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After legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House was shelved last week, we called on President Obama to lend a hand and expressed concern that the proposal may be dead for the year, if not dead for good. Regardless, the cause soldiers on. Below is a rundown of the latest voting rights news.
DC Vote Takes to the States: The folks at DC Vote dedicated roughly three years of resources and energy to seeing the current voting rights legislation move forward, and they're not about to let a pesky gun amendment stand in the way of D.C. residents and their voting rights. In a press release issued last Friday, DC Vote told of their plans to travel to a number of states to put pressure on members of Congress who pushed the amendment that would do away with the city's gun laws. Their first target? Rep. Travis Childers, a Mississippi Democrat who sponsored gun law-busting legislation late last year. DC Vote has taken to the states before, traveling to a Oregon, Montana and other states in 2007 and 2008 to pressure moderate senators who voted against the voting rights legislation.
Giving Up? Heck No: We sounded something of a pessimistic note last week after the voting rights legislation died, but on Sunday DC Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka and D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray tried to keep happy faces about the whole situation in a Post op-ed. "We are fueled for change, and recent obstacles call attention to the need for more separation between congressional rule and the District. In fact, local efforts will be expanded to support full democracy and autonomy in Washington, in addition to pursuing voting rights for the District," they wrote. "This round in the fight has made us stronger. The District's leadership stands united with a national coalition dedicated to aggressively taking on anyone who stubbornly stands in the way of democracy in our nation's capital."
We're Coming for You, Voting Rights Opponents: The DCeiver asked, and you shall receive. In a post last week, he wrote of voting rights opponents: "I think we need DCist to run down a list of all the DC Vote obstructionists and start revoking some DC privileges wholesale. Name names, start handing out photo arrays and start making life problematic for these people who, for the forseeable future, have to try to make a go of it here, for their vaunted career in politics." Keep an eye on DCist in the coming week or two as we start calling out the biggest voting rights foes. It'll be the blogging equivalent of flaming bags of dog poo on their front stoops.
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Good idea. I expect to see the wafflers (e.g., Vincent Gray) at the top of said list. No more using "recent obstacles" as an excuse - get 'er done.
"Naming names" has to be about the least effective strategy a political movement can employ. I guess DC Vote is now taking pages out of the playbook of John McCain ("we will name names on earmarks!")
Newsflash: The people who oppose DC voting rights, I mean really oppose it and are in a position to actually prevent bills from being passed, are PROUD of their opposition. The others, like members of the DC City Council are totally irrevelent. We are not talking about approving a liquor license here, we are talking about federal law and/or a constitutional amendment.
So go ahead, name names! Start with Vincent Gray. Guess what, out of 535 voting members of Congress, maybe 12, have any idea who Vincent Gray is and a grand total of 0 care about anything he says.
As for "photo arrays" and "making life problematic," for DC Vote's opponents. This one really makes for a good laugh. DC Vote doesn't have the power or the serious public support to make the lives of anyone at any level of politics "problematic." Let's see, a bunch of bloggers and activists from DC are suddenly going to make life "problematic" for Southern Democratic and Republican Members of Congress. DC Vote couldn't sway an ANC election, let alone something this big.
DC Vote is so totally out of its league that it is a borderline tragedy.
I know it is a rather onerous process, but why not start pushing for a constitutional amendment? It would be one way to get all those allegedly opposed on "constitutional" grounds to support it or to shut up. It would however have to address the Senate problem. I suggest a house seat for the District and amendment language that allows DC to remain DC, but to be able to vote for the senators in MD.
I am all for a constitutional amendment instead of trying to pass this unconstitutional 1/3 Compromise. What DC Vote and others will say is that it has been tried in the past and died when it wasn't ratified by enough states in 1985. Of note is that times have changed considerably since 1978 when the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was passed by the House and the Senate. I believe DC Vote could be using its resources more effectively if they were traveling to states pushing for a constitutional amendment instead of a token vote in the House of Representatives.
I bet you would have been against home rule, wouldn't you? You don't get it. The vote was just another step in the process. After we got the House, we would go for the Senate. It is all moot now. What a shame. DC can't point the finger at the NRA or Ensign or anyone else other then our own leadership for this massive failure.
Given how many people have been holding their breath on this one, I am surprised we have not seen a spate of asphyxiation deaths.
I doubt I'll ever see DC Statehood in my lifetime. But I used to say the same thing about seeing a crypto Marxist Kenyan Antichrist in the Oval Office. Keep hope alive!
What a joke. DCvote is going to Mississippi to influence the election? Nice try. That's a reaaall smart use of resources. I am sure the voters down there will care deeply about what they say.
Hey, here is an idea. How about using all that time/labor/money to get CONSENSUS AMONG DC POLLS!?!
Gimme a break. Even on the one chance in a million they are successful, so what? What good will it do? It seems like they are an org that has failed and is looking for "make work" that they can crow about.
I don't really understand how this plan will help matters any. I think perhaps it's time to withdraw, pool the resources, replace leadership with new, and re-think the strategic plan. Once we re-build the movement, then go back out in force with a new objective and plan created by fresh leadership. Doing so may delay voting rights but in the long run it may prove more effective in winning the fight for full DC representation.
I don't know enough about the voting rights' political position to offer much comment other then that. Though I would be curious to know where the focus is. If the focus is on full statehood (i.e. making DC a full-fledged 51st state); than I think the movement should reconsider and take smaller 'baby steps' like just getting representation. I don't think the nation is ready to add a 51st star to our flag, there are so many logistical details to be worked out. If we're only focused on the representation (for now) than we may see better success?
It's very difficult to be optimistic right now. At this rate, it will be legal for gays in the District to vote before the District of Columbia gets voting representation in congress.
It's very difficult to be optimistic right now. At this rate, it will be legal for gays in the District to vote before the District of Columbia gets voting representation in congress.
After opposing allowing their residents the freedom to exercise their second amendment rights, it's quite obvious that the autocrats in DC do not deserve the "rights" they seek here.First they need to learn how to govern properly before this sort of thing should even be considered!
I for one wholeheartedly support the new flaming bags of dog poo initiative.
Out of curiosity, anyone know why we're doing it?
I'm pretty sure the FBDP Initiative was successfully filibustered. Jim Graham kept trying to tack on a rider that would criminalize posession of a Jumbo Slice, punishable by a $500 fine or a weekend "holiday" in El Salvador with him.