Photo by lightboxdc

Following the resignation and guilty plea by former Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton slammed an anonymous member of the Senate for placing a hold on a bill that would have permitted the District to move up the date of a special election to fill the seat vacated by Thomas.

Current law stipulates that 114 days must pass before a special election can be held, which making May 1 the earliest date possible for a Ward 5 vote. (May 15 is more likely.) But considering a standalone ballot could cost the District a hefty sum, Norton recently sponsored a bill that would allow the District to amend its charter and reduce the window between Council vacancies and special elections to 70 days. Such a change would allow the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics to hold the election to replace Thomas on April 3, alongside the full slate of primary contests already scheduled.

Norton’s bill was “so inconsequential” to the rest of the House’s business that it sailed through the lower chamber in a series of voice votes, her office said in a press release. The bill passed the house in November 2010 and was first read by the Senate the following month.

But because of the anonymous Senate hold, a practice that was ostensibly abolished at the beginning of the 112th Congress in January 2011, Norton said Ward 5 will go unrepresented for longer on the council than it should.

“No reason would be sufficient for holding up this bill, but we particularly resent being a pawn in a Senate game that pointedly excludes us,” the delegate said in the press release.