Some members said their vote was a principled statement of support for maintaining and restructuring the publicly run hospital, whose string of deficits has brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. Others don't believe the administration's promises of expanded access, improved care and tighter spending, even as they acknowledge that the current system is broken. Members also have cited the mayor's uneven communication and rocky relations with the council on the hospital and in other matters. You use the chits you can find, and this is the only one I've got. Finally, some members said public opinion has hardened against the proposal.
Nobody wants to be seen as being against the hospital.
It hasn't helped, council members said, that the contract's details have trickled out mainly through the news media. Last month, the mayor inadvertently gave the council an opportunity to try to save D.C. General when he sent lawmakers an unusual supplemental budget that contained a revised spending plan for the current fiscal year. Several council members said they were surprised when Cropp presented the scheme during informal discussions. The action also stunned the Williams administration. It's probably the most significant step the council has taken as a body in many years. . . .