TomPaine: Democracy for D.C.

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Democracy For D.C.
Ilir Zherka
February 13, 2007



Ilir Zherka is executive director of DC Vote , an educational and advocacy organization dedicated to securing full voting representation in Congress for the residents of the District of Columbia.

When do Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and former Republican Congressman Jack Kemp rally around the same issue? When it’s a civil rights issue that would give voting representation to the nearly 600,000 taxpaying American citizens living in the District of Columbia who are denied democracy.

Bipartisan momentum that could lead to the swift passage of the D.C. Voting Rights Act (H.R. 328) is growing on Capitol Hill and around the country. As Washington insiders and activists across the country are whispering about this hot issue, the DC Vote organization is not missing this opportunity to make a strong push.

DC Vote is capitalizing on this energy by holding a Congress Day on Thursday, February 15 in the Cannon Caucus Room. Hundreds of supporters will turn out to urge Congress to take action on the D.C. Voting Rights Act—a bill that would give residents of Washington, D.C., their first-ever vote in Congress.

After years of educating Americans and members of Congress on D.C.’s denial of voting representation, we have nationwide interest and members of Congress who are ready to act.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., has said, “We who live in the Washington metropolitan area believe that country ought to take it as a moral cause to ensure the fact that every citizen of the District of Columbia has a vote in the Congress of the United States.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has also publicly expressed her support for D.C. voting rights. .....(more)

The rest of the piece is at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/13/democracy_for_dc.php

[Pyrzqxgl]

1. You know it would seem like this is a no brainer

but I remember candidates talking about it back in the early 60's and I'm sure it goes back a lot further than that, but it always seems to be pushed to the side. It would seem such an easy problem to solve. Why not Statehood? Or incorporation into Virginia or Maryland. At any rate H.R. 328 seems like a good first step. Now lets see if it's pushed aside again.