Over at Huffington Post, Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute has a nice roundup of what she thinks are the best public policy initiatives of 2007. Number six on her list is the D.C. Voting Rights Act, and she has a solid grasp on why congressional representation for the District is so important:

Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C’s indomitable delegate, can debate with the best of them, but without the D.C. Voting Rights Act, neither she nor anyone else D.C. residents elect to Congress can cast a binding vote. No matter that the District’s population is greater than, say, Wyoming’s (two senators and a representative, thank you very much) or that its residents pay taxes and serve on juries, or even that the U.S. is a signatory to international treaties guaranteeing full voting rights.

Also of note for D.C. from her list is item number two: San Francisco’s new law mandating at least five days of paid sick leave for everyone employed within city limits. The Washington Post notes this morning that the D.C. Council is set to vote on a similar measure for Washington on Jan. 8. Should the bill pass the Council, D.C. would become only the second place in the country to guarantee paid sick leave for workers. It’s certainly nice to see D.C. government on the leading edge of these kinds of public policy initiatives.

Image of the Wilson Building courtesy dc.gov