The Washington Post
From ReadExpress.com
11/22/2006
CAPITOL HILL-On Monday, Express asked readers about their thoughts on pending legislation in the House that would grant the District of Columbia a full vote on the House floor. D.C.'s delegate currently can vote in committee but not in the full House.
The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-DC, and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., would give D.C. a vote and Utah a new at-large seat.
The bill currently has momentum to clear the House before the end of the 109th Congress-but it does not address equal representation in the Senate, something that irks staunch statehood activists.
A few wrote Express to voice their displeasure, including former Shadow U.S. Rep. John Capozzi who said “one-third representation is not the solution to this problem.”
Writes Timothy Cooper, executive director of the Worldrights organization, “The Davis/Norton bill is insufficient, ill-advised, and unconstitutional. It is a sad reflection on the leadership of the District of Columbia, which has zealously pursued the lowest common denominator at the expense of standing forthrightly for fundamental rights. The Davis/Norton bill is not, nor has it ever been, a stepping stone for achieving true political equality; rather, if enacted, it will stand as a monument to the lost cause of equal DC rights. Only local politicos, who profit more by the practice of compromise than principle, would claim that a bill that grants DC residents one-third of a congressional vote after 200 years of disparate treatment at the hands of a hypocritical Congress represents 'a new dawn for democracy' in Washington, DC. It is nothing of the kind. The Davis/Norton bill represents the dilution of our finest dreams and the erosion of our dignity. The residents of the District of Columbia should expect and accept nothing less than equality.”
Michael Grass (Express)