The man who could tank the RFK Stadium deal
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Council chair Phil Mendelson shakes the hand of Mayor Muriel Bowser. Photo: Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Phil Mendelson voted against the Nationals ballpark deal five times.
Why it matters: To tell where the RFK Stadium deal is going, you gotta study Mendelson — the chairman of the D.C. Council, who's often at loggerheads with Mayor Muriel Bowser and never a fan of taxpayer-funded stadiums.
He opposed paying for Nats Park — a transformative project that barely passed in 2004.
- And now, Mendelson is dug in against public subsidies for the Washington Commanders. The mayor's deal proposes $1 billion for site infrastructure and parking garages.
- Without Mendelson, good luck reaching seven "yes" votes, several close observers tell me.
Reality check: Mendelson can appeal to both sides — giving stadium supporters and naysayers hope…
- Last month, he said, "the D.C. treasury should not be paying toward a stadium." And just last week, he told me it'll be "virtually impossible" to get the deal through the council by Bowser's July 15 deadline.
- But Mendelson — setting aside his "personal view" against taxpayer subsidies — this week opened the door for a compromise: "This deal could be much better," he said. "The end goal should be … not stadium at any price. That would be stadium at a reasonable price."
What I'm hearing: Four council members look like a "yes" (Kenyan McDuffie, Brooke Pinto, Anita Bonds, and Wendell Felder). Two have been outspoken against it (Brianne Nadeau and Charles Allen), and progressive Janeese Lewis George is likely hard to persuade.
- To get three more "yes" votes, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Commanders owner Josh Harris held a reception Monday evening with Mayor Bowser at the Wilson Building.
- Three toss-ups joined: Christina Henderson, a self-described "pragmatic progressive"; Zachary Parker, whose Ward 5 base may be nostalgic for football's return; and Matt Frumin, a lefty favorite representing Ward 3 in affluent Northwest. (Robert White, who probably wants to run for mayor again, is another "maybe" vote.)
Two holdouts could be persuadable if Mendelson comes on board.
- But activists like John Capozzi, who is working on a ballot initiative against the subsidies, says he's "counting on Phil Mendelson to save us from this financial disaster."
So Mendelson has options. He could reengineer the mayor's deal, curtailing the taxpayer subsidy.
You could also kill the deal. "Mhm," he told me.
Do you worry about that being your legacy? "Um, no," he said. "The best deal for the taxpayers is the best legacy one could have."
- An anti-RFK Stadium tone helps him avoid attacks from the left when he runs for reelection. Do you think about the politics?
- "Of course I do," he said. "The best deal for taxpayers is the best approach politically."
But within three weeks, Mendelson went from no public dollars for a stadium to wanting a "better deal" for taxpayers. What's that mean?
- He cracked: "It means I have a split personality, and I have to see a therapist this afternoon."
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