Splinters: Linda Cropp's Ambition Could Cause Collapse of District's Baseball Dreams

Linda Cropp. What are you thinking? What could your motivation possibly have been to issue your 11th-hour amendment to the Nationals’ stadium deal that would require Major League Baseball to pay half of the bill?

Well, I have a number of ideas, and none of them reflect well on Ms. Cropp and all of them result in a huge blow to the District. First, let me expose any biases I may have. I support the stadium. I think it’s a logical move and that over time it will generate money for the city and revitalize a terrible part of the District. And that’s in addition to the simple pleasure of watching baseball less than two miles from my apartment.

But anyone who has read my column consistently knows that. I’ve laid out my case time and time again. I’ve detailed my logic. This isn’t just an impulsive, emotional urge to see my favorite sport more conveniently.

That said, I don’t for one second believe that Ms. Cropp is looking out for the best interest of the people of D.C. as she claims. This isn’t about the District getting the best deal. This is about her and her political career. Exhibit A: Her choice of words.

“I am not trying to kill the deal. I’m putting some teeth in it because I’m really disappointed with what I got from Major League Baseball.”

She’s disappointed in what she got. Not the people, the taxpayers, her constituents. Her. Last time I checked, the council was supposed to be a representative body. Moreover, the council is comprised of 13 members. But apparently the deal only applies to her.

It’s been no secret that Cropp has been the swing vote in the deal for a long while now, ever since she insured that fellow councilman Jim Graham would vote against the deal by passing an amendment at the preliminary proceedings that eliminated a $45 million boost to libraries. With Graham’s vote contingent on that element of the bill, he quickly withdrew his support for the plan and has opposed it in the following two votes.

But after succeeding in passing her two amendments at the preliminary vote, Cropp abstained from voting on the measure to “keep the flexibility to bring crucial, heated but needed and necessary issues to the forefront.” What she didn’t mention at the time, was that she would wait until the last minute to do so. Exhibit B: The timing of her amendment.

After debating on the issue for 11 hours, Cropp proposed her radical 50%-private financing amendment at 10 p.m. last night. There was no mention of such a move before this. No discussion, no debate. She didn’t bring this amendment to the forefront to be discussed. She brought it forward to get passed, no questions asked, and effectively kill the dream of baseball in the District. And she did so by proclaiming that her vote to approve the overall plan (a vote needed to break a 6-6 tie), was contingent on passing the amendment.

It was understood that this stadium would be a completely publicly-funded project from the initial agreement with Major League Baseball in the early fall. Where was her concern then? If she was so disappointed in this deal, why not just vote against it?

The reason is because Cropp doesn’t want her fingerprints on the murder weapon. She wants to claim to have supported the deal and baseball, and doesn’t have the resolve to come out and say that it’s a bad deal. It’s a selfish political move through and through, one designed to get her closer to the city’s mayoral office that she covets, according to the Post’s Thomas Boswell.

And while she might think she’s dealt Mayor Anthony Williams a blow while protecting the District from a bad financing deal, what she’s really done is completely invalidate Williams and any succeeding mayor as an ambassador of the District. Who’s going to negotiate with D.C.’s mayor when they think the council is just going to overrule him and wants to negotiate their own deal. And that goes for everything, not just baseball relocations. Cropp may as well have poured poison into Williams’ ear and salted the earth in the District while she was at it. What business will want to deal with this three-ring circus when it wants to relocate?

The financing terms of the baseball deal have never been open for debate, not when MLB has a handful of other markets prepared to cough up the public funds for a team. So while the council has two options, pay up or wave goodbye, Baseball has infinitely more with Norfolk, Va. Portland, Ore. and Las Vegas, Nev. begging for a team.

MLB and Williams have a signed agreement stating that the District will finance the stadium 100%. It’s signed. I’m not a lawyer, but that sounds suspiciously like a contract. Not only that, but by drastically altering the deal as Cropp has done, Baseball has a chance to walk away, and I wouldn’t doubt the ever-ambitious lawyers with MLB are thinking about bringing a lawsuit against the city for violating said agreement. And to all of you ardent opponents of the stadium, if the city gets sued, guess where that money is going to come from? All those valuable city programs you’re so worried about protecting. And now the District won’t even get anything in return.

And what’s the alternative to financing the stadium? Look at Southeast right now. It’s a net loss to the city. And it will continue to be if Cropp and her cronies don’t realize the impact or her ludicrous move.

D.C. had a great opportunity. But instead of driving or walking through a Southeast neighborhood full of life and families going to restaurants and ballgames, we’ll have Johns and guys in trench coats continuing their weekly trip to the local adult film store.

So now we’re waiting and we’re watching. Crop wanted to wear the big kid pants and now she’s got them. But it seems clear she’s going to need suspenders to hold them up.

This appears to be a fine mess she’s gotten the District into. Now, get everyone out of it.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com