Election '06: What It All Means for D.C.
Speculation over how things may or may not change is an inevitable part of any election. There has been plenty of chatter about the impacts our city's new leaders might have on the lives of District residents. However, we mustn't forget that D.C. is America's first and best official fiefdom, subject to the whims of what can only be called a highly creative bunch of representatives and senators. As a result, elections held hundreds of miles away have the potential to affect us pretty substantially and in unexpected ways. Here's DCist's look at how last night's House and Senate results might impact us peasants of D.C.
Photo by krwaltondc
District Voting Rights May Finally Get a Fair Hearing
In November of 1993, 152 Democrats and 1 Republican, Wayne Gilchrist of Maryland, voted for D.C. statehood. As local political commentator and voting rights guru Mark Plotkin pointed out in his WaPo chat yesterday, that leaves 40 percent of the Democrats who voted against it. Why should this newly Democratic House be any different?
Both presumed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman are very supportive of District voting rights. Both have expressed interest in building on Virginia Rep. Tom Davis' hard work to bring D.C. voting issues up in the House. Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty has stated several times that he will make voting rights a priority, and has already met with Waxman, something Tony Williams never did.
The only monkey wrench in all this might be Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania. Murtha, who declared once again on NPR this morning that he will run against Pelosi for Speaker of the HouseMaryland Rep. and voting rights supporter Steny Hoyer for House Majority Leader, also voted against D.C. statehood in 1993.
Roosevelt Island and D.C.-Area Historic Sites are Safe
You may remember a brouhaha about a year ago over California Representative Richard Pombo's proposal to sell off several parks and other public lands to the highest bidder. On Pombo's list were several sites in and around the D.C. area, including the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House on Vermont Avenue by Logan Circle, which honors the woman who founded the National Council of Negro Women, and the Thomas Stone National Historical Site in Maryland, in memory of one of the signers of Declaration of Independence. The plan also called for commercial development of Theodore Roosevelt Island, the highly popular 91-acre wooded island in the middle of the Potomac.
Pombo was well known for similar anti-environmental antics, including an attempt to gut the Endangered Species Act and drill for oil in just about every possible corner of the country. Fortunately, Pombo lost his seat of 14 years by six points last night, to San Francisco Bay-area wind energy entrepreneur Jerry McNerney. Though many did not consider this race competitive, environmental groups opposed him with one of their most aggressive campaigns in recent memory, contributing over a million dollars and countless man hours into Pombo's defeat.
D.C. Handgun Ban Still in Jeopardy
It's not all rosy for the District, despite the good news above. Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has attempted to overturn the District's three decade old ban on handguns, won in a walk last night over her Democratic opponent. No word on whether Senator Hutchison will make an effort to revive her misguided interloping, but a Democratic Senate would make it a lot more difficult.
Coincidentally, NRA sweetheart and Senator-for-now George Allen dutifully stood next to Hutchison at a press conference last year as she told us it was her duty to oversee and protect D.C. residents. Thanks, but no thanks.