williams put a do-not-resuscitate order on the facility, arguing that it was hemorrhaging money.

It was difficult to get an answer to the T-shirt question, even from some of those wearing the shirts. A few people said they were simply volunteers interested in the hospital issue. Others said they had been given the shirts and told to put them on.

Rodney Riley said he didn't know who had paid for his. Nor did Riley know who had been responsible for sending a van to his house that morning to bring him to the John A. Wilson Building.

"I just come," said Riley, who sat quietly through eight hours of testimony. "I don't have anything else to do."

Rose Hamilton , who lives in Ward 8, said her "boss man brought us here." The boss man turned out to be Bobby Green of the Capitol Area Minority Contractors and Business Association.

Green has been an irritant to city officials before, arguing that not enough construction jobs on big projects such as the convention center and the soon-to-be-built baseball stadium go to black construction workers. He said the shirts were part protest against the new hospital and part protest against the ballpark, a project that incurred Green's wrath because of a project labor agreement that guarantees contracts to union workers. Most of Green's members are not union shops.

Green said many of the workers he represents also do not have health care coverage and need a public hospital, not a pricey medical center that caters to those with insurance cards.

Proponents of the hospital project also provided door-to-door transportation. Two luxury buses, filled with senior citizens picked up from King-Greenleaf Recreation Center, Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church, Fort Lincoln Senior Citizen's Village and other spots around town, were parked near Freedom Plaza during a morning rally.

The buses were paid for by Howard University and other donors, said Vanessa Dixon of the D.C. Health Care Coalition.

Johns Tapping Williams Ex-Aides

With no announced endorsement yet from Williams (D) in the D.C. mayor's race, political observers are trying to read the tea leaves as Williams's longtime supporters and associates begin to pick sides.

Former Verizon Washington president Marie C. Johns (D) got a big boost in the gossip mill, for example, after she hired the mayor's 1998 fundraising director, Leslie Pinkston , to serve as her campaign manager. Johns has also won the support of Williams's first communications director, Peggy Armstrong , who will work as a Johns campaign volunteer.

Johns denied rumors, however, that the mayor's wife, Diane Simmons Williams , has come on board. Although the two are friends, Johns said, Diane Williams "is not playing a role with the campaign."

Perennial Winner on Cropp's Side

Meanwhile, Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D-At Large) has snared an even bigger fish: lawyer Max Berry , who has worked for the winner in three of five mayoral contests with open seats.

Berry, who was courted by at least three other candidates, has signed on as co-chair and finance chairman of Cropp's campaign. He said he thinks Cropp's 25-year record of leadership on the school board and council make her the clear choice.

Of the others, Berry said he doesn't know council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) well. He doesn't consider lobbyist Michael A. Brown (D) "a really major, viable candidate." Johns is appealing, he said, but "I don't know what her record is, really, and you don't either, because she doesn't have one."

As for council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4), Berry said: "Adrian's younger, and his parents own a tennis shoe shop, and he shakes every hand, and he knocks on every door. And that all says something. It says he works hard -- at winning elections."

Brown Banking on Family Ties

Brown hasn't lined up any big names from the Williams camp so far. But he did brag last week that America Online co-founder James V. Kimsey had given him the maximum $2,000 contribution.

Still, Brown, son of the late commerce secretary Ronald H. Brown, was most proud of another donor: his mother.

Alma Brown , who had been slow to publicly support her son's campaign, made her first contribution, also $2,000. Privately, some political operatives said Alma Brown had not sanctioned her son's candidacy, which meant some folks with strong ties to the family were withholding their contributions. Alma Brown's move could lead them to open their wallets.

Asked about his mother's contribution, Brown said: "It speaks for itself. My mother has always been supportive of her son. The question was whether she was going to be supportive financially. She answered that question."

Staff writer Lori Montgomery contributed to this report.