Some on Council Now Doubt Wisdom of Hospital Deal

George Lowe, a lobbyist representing Specialty, said the company did not purposely hide the default and believed that dealings with GE Capital had been addressed.

Although Gandhi disagrees, Lowe said Nickles was dogged in addressing all of Gandhi's concerns in the negotiations. "They've got the city covered," he said. "Take a chance and see what we can do."

Lowe said audited reports about Specialty's finances will be submitted to city officials in coming weeks.

Much of the information in Gandhi's letter was included in the fiscal impact statement given to the council just before the vote. Gandhi said he shared the information with Nickles earlier to help him in the negotiations.

Nickles, the mayor's legal confidant, said he felt duty-bound to show the letter to no one. "It came to me in a sealed envelope. It was marked confidential," he said. "Well, I'm an honorable person. . . . I honor confidentiality, even to the point that the mayor was surprised" that the letter existed.

Several council members said they were disturbed that Gandhi and Nickles decided not to share the information with them earlier. Evans, who heads the Finance and Revenue Committee, said, "It's critical that we have the information that the CFO and the mayor's office have."

Gandhi said he regretted not including the council. He met one-on-one with members in the days after the final vote to discuss his findings and his actions. He said his letter was not delivered to members sooner because the final legislation was not completed until the evening before the vote.

Barry said appointed city leaders should never keep information from elected ones. He also said that council members ultimately were scared that Greater Southeast would be forced to shut its doors.

"The underlying thing that happened with David and other council members was fear," he said. "When you act out of fear, you sometimes act as you wouldn't. The goal now is to hold [Specialty's] feet to the fire."