DC Council Votes No..I Mean Yes

THE CONTINUING SAGA that is the DC City Council took an interesting turn Tuesday night as they first voted against the finance plan for a new baseball stadium for the Nats, then they voted yes to a new plan a few hours later. The Post's Marc Fisher has a good column today in which he outlines Marion Barry's (remember him?) role in the 11th hour reversal. When asked what changed his mind, Barry said, "Things shift."

Things shift? That's the answer he's going with? Why couldn't they have shifted 12 months ago?

Apparently three others had a 'shifting of the mind' as well as Carol Schwarts (R) and two other councilmen (who, along with Barry, ran on an anti-stadium deal platform in 2004) changed their vote. That makes three candidates (Barry, Kwame Brown, and Vincent Gray) who won races in '04 on an anti-stadium platform who Tuesday voted FOR the deal. But what makes this political story even better is that the deal they voted for Tuesday is about $100 MILLION MORE THAN THE DEAL THEY OPPOSED AS CANDIDATES. It seems that 14 months of haggeling by the DC Council has led to a rapid increase in the cost of the stadium deal. Politics 101 tells that this issue may come up in re-election campaigns.

Move coverage from Tom Boswell at the Post [WP]