From info at leagueoffans.org Wed Jan 11 17:20:28 2006 From: info at leagueoffans.org (League of Fans) Date: Wed Jan 11 17:22:01 2006 Subject: [Alerts] Letter to the editor on baseball stadium lease negotiations in DC Message-ID: <43C584AC.9080703@leagueoffans.org> League of Fans' Washington Post letter to the editor on baseball stadium lease negotiations in DC Who's at Fault in the Stadium Standoff Letter to the Editor: Washington Post - Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Page A20 In his Jan. 3 op-ed, "Why the Stadium Deal Isn't Done," Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy wrote as though baseball were performing a humanitarian service against its interest by relocating the Montreal Expos to Washington. The D.C. area's huge population and media share, the Washington Nationals' financial success in 2005, and the league's anticipation of $450 million in franchise sale proceeds show that the District is the only choice for the Nats. Rather than disparage D.C. Council members who realize how unworkable the stadium deal is and who refuse to embrace such a giveaway, Mr. DuPuy should be concerned about blowing baseball's chance to get the council to approve the stadium lease by baseball holding on to every dime and making only token concessions. Shawn McCarthy Director, League of Fans Washington http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/10/AR2006011001543.html ----- (Note: The above letter is in response to the following op-ed by Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy) Why the Stadium Deal Isn't Done By Bob DuPuy Tuesday, January 3, 2006; Page A17 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200976.html ### League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to encourage citizens, fans and the sports community to challenge social, economic and consumer injustices in sports. www.leagueoffans.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://two.pairlist.net/pipermail/alerts/attachments/20060111/5f973fdb/attachment.html From info at leagueoffans.org Wed Feb 8 19:04:25 2006 From: info at leagueoffans.org (League of Fans) Date: Wed Feb 8 19:05:01 2006 Subject: [Alerts] Statement of Ralph Nader on the DC Council's Stadium Giveaway Message-ID: <43EA8709.6050706@leagueoffans.org> Statement of Ralph Nader on the DC Council?s Baseball Stadium Giveaway February 8, 2006 The late-night backroom deal-making which resulted in a 9-4 emergency vote in favor of the Major League Baseball stadium lease is an affront to the taxpaying residents of the District of Columbia. Not only did the DC Council subordinate the life necessities of District residents to Major League Baseball, they also approved the stadium at all cost. Despite initial reports of a ?cap? on city spending of $610.8 million, a major loophole renders this so-called cap meaningless. The legislation requires that, in the event of cost overruns, unidentified private and federal sources be tapped. Should nothing come of these unspecified sources, the DC taxpayers would again be responsible for costs above and beyond the $610.8 million, which the project will far surpass without the turning of a single shovel of dirt. The legislation passed by the DC Council fails even to require Major League Baseball to be responsible for cost overruns. The request for more money from District taxpayers is inevitable as spending pressures mount and costs continue to escalate out of control. If construction begins, Mayor Williams, the DC Sports & Entertainment Commission, the team owners and others will come back to the DC Council with hat in hand, demanding funding beyond the $610.8 million. With the project underway and no committed sources for funding these further cost overruns, taxpayers would be forced to pay the open-ended costs. Perhaps most reprehensible, were the votes of Kwame Brown, Vincent Gray and Marion Barry. In autumn 2004, District voters ended the representation on the DC Council of all three incumbent members up for re-election who supported spending tax dollars on a stadium (at that time, $440 million), and replaced them with three new members who campaigned against it. The three who were elected on the strength of their then-principled stances -- Brown, Gray and Barry -- sold-out the voters who put them in office by voting in favor of the stadium lease after more than three hours of closed-door deal-making ?recesses? in the middle of the public Council session. For these councilmembers and the others responsible for allowing Major League Baseball to run roughshod over the District?s government and residents -- Schwartz, Patterson, Cropp, Evans, Orange and Ambrose -- one prediction is certain. There is no putting this Major League Baseball power-grab behind them. It will return again and again, and they will be held accountable. While the majority were fantasizing about their luxury box seats at future Nationals games, the few councilmembers who refused to stick citizens with the bill for a stadium -- Catania. Fenty, Graham and Mendelson -- have done a great service under tremendous pressure from developers, lobbyists and compliant politicians by standing-up and representing