We’ve talked the new stadium into the ground, but with the news last week that District officials and MLB had reached an agreement on a new lease, we were hopeful that enough concessions were granted and desires met to allow the D.C. Council to give their stamp of approval next week.

But that would be far too simple.

Buried in the Post’s initial article on the revised lease agreement was a token quote by the District’s CFO, Natwar Gandhi, who said, “The lease agreement as it is submitted, I have serious reservations about. I cannot take it to Wall Street.”

Excuse us? Is this to say that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and members of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission negotiated a deal that while purporting to include a variety of new concessions from MLB could not receive the stamp of approval from the city’s main money man? And let’s not be mistaken — this is not a simple technicality. Gandhi is saying that should the lease pass the council as written, Wall Street would not issue the bonds necessary to finance the stadium’s construction. Conclusion — the city would either have to finance the construction out-of-pocket or not build at all.

According to a Post editorial on the issue today, Gandhi has objected to the removal of a provision that would secure rent payments over the next 30 years regardless of whether the Nationals were playing or not — say during a player strike or city-wide emergency situation. Does this sound familiar? It should. In mid-November MLB balked at the prospect of paying annual rent, only to reverse course less than a month later and agree to the provision. But there’s more, or so says the Post:

Likewise, Mr. Gandhi told us yesterday the revised agreement strips other provisions that were designed to provide the city with a steady revenue stream, e.g., prompt and irrevocable payment by baseball of taxes on ballpark concessions. Mr. Gandhi said the revised lease agreement, as it stands, ‘is a non-starter,’ and he declared again yesterday: ‘I will not go to Wall Street with that lease.’

We’d like to act surprised, but given that neither Williams nor MLB seems truly interested in producing a lease agreement that wouldn’t overtly threaten the city’s finances, we’re just going to give up and assume the District is going to get screwed.