James Wright
The mayor of the District of Columbia recently released a report that focuses on how children will be helped by his proposed 2014 budget. D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray made public his Fiscal Year 2014 Children's Budget Report, which explains funding details for programs that help children, youth and families on Friday, May 3. It is the third time he has delivered this type of report since becoming mayor in 2011.
"My proposed budget prioritizes children and youth-including increasing funding for education by more than $79 million," Gray, 70, said. "Affordable housing gets a boost of $100 million. Libraries, truancy and recreation also see major increases in the fiscal year 2014 proposed budget."
Gray is known to be a strong advocate for the development of the District's young people. In 2005, as a member of the D.C. Council, he led the effort to have the council to produce an annual Children's Budget Report among their budget documents.
When he served as chairman of the D.C. Council from 2007-2011, he held monthly youth town hall meetings at the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest to hear their concerns.
He has continued to communicate with young people since becoming mayor by holding town hall meetings, actively engaging the city's youth mayors and beefing up the summer youth employment program. The operating budget has $2.1 billion for children, youth and family programs, nearly 21 percent of the total budget.
Gray said that helping young people develop to their full potential is a priority for his administration.
"I am proud to invest in the present and future of our children and youth," he said. "I encourage District residents to read the report."
ASALH Luncheon Features Berry, Honors Luminaries
Wednesday, 27 February 2013 16:00 Published in Local
The nation's leading African-American organization, whose mission is to study and promote black history, hosted an event that featured a keynote speaker who put into perspective one of America's most revered documents and honored female leaders for their countless contributions.
Mary Frances Berry, a noted historian at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, served as the keynote speaker at the 87th Annual Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Black History Luncheon on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Northwest. Berry said that despite the jubilant mood that blacks feel in light of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, she doesn’t think there’s much to celebrate.
"It was not the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery, it was the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that did that," Berry said. "Lincoln was not an abolitionist. He did it to save the Union and he stated that the Emancipation Proclamation was a 'fit and necessary war measure.'"
Berry's insightful remarks are a reflection of the members of ASALH, which was founded in Chicago on Sept. 9, 1915 and incorporated in the District on Oct. 2, 1915 as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History by Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland.
ASALH is based in Northwest and is credited for the creation of Negro History Week in February of 1926 and in 1976, the organization expanded the celebration to include the entire month.
Berry, 75, counted among one of the 21 "2013 Living Legacy Awardees" honored for their outstanding achievements during the three-hour afternoon affair. Other honorees included NAACP Chairman of the Board Roslyn Brock of Elkridge, Md.; University of the District of Columbia professor Margaret Moore; Olivia Hooker, a survivor of the 1920 Tulsa Race Riots; psychologist Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the first students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957; Naomi Long Madgett, poet laureate of Detroit and Consolee Nishimwe, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus in 1994.
The audience watched a 10-minute video sent by first lady Michelle Obama. Afterward, Suzan Johnson Cook, the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, presented a White House proclamation to Sylvia Cyrus, the executive director of ASALH.
"We must march until victory is won," Cook, 55, told guests who attended the luncheon.
Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman unveiled the "Emancipation Proclamation" stamp which features the artisanship of stamp designer Gail Anderson. Stroman said that the stamp represents an historic benchmark in American history and one that should never be given short shrift.
"We must never forget the indignities of days gone by," he said.
Dr. Andrew Ray, the grand basileus of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., of Decatur, Ga., donated $10,000 to ASALH. Ray said that Omega and ASALH share a common bond – one that will never be severed.
"Carter G. Woodson belongs to Omega," he said. "Our contribution is to support the legacy that he started and we will continue to do this in the future."
ASALH gifted $2,000 to the Moorland-Spingarn collection at Howard University in Northwest and the same amount to Bowie State University in Bowie, Md. Alvin Thornton, a senior adviser to the president of Howard University and a noted political scientist, accepted the ASALH check on behalf of the university.
"The ASALH-Howard nexus is a rich one," said Thornton, 64. "Howard University has space on its campus for ASALH and many of its scholars, such as Woodson and others, who have roots and connections to the university. It is up to my generation to see that the nexus remains strong."
During her remarks Berry said that in the future blacks must be clear on where they are going and they must tell the truth about our history.
"I think it is great that Martin Luther King has a memorial on the [National] Mall and there is a stamp with Rosa Parks on it but that is not what they were really about," she said. "If you knew what the real Martin Luther King was saying and what the real Rosa Parks was saying and doing, there would be no stamp or King Memorial. What you hear about King is his dream but you don't hear that he came to Washington in 1963 to cash a check."
