Sen. Jon Kyl Responds to a D.C. Resident
DCist Reader Traci Kidwell was paying attention when we were live blogging preliminary debate in the Senate ahead of Tuesday's successful cloture vote on the D.C. House Voting Rights Act. In case you weren't, here a refresher: Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (R), the Minority Whip in the Senate, trotted out an argument previously made famous by Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert (R).
"The District does not lack for representation in Congress," Kyl said. "It actually already has representatives in Congress, 100 Senators and 435 House members, all of whom, under the Constitution itself, have the jurisdiction and indeed the obligation to provide for the general welfare of the residents of the District of Columbia."
We then posted contact information for Sen. Kyl's office, including the email address for his chief of staff, Tim Glazewski, and encouraged our readers to take the senator up on his promise to provide for our general welfare. Traci did just that, and sent us Sen. Kyl's response. We've posted it below, along with Traci's original letter.
Date: Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 11:03 AM Subject: Response message from Senator Kyl
Thank you for your recent email to my staff, commenting on my remarks about the D.C. House Voting Rights Act, S. 160, and requesting assistance in resolving various problems affecting residents of the District of Columbia.
Unless you are suggesting that Congress should repeal Home Rule for the District and reclaim primary responsibility for the City's operations, I would encourage you to contact Mayor Fenty and members of the D.C. City Council to share your concerns. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is also available to assist with constituent service involving federal matters.
As I said on the floor of the Senate, Members of Congress, by their very presence living and working in the Washington area, have a stake in a well run City, and Congress has given the District's government substantial federal resources to help promote that outcome. In fact, as I pointed out in my remarks on February 24, City residents pay an average of $11,582 in federal taxes each year, yet receive back nearly six times that amount -- $65,109 -- from the federal government, according to a study by the non-partisan Tax Foundation. That is six times more than New Mexico, the state with the next highest return.
A final point: Article I of the U.S. Constitution is explicit in limiting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate to the states. Those who wish to change that should do so the right way, i.e., by proposing an amendment to the Constitution, working for its approval by both houses of Congress, and then seeking ratification by the requisite number of states.
No one is allowed to ignore the Constitution or avoid the amendment process simply because it is easy or convenient to do so, or yields more immediate results.
Sincerely,
JON KYL United States Senator
Traci's letter to Kyl chief of staff Tim Glazewski:
Hello Mr. Glazewski,
As the chief of staff for our new volunteer representative, I wanted to take a minute to highlight some issues that plague the residents of the District of Columbia.
* K Street, from approximately 21st St NW to 9th St NW, is covered in potholes. The road is dangerous to drive on and I'm sure it's damaging each of our cars every day.
* The Boys & Girls Club that was located on 17th St SE was closed approximately 2 years ago, and the recreation center at Payne Elementary School on C St SE was closed last fall due to despondent employees. These closures left the neighborhood kids with no options for after school activities. Payne Elementary offers after care to their students, and a non profit group - Neighbors United - has signed a lease to occupy the recreation center and offer programs for area kids. It would be great if the city could give even a portion of the money that was being spent on the recreation center to Neighbors United in the form of a grant so that they can continue to offer activities to the neighborhood.
* Lead in the drinking water - I think we all know now that we have a serious issue. Please provide safe drinking water to all citizens.
* The issue with the release of inmates from the detention center located in Ward 6 is troubling to many residents. AG Peter Nickels wants to lift the ban and allow inmates to be released at all times. I believe that since the underlying issue is the jail's inability to process paperwork in a timely manner, that the jail should be held accountable as opposed to punishing the neighborhood residents. We already have problems with the released inmates asking for money for transportation out of the neighborhood, and I would prefer to not get those types of solicitations in the middle of the night. Does it really benefit a prisoner to be released in the middle of the night? What types of services & assistance are they going to receive at that time? The Dept of Corrections should be processing the release of inmates in a timely manner and should be providing them transportation back to their homes.
That's all I have for now but I look forward to working with you in the future to resolve the issues that plague the residents of D.C.
Traci Kidwell 15th & C SE