Sorry State of a County

According to two board members, Johnson's first move was to send his chief of staff to demand the undated resignations of all the top Dimensions executives -- a demand that was rebuffed. A Johnson spokesman denies that ever happened.

The county executive also made clear he wanted many of the directors to resign, among them the chairman, Calvin Brown, who would later accuse Johnson of refusing to release emergency funds for the hospitals until one of his associates was hired as a senior manager. Johnson denied that allegation as well, and a state prosecutor found there to be insufficient evidence to file criminal charges.

Eventually, with operating losses piling up, even Johnson realized that the county hospital system was a political honey pot that was too expensive to maintain. Earlier this year, he struck a behind-the-scenes deal with Doctors Community Hospital and MedStar Health.

Unfortunately, Johnson never bothered to get the support of the county council, which would have to approve the sale of the land and buildings. Nor did he get the support from the governor or the county's legislative delegation, even though his "plan" required the state to pony up $37 million a year in subsidies for a decade and guarantee $400 million to $500 million in construction bonds. Johnson's rescue plan went nowhere.

So in the waning days of the state's legislative session, with bankruptcy looming, the governor and state legislative leaders stepped in and proposed a temporary state takeover, with an eye to eventual sale. Johnson agreed, the delegation agreed, but the council balked.

In public, council members claimed the deal breaker was the temporary tax on county residents that the state plan required. But in private, according to several people involved in the negotiations, council leaders seemed more focused on how much the county would be paid for its land and buildings and whether the council would control redevelopment rights for the Prince George's Hospital site in Cheverly if that facility were to be closed, as many expect.

"The single most depressing aspect of this whole affair was that the prospect of coming up with a first-class medical facility in Prince George's County did not seem to be of great interest to any of the county officials," one official involved in the negotiation told me this week. "They were satisfied to accept mediocre health care if some choice piece of land could go to friends."

That pretty much says it all.

Steven Pearlstein can be reached at pearlsteins@washpost.com.