D.C. Shadow Representative Mike Panetta at right.

As the Post’s Mike DeBonis reported yesterday, D.C. Shadow Representative Mike Panetta has decided that he won’t be running again after spending three terms as one part of the District’s three-man Shadow Delegation.

Since first being elected to the position in 2006, Panetta has worked with Shadow Senators Michael A. Brown and Paul Strauss to push statehood and self-determination on Capitol Hill, a job that carries no pay and only fringe benefits. A political strategist by day, Panetta used his skills to creatively promote the District’s plight to just about anyone who would listen, whether by starting a D.C. Olympic team (curling and race-walking!), creatively using the Internet to sway members of Congress, starting a PAC to target legislators in their home districts or proposing a new D.C. Statehood license plate. He also got himself a D.C. flag tattoo for the cause, appeared on The History Channel to try and explain how the District got its shape and was one of the 41 people arrested on the Hill during an April protest for budget autonomy.

Panetta was active even before he took the position, helping spearhead a 2005 campaign to rename RFK Stadium “Taxation Without Representation Field at RFK Stadium.”

With Panetta’s term up in January 2013, the only person looking to replace him at this point is Nate Bennett-Fleming, a 26-year-old Ward 8 resident who unsuccessfully challenged Panetta in 2010. Bennett-Fleming was arrested during a June D.C. voting rights protest in front of the White House and recently started the D.C. Statehood Student Association to better draw young residents into the fight for D.C. voting rights and statehood.

In an interview with DCist, Bennett-Fleming said he wants to raise the profile of the position, work more actively with high school and college students in the District, start a fellows program for the office and expand upon Panetta’s web-based advocacy. He plans on running an aggressive city-wide campaign and sees his age as an asset.

“Wherever there’s people gathered, I plan to be there promoting this issue,” he said.

Not only is Panetta moving on (and endorsing Bennett-Fleming in the process), but Shadow Senator Michael D. Brown might also be considering other options. Brown told us that he hasn’t yet decided whether to seek another six-year term, calling it a “tough choice.”

The first official shadow representatives were elected in 1991. Since then, there have been four shadow senators (including Brown and Strauss, who are still serving) and six shadow representatives, including Panetta. By the time Panetta steps down, he will have matched Ray Browne, his predecessor, in length of service.