the interests of the citizens of the District of Columbia. To be sure, this boondoggle is not over. Many more legal and financial problems will emerge, and the stadium deal will deservedly collapse under its own bloated weight. To those on Wall Street who are contemplating issuing the bonds, the ooze and bile from this deal will flow strong in the months to come. This fight is not over. It is still unlikely the stadium will be built unless Major League Baseball?s freeloading ?capitalists? put private investment funds into this entertainment project. ### Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and author. ----- League of Fans, BetterDeal4DC: Council Action to Cap Stadium Costs is a Sham! February 8, 2006 Baseball stadium legislation passed by the D.C. Council in the dead of night -- after illegal closed-door discussions involving political payoffs -- does nothing to curb runaway stadium costs and is a sham on the public, a citizens' coalition charged today. As reported in the press, the Council's 9-4 vote in the early morning hours Wednesday purports to put a cap on stadium spending at a whopping $611 million and purportedly says that any cost overruns will be paid for by either the future owners of the Washington Nationals, developers or the federal government. "If press reports are correct, this legislation binds nobody to anything," said Shawn McCarthy, a Ward 4 resident and director of the sports watchdog organization League of Fans. "Certainly we cannot require the federal government, or developers who are not a party to this stadium lease, to pay one cent for any stadium overruns. And we can rest assured, now that the Council majority has capitulated to Major League Baseball, that MLB would not agree to any lease that truly binds any future owners to cover cost overruns." "Contrary to what Mayor Anthony Williams and Council proponents of this deal say, the eventual costs of this stadium will soar far beyond the understated estimate of $667 million for the stadium that the CFO put forward in December," said Jenefer Ellingston, Ward 6 and D.C. Statehood Green Party activist. "So when the overruns start to occur, who do you think will pay for them? We await with interest what candidates for higher office who voted for this boondoggle -- such as Linda Cropp (running for mayor), Kathy Patterson (running for Council chairman) and Vincent Orange (running for mayor) -- have to say to angry voters on the campaign trail this year as the estimated costs of this project climb even higher." "You might have noticed that none of the anti-public-financing people in the audience erupted in a big cheer when the initial 8-5 vote against the lease was tallied earlier in the evening, and you might also have noticed that stadium proponents up on the dais did not sink into doom and gloom when their expensive toy appeared to be going down the drain," said Ward 5 activist Mary Pat Rowan. "That is because they knew that backroom deals were in the works and there would be another vote later. Instead of using the leverage brought about by the 8-5 vote against the lease by playing tough with the Mayor and MLB, four councilmembers capitulated and turned the tide in favor of this terrible giveaway to MLB." The coalition singled out Councilmembers Vincent Gray, Marion Barry and Kwame Brown for special criticism, since all three had won office in November 2004 as staunch opponents of excessive public financing for a baseball stadium. All three had voted "no" on the earlier 8-5 vote against the lease. "So much for campaign promises and political reformers," said Ward 2 activist Debby Hanrahan. "Marion Barry, who was one of the staunchest opponents of public financing, kept saying all along that this stadium deal was the biggest stickup since Jesse James. He was right. But instead of defending the citizenry against the bandits (MLB), Mr. Barry appears to have joined the James Gang." The coalition also expressed disappointment with the "yes" vote of Councilmember Carol Schwartz, who in late December had written the most impressive critique of the baseball deal, citing its soaring costs, lack of caps and the lack of any responsibility of MLB for cost overruns. She, too, had voted "no" in the earlier 8-5 vote. BetterDeal4DC praised Councilmembers David Catania, Adrian Fenty, Jim Graham and Phil Mendelson for standing firm against the stadium deal. They alone among Councilmembers can say they fought for the public interest right down to the bottom of the ninth. The 9-4 vote approving the deal came after more than four hours of "recesses" during which Chairman Linda Cropp met with other councilmembers behind closed doors where political deals were made to win the necessary seven votes for approval of the deal. In what has become a continuing practice of illegal discussions of public business in secret under Chairman Cropp, Tuesday?s Council session was also preceded by a lengthy closed-door Council breakfast meeting at which the stadium deal was discussed. The secrecy surrounding what should be public discussions shows yet again the need for an open-meetings sunshine law with real teeth, the coalition said. ###