Nathan

Though D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan remains convinced that it’s illegal to vote on amending the Home Rule Charter to give the city additional flexibility in how its spends its money, he said today that he would not appeal a decision made by the D.C. Board of Elections yesterday to allow the referendum to proceed on April 23.

“I don’t plan any other actions,” he said at a press briefing with Mayor Vince Gray. “I continue to believe that doing it lawfully is the only appropriate, sound way of gaining budget autonomy,” he added. At a hearing on Monday, Nathan insisted that the proposed referendum was illegal and that the board’s three members had no option but to reject it. He also said that he feared what the reaction on Capitol Hill would be to residents voting to amend the charter on this issue.

Gray, who also expressed his reservations before a D.C. Council vote last year, stuck to the same script. “I want to see budget autonomy in the District of Columbia, but i want to see it done in a lawful manner,” he said. “We could wind up being anti-deficient…which would be a violation of the law,” he added, referring to the federal law that does not allow agencies to spend money that hasn’t been specifically appropriated to them.

Unless something else gets in the way, come April 23 D.C. residents will be given the chance to vote on giving the city more budget autonomy.