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Did You Know?
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DC residents suffer third-class US citizenship yet pay more Federal taxes ($7,154) by far per person than any first-class citizen in the States. Number 2 is New York ($5,260), number 51 is Alabama ($2,328). Source: US Census Bureau |
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Inside Scoop
Fairfax Public TV, Channel 10 - "Inside Scoop" on-line interview (was) live!
DC Voting Rights Show Sunday May 5th, 2007
Click here to watch video
If you live in Alexandria VA, you'll have to watch it online. It's been banned by Alexandria public access TV some say because Ms. Jenkins displayed Terry William's DC Madonna political cartoon!
| Ten Reasons for Rejecting Norton-Davis Bill |
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(reprint from the DC Statehood Green party) Ten reasons why D.C. residents should reject the Norton-Davis bill for a voting seat in the House and support D.C. statehood instead... THE DC STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org For immediate release: Monday, June 5, 2006 Contact: Scott McLarty, DC Statehood Green Party Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it • Statehood Greens warn that H.R. 5388 will take pressure off of Congress to provide D.C. residents with real democracy, derail progress towards statehood, and ultimately place another Republican in Congress. • The Norton-Davis bill provides for second-class citizenship in a second-class state; Statehood Greens urge D.C. residents to demand their full constitutional rights and self-determination. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- DC Statehood Green Party leaders urged District of Columbia residents to reject the Norton-Davis bill granting D.C. a single voting seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and to demand statehood instead. The 'D.C. Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act' (H.R. 5388), sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Rep. Tom Davis (D-Va.), and two dozen other Congressmembers, passed in the Committee on Government Reform on May 18. "Don't be fooled -- the Norton-Davis bill is a symbolic piece of legislation dressed up to look like democracy," said Gail Dixon, a Statehood Green, longtime statehood activist, and former elected member of the D.C School Board. "We call on Congress to grant us real democracy -- self-governance in the form of statehood. Democracy for D.C., with its African American majority population, is one of the last major legal civil rights hurdles." The DC Statehood Green Party is the result of a merger in 1999 between the DC Green Party and the DC Statehood Party, which was founded in 1970 as part of the Civil Rights Movement and whose banner demand has been statehood for the District. Statehood Greens offered ten major reasons to reject the Norton-Davis bill and pursue statehood for the District: (1) The Norton-Davis bill grants full constitutional rights to a single District resident -- Eleanor Holmes Norton. "Imagine if the outcome of the Montgomery bus boycott were that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. alone was given the right to sit in front of the bus, while all other black citizens of Montgomery still had to sit in the back. In effect, that's what the Norton-Davis bill would enact," said Ms. Dixon. (2) The Norton-Davis bill, which gives D.C. a single voting seat in the House, still leaves D.C. residents with less congressional representation than all other Americans, who get to elect two Senators as well as a Representative. When D.C. wins statehood, it will also gain two Senators and a Representative. (3) Representation in a national legislature is not democracy. "Throughout history, colonies have enjoyed voting seats in the legislatures of nations that conquered them, even while they suffered exploitation and suppression," said Adam Eidinger, former candidate for D.C.'s unpaid U.S. Representative position. "Our own Founding Fathers and Mothers fought for democracy and independence, not 'voting rights.' Patrick Henry never said 'Give me a seat in Parliament or give me death.' The only real democracy is self-governance for the people of D.C. -- statehood -- not this fake democracy Del. Norton and others are peddling." (4) The voting seat afforded by the Norton Davis bill will not block Congress from imposing its will and veto power on D.C. In 1998, Congress overturned a ballot measure that passed with a 69% majority in D.C. (Initiative 59 for medical marijuana). Congress has also forced D.C. to adopt 'zero tolerance' laws; ordered Mayor Williams (through the appointed Financial Control Board) to dismantle D.C. General Hospital, the District's only full-service public health facility, imposed a charter school system; and outlawed needle exchange to prevent HIV transmission. Members of Congress who represent suburban districts in Virginia and Maryland have exploited D.C. for the benefit of their constituents, prohibiting D.C. from taxing commuters (every other city in the U.S. relies on commuter taxes) and pushing for a new convention center in 1999 to be paid for by a D.C. business surtax for the profit of suburban businesses. Congress members have sought to overturn local gun control laws, enact the death penalty, impose a school voucher program, and prohibit benefits for same-sex couples. "Only