WCP has been losing a lot of staff lately. Assuming this article is accurate, it has some interesting insight into the situation:
http://dcist.com/2011/12/dave_mckenna_leaves_city_paper_afte.php
It focuses on the departure of sportswriter Dave McKenna. However, it mentions the following:
"McKenna's departure also adds to the number of postions the City Paper needs to fill. The paper has been looking to hire a web producer, while the assistant managing editor postion has been vacant since the summer when Michael Grass (a former DCist editor) left to launch Huffington Post's D.C. vertical."
Jason Cherkis also left to join the HuffPost. The Dan Snyder lawsuit probably consumed a lot of attention as well.