Carpetbaggers are carpetbaggers, no matter how good their intentions may be. At least that’s what NBC 4’s Tom Sherwood wrote yesterday in a submission to The Mail, D.C. Watch’s bi-weekly email newsletter:

Did we miss Mr. Nader’s becoming a legal resident of the District? The issue came up in 1998 when the national consumer advocate endorsed Anthony Williams for mayor. More recently, Nader has attempted to join the public debate on the baseball stadium. At the last check, Mr. Nader is a legal resident of Connecticut and pays his taxes to that state. It’s nice that anyone is interested in the well-being of District citizens and the financial accountability of our government, no matter what the issue. But it does seem a bit discordant for anyone outside the city — Nader, President Bush, or the 534 members of Congress who deny us voting rights — to presume they know best for District citizens. And certainly it’s worth being a citizen here, one would think, for one who in fact lives here.

How respond you, Mr. Nader?