It's been a banner week for D.C. autonomy—one Republican wants to ban all abortions in D.C. after 20 weeks, and now another wants to exempt all military personnel from the city's gun laws. more ›

A proposal by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) to allow residents of other states with conceal carry permits to similarly carry concealed weapons in the District failed today in a surprising 24-3-1 vote, with a large number of Republicans siding with Democrats in opposition. more ›

The last time we checked in with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), he was proposing a 535-person exemption to the District's prohibition on concealed guns so that legislators could protect themselves from criminals and crazed constituents. Needless to say, that didn't fly. But Gohmert is at it again, this time trying to impose a concealed carry law upon the city. more ›

Tired of bugging honorary D.C. Representative Louie Gohmert about how Washington is treated as the federal punching bag? Then this Facebook app -- which, after reminding D.C. residents about their lack of voting rights, connects them to the office of a random one -- might be for you. more ›

Earlier this week, we wrote that Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) was planning to introduce legislation allowing the 535 members of Congress to carry guns in the Capitol, on the House floor and throughout the District. In an interview with CBS News today, Gohmert delved into the issue further, specifying that his proposal had less to do with fears over another Tucson-type shooting and more to do with his own worries of being accosted in the District by common criminals. more ›

If there's ever any certain repercussion after a national tragedy, its that politicians will draft a whole bunch of terrible legislation. According to Politico, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who we all know and love, is writing a bill which would allow members of Congress to carry guns in and around the Capitol, on the House floor and throughout the District. more ›

When in the closing days of 2006 we looked back on the year in D.C. voting rights, we optimistically hoped that 2007 would finally be the year that saw some movement on enfranchising the District's residents. Movement, yes; resolution, not so much. So as we wind down 2007, we're again left hoping that maybe the coming year will be the one. more ›

Sure, it's December and we're all preoccupied with holiday cheer and making plans for that one New Year's party that will finally be worth the all the hype. But even though they've suffered some setbacks this year, D.C. voting rights activists are pushing the cause through the holiday season. On Thursday, December 6, the D.C. Council will hold a hearing to consider legislation that would place large electronic billboards outside the John A. Wilson Building... more ›

Just this week, GQ published their annual "50 Most Powerful People in D.C." list. Populated by the likes of Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Karl Rove and Tim Russert, the list better describes the movers and shakers in "Washington", but not the District. And since we're snobs about local news and happenings, we threw together a little list of the people who really exercise influence in or over the lives of people who live and work... more ›

As Sommer mentioned earlier this week, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to speak on a panel on D.C. voting rights at the YearlyKos Convention, a huge gathering of progressive activists and bloggers in Chicago. This morning I will be sitting alongside D.C. Shadow Rep. Mike Panetta, Danny Rose from DC Vote and Kesh Luddewhetty of DC for Democracy, all of whom will detail the current fight for voting rights, where it stands... more ›

As you'll of course recall from back in late March, during the House floor debate on the voting rights issue, Rep. Louie Gohmert volunteered to represent the interests of the District's voters in the House of Representatives. Considering we still don't have a full voting member of our own, we kindly thanked the congressman by asking all of you to get in touch with Rep. Gohmert so that he could address your concerns personally.... more ›

Browsing around the site a few days ago, we were struck by how much the photo of local informercial crazy guy Matthew Lesko resembled Ward 1 Council member and club shutter-downer Jim Graham — there's the poofy silver hair, the 1950s glasses, the bowtie. It would only be better if Graham rode around in a question mark-covered Scion. But it got us thinking: who else in D.C. looks like somebody else? So after the jump... more ›

Seriously, how much more ironic could this be? Queen Elizabeth II is visiting Washington today. Washington was named for one of the leaders of the fight for independence against the repressive British empire -- then led by King George III -- a battle that was in part provoked by a general frustration with the levying of taxes and the denial of representation. And yet, over 200 years later, the residents of Washington still pay taxes... more ›

This week we begin a new feature highlighting our favorite comments of the week. DCist is nothing without our readers, whose thoughtful and often entertaining contributions help make this a vibrant community. Whether you disagree with us, share tips or just have a unique take on life in Washington, keep those comments coming. We couldn't do it without ya. This week, fuzzy recollections of the Eighties, perils of D.C. residency, mainstream media critiques and more.... more ›

Last time we live blogged the House debate on District voting rights, things didn't go too well. We're hoping for a bit of an improvement today. From what we've heard on the Hill, debate kicks off at 10:30 a.m., and the legislation has been split up into two separate parts -- one covering the actual voting seats both D.C. and Utah would receive and the other dealing with the minor increase in annual spending the... more ›

While thousands of District residents braved wind and rain on Monday to demand that Congress pass legislation granting the city a voting representative, one congressman went a step further and introduced legislation that would similarly give the District two senators. Well, kind of. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) -- yes, that Louie Gohmert -- calls for the retrocession of all District lands not containing a federal building or monument to Maryland. In... more ›

We're just a weekend away from the March for Voting Rights, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, April 16 at Freedom Plaza, ending at the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool at 4 p.m. for a rally. As we've mentioned before, you only have to take an hour off of work to join in the cause, and we'd encourage everyone to do so. We'll be there, and this is why: We're Too Close To... more ›

We're but five days away from the March for Voting Rights, the biggest and best chance District residents and their supporters will have to demand that Congress finally do something about our longstanding disenfranchisement. As we noted yesterday, you only need to take an hour off of work to support a worthy and principled cause. But why should you? Well, on Friday we'll be listing the reasons we're heading out to march. But everyone is... more ›

As we mentioned yesterday, next Monday, April 16 is the long-awaited Voting Rights March. Activists, residents and supporters will take an afternoon to demand that Congress finally do something to remedy the 200-year-old disenfranchisement of the District's residents. We'd like to see as many people out there as possible, but we recognize that it's hard to take an entire afternoon off, regardless of how good the cause is. Fear not, though -- you may only... more ›

Isn't it nice that you don't have to wonder what you'll be doing tonight? There's just no question -- you'll be at tonight's DCist Voting Rights Happy Hour, co-hosted by our friends at DC Vote. It's true, a vote on the bill before the House has been delayed, but that's all the more reason for us to gather tonight in solidarity for full voting rights for a congressional representative for the District. We need to... more ›

Hoyer and Pelosi Need Your Input: Mike Panetta, D.C. Shadow Representative, informed us that voting rights activists are pushing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to bring the voting rights legislation that was derailed last week back to the floor of the House this week. They're afraid that if it gets pushed off until next week, it may well get lost in the usual congressional shuffle. Panetta has... more ›

Though Republicans managed to sink legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the chamber last week, voting rights activists haven't given up. In fact, they're going straight to the top. According to the Post, Mayor Adrian Fenty is slated to meet today with Joshua Bolten, Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush. We're not sure what the meeting will accomplish, though. The White House officially expressed its intention to veto the... more ›

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. It is disappointing, though not surprising, that the bill to grant Washington a voting respresentative ran into difficulties on the House floor this week, just as it was unfortunate but entirely predictable that the White House, so careless with the Constitution in other situations, cast itself as the document's determined defender and threatened to veto the bill should its allies in Congress... more ›

Update, Part 3: Here's the audio of Rep. Gohmert's wisdom on the District's lack of representation. Or, should we say, over-representation? And we've redesigned the banner for his website to better reflect his new responsibilities... Louie Gohmert — The District's Voting Representative powered by ODEO--> Update, Part 2: Here's a pic of Louie. He seems like a nice guy. And this is what he said, according to the Congressional Record: "I would submit to... more ›

The House Judiciary Committee today endorsed legislation granting the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, setting the measure on track for a full vote by the end of the month. Though legal scholars debated the constitutionality of the measure in a hearing before the committee yesterday and a number of amendments were considered today, the legislation easily gained the approval of the Democratic-led committee, 21-13. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Rep. Chris... more ›