full self-government -- statehood -- will stop Congress from forcing unwanted laws, policies, and budgets on DC and overturning laws and policies enacted by District voters and City Council," said said Anne Anderson, a long-time D.C. statehood activist. "The Norton-Davis bill does nearly nothing to increase the political power of D.C. citizens, because the new voting seat would be only one of 437, and is offset by the addition of a Republican voting seat in Utah under the bipartisan deal made to win support for H.R. 5388." (5) The lack of statehood has made D.C. residents second-class U.S. citizens, denying them rights that all other U.S. citizens enjoy -- contrary to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which ensures equal protection under the law. "This is why, ever since thousands of African Americans moved to D.C. in the 1950s to take federal jobs but had no control over local laws, one of the nicknames of the District has been 'The Last Plantation,'" said T.E. Smith, Ward 8 delegate to the Statehood Green Party's steering committee and a Vietnam War veteran. "The Norton-Davis bill will not change our colonial status. Ironically, President Bush is sending young men and women from D.C. to face injury and death fighting for the democratic rights of Iraqis -- rights they don't enjoy at home." (6) If the Norton-Davis bill passes, Congress will still hold the power to revoke D.C.'s lone voting seat and repeal D.C.'s limited democratic powers. Under statehood, Congress would not have the power to revoke D.C. democracy. Except for the Southern states after they rebelled in the Civil War, Congress has never rescinded any state's right to govern itself. (7) The Norton-Davis bill will set back the movement for full constitutional rights for District residents for decades, because Congress will consider democracy for D.C. a fait accompli. "When the Democratic Party, at Ms. Norton's encouragement, removed the goal of D.C. statehood from the party's platform in 2004 it left only one major party in D.C. that supports statehood -- the DC Statehood Green Party," said Rick Tingling-Clemmons, Ward 7 representative to the party's Steering Committee. (8) Since the decisions of D.C. elected officials are all subject to Congressional approval and veto power, and the elected Representative would be the District's sole voting representative in Congress, the bill will give this representative sole and discretionary 'gatekeeper' power over all D.C. laws, policies, and budgets -- contrary to the principle of self-determination, which is the basis of democracy. "Leverage over all D.C. political agenda will be invested in a one individual -- Ms. Norton. This is the exact opposite of democracy," said Jay Marx, DC Statehood Green Party steering committee member and former candidate for City Council Ward 2 seat. (9) If the bill passes, it's quite possible that the Supreme Court will overturn it, since the U.S. Constitution grants voting representation in Congress solely to states. The Supreme Court will not overturn an Act of Congress that allows D.C. to become a state. "This might well be the Republican strategy -- make a deal with Democrats to add a new Democratic D.C. seat and a new Republican Utah seat. Then, after the passage of the Norton-Davis bill, someone will file a suit to block Ms. Norton from taking her seat in the House, on constitutional grounds. If the Supreme Court acts on its alleged pro-Republican bias, D.C. will lose its seat while the Republicans get to keep their Utah seat. Anyone who believes that Republicans aren't capable of such a plan have forgotten how the Republican Party redistricted Texas, as well as the election irregularities in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio and other states in 2004," said John Gloster, a long-time party member. (10) If a court overturns the bill and requires a constitutional amendment, then, procedurally, full democracy will be easier to achieve than mere voting rights in Congress, since a vote for statehood would not require the 2/3 majority necessary to pass constitutional amendment. In 1846, an Act of Congress removed Alexandria and parts of Arlington from the District and gave it to the state of Virginia. This precedent proves that Congress, through legislation requiring a simple majority, can change the District's borders and reduce the constitutionally mandated federal enclave to include only the federal properties (White House, Capitol, Mall, etc.), thus freeing the rest of D.C. to choose statehood by a plebescite vote. MORE INFORMATION The DC Statehood Green Party http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. Coalition http://www.standupfordemocracy.org The D.C. Statehood Papers: Writings on D.C. Statehood & self-government by Sam Smith http://prorev.com/dcsthdintro.htm Twenty D.C. Citizens Lawsuit: The case for full democracy and equality http://www.dccitizensfordemocracy.org The D.C. Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act (H.R. 5388) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d109:40:./temp/~bd0PLF::|/bss/d109query.html| |
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DC Mayor Dons Free DC Ball Cap
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It would seem our hard-charging shadow senator, Michael Brown, has gotten Mayor Adrian Fenty to swap his fedora for a Free DC ballcap. Also pictured here is Hellen Matarazzo. Way to go, Mike! 