Silverman Wants to Address Disparities
Elissa Silverman is ready to take her skills from the worlds of media and think tanks to politics where she hopes to become a model legislator at the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest.
Silverman, 40, is a candidate for the at-large position on the D.C. Council that was vacated by Phil Mendelson last year when District voters elected him as chairman of the legislative body. Silverman, one of eight candidates competing in the April 23 special election, said that District residents will experience a difference in government if she’s given the opportunity.
"I can show District voters 15 years of service to the city," said Silverman. "I will have a commitment to ethics reform, integrity, accountability and strategic investment while serving on the D.C. Council."
Silverman, currently on leave from the Fiscal Policy Institute in Northeast, where she works as a budget analyst, said that her years at the institute have heightened her sense of what needs to be done to help struggling District residents. For years, Silverman covered the District as a reporter for The Washington Post and the Washington City Paper.
"We have a growing city but we have our problems," the Northeast resident said. "We have to work the income and opportunity gaps in our city. We have to close the achievement gap in our schools."
She said that her years as a journalist will help hold governmental officials and her council colleagues accountable for their actions.
"Being a reporter, it is ingrained in you to advocate for openness and transparency and I will definitely do that on the D.C. Council," Silverman said. "Also, I hope to be treated fairly by the press during this election season."
However, it’s her work with the institute that may pose problems for Silverman with some District residents, D.C. political analyst Chuck Thies said.
"Elissa knows how the political game is played because of her years as a journalist and working with the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute but she will have problems with higher income residents of the city," said Thies, 47. "These residents pay a lot of taxes and they may not want to support a candidate who may raise their taxes to help less fortunate D.C. residents, which the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute supports. I can see her opponents now branding her a 'tax and spend liberal.'"
Silverman wants a city that’s for everyone and will work to ensure that happens on the D.C. Council, if elected, she said. "I want to make our communities better places to live and to see our families healthier."
Brown Prepares to Win
Former D.C. Council member Michael Brown is methodically planning his way back to the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest.
Brown, 47, who lost to D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) in the November general election last year and is a candidate for the April 23 special election to fill the at-large seat of Phil Mendelson, said that his campaign is taking shape.
"On Jan. 23, we turned into the D.C. Board of Elections more names than any other candidate," he said. "We have identified our office team and we have professionals from the Clinton and Obama campaigns working with us as well as local political professionals."
Brown served on the D.C. Council as an independent from 2009-2013 and gained a reputation as a lawmaker concerned about economic development in working-class areas of the city and affordable housing. Brown continues to work as a partner at The Madison Group in Northwest and said that he still has some assets that will help him win on April 23.
"I have high-name recognition and I know how to build a citywide operation for the campaign," he said. "Our organization is filled with people who are energized and excited about this campaign. I want to go back to the John A. Wilson Building so [that] I can continue to be the 'conscience of the council.'"
The race for the D.C. State Board of Education seat in Ward 8 has become one of the most contentious of this election season, with accusations being hurled regarding poor attendance at board meetings to public outbursts, emerging as the primary issues.
Ward 8 D.C. State Board of Education member Trayon White and Philip Pannell, a longtime activist, are engaged in a Nov. 6 election that has the ward's political class split.
"I am supporting Trayon White because in the year that he has served as our representative on the State Board of Education, he has come into himself," said Wanda Lockridge, a former chairman of the D.C. Democratic State Committee. "Trayon is a real leader and a fighter. I see his heart and he is for the young people of Ward 8."
Opinions differ.
Jacque Patterson, a former president of the Ward 8 Democrats, said that Pannell has the interest of the ward's children as well. He also commends Pannell for his decades of community involvement.
"When my daughter entered college, she needed financial assistance," said Patterson, 47. "Phil helped me find money for my daughter to go to school. He has been around the ward and the city a long period of time and he is constantly busy and staying active to serve the people."
White, 28, won the special election on April 26, 2011 to replace Wanda Lockridge's husband, the late William Lockridge, on the board of education. Pannell placed second, followed by several other candidates.
Political observers note that White, since his election, has stayed close to D.C. Council member Marion Barry [D-Ward 8] while Pannell, 61, has been a staunch critic of the former four-term mayor who now represents his ward.
Pannell recently turned up the heat when he accused White of neglecting his duties by not attending a number of work sessions of the board of education.
White supporters have accused Pannell of walking away from organizations when he doesn't get what he wants. And, they say, Pannell doesn't leave organizations without first voicing his opinion in a forceful manner and directing his wrath at those who disagree with him.
"I have known Phil for 30 years and I think his behavior is not consistent," Wanda Lockridge said. "At my husband's funeral, he was politicking for votes. He quit when he was a member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee and I told him I would not support him for anything again."
However, Charles Wilson, the president of the Historic Anacostia Block Association and an advisory neighborhood commissioner, said that Pannell works for him.
"I have witnessed firsthand over the years his leadership and commitment on behalf of Ward 8 youth," said Wilson, 36. "I think he will be the best candidate for the position."
Pannell has served as president of major ward organizations such as the Ward 8 Democrats and the Congress Heights' civic association. He single-handedly reinvigorated the Ballou PTSA and has raised money for its nationally acclaimed marching band, the Ballou Knights.
White is the executive director of HICKS or Helping Inner City Kids Succeed, a nonprofit designed to help youth excel in school and in life. While on the board of education, he has pushed for more resources for Ward 8 schools and greater parental involvement.
Mary Lord, who represents Ward 2 on the board and is a candidate for the at-large position as well, said that "Ward 8 has two very strong candidates and I want them both."
"Phil has done extraordinary things and he has had a lasting impact on schools and parents," Lord said. "Trayon, who I serve with, represents the views of young people well and that is a community that needs representation."
D.C. political analyst Chuck Thies said that the White-Pannell race could have far-reaching ramifications.
"Trayon is seen as a product of Marion Barry and if Trayon loses, it will be a political blow to Barry," said Thies, 47.
Pannell is known nationally as a gay rights activist and if he should win on Nov. 6, he would be the first openly gay black to be elected to a major office in the District. Thies said that achievement would be noteworthy, but for the most part, irrelevant.
"Phil's election would open doors for African-American gay candidates but the goal should be to move beyond labels," he said. "The real issue should be who would be the best for the kids in Ward 8 on the board of education."
Wanda Lockridge said that it's time for seasoned activists like she and Pannell to step aside for the younger generation.
"It is time for these young people to take the banner and for people like Phil and me to guide them," she said. "I will be with Trayon until the end."
Gray Announces St. Elizabeths East Pavilion Design Team
Wednesday, 17 October 2012 22:43 Published in Local
The mayor of the District told guests at a recent unveiling of a pavilion project in Southeast that its development and completion portends the stepped-up development of sections of Ward 8.
Mayor Vincent Gray, (D), announced the design-and-construction team chosen to build a facility on the St. Elizabeths complex that he said will have a unique structure and use environmentally sound methods.
Gray, 69, said on Saturday at the St. Elizabeths East Campus in Southeast before 40 people, that the St. Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion will be built with the collaboration of the design-and-construction team of KADCON, Davis Brody Bond and Robert Sillman Associates, all of Northwest. The pavilion is part of the re-building of the St. Elizabeths East Complex as it's converted from a largely mental health facility into an unit that will house food vendors, farmers' markets, casual dining spots, weekend and after-hours activities and cultural and arts events.
"We now have a seminal opportunity to activate the site for commercial activity prior to the St. Elizabeths East Project Phase I completion in 2015," said Gray, at the Oct 13 event. "The design excellence and architectural and construction prowess that the winning firms will bring to the Gateway Pavilion are [what] the District's proposal for interim use here demanded, and we look forward to its construction and use by local and regional consumers."
The pavilion is unique in its design because it will have two levels. The lower level will be the place where the farmers' markets and vendors sell their wares and the upper level – which is to be directly above in an open air space – will be the site for meetings and concerts.
The uniqueness of the pavilion's design is illustrated by the planned fusion of the building with its surroundings, such as the grass, trees, and the soil. It will incorporate one facet of sustainable living by harvesting rainwater into an underground cistern capable of supplying water for irrigation and restrooms, instead of relying on the District's water supply.
Peter Cook, an architect and a principal with Davis Brody Bond, said the pavilion will be one of the most unique buildings in the city.
"There is nothing else like it because it is of the land," said Cook, 49. "This facility is an integration of the land with the pavilion and it will be used by the Congress Heights and St. Elizabeths community."
Pavilion Project Manager Ethan Warsh, 29, said he expects the project to be completed by the summer of 2013.
D.C. Council member Marion Barry [D-Ward 8] said the building of the pavilion as well as development of the rest of the St. Elizabeths complex on both the east and west campuses "will give hundreds of jobs to D.C. residents in general and Ward 8 residents in particular."
"Ward 8 is on the move, we have a new Ward 8," exclaimed Barry, 75. "You see a different spirit here. It's been a long time coming."
Barry said buildings like the pavilion will spur economic development