About 25 D.C. voting rights advocates protested outside House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) Capitol Hill basement apartment early this morning, angrily decrying his “hypocrisy” for siding with the Tea Party while introducing measures that would prohibit the District from using local funds for abortion and needle-exchange programs.

During the protest, the demonstrators read a letter co-signed by 62 organizations calling on Republicans to stay faithful to the Tea Party’s foundations and allow local matters to be decided by local officials. “We expect conservatives to be consistent in their application of ‘local-rights’ by letting Washingtonians manage their own affairs without interference or meddling by Congress,” reads the letter.

When DC Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka tried to deliver it to Boehner’s doorstep, the speaker’s protective detail rushed into to stop him; the protesters were forced to leave the letter on his front gate with a teabag attached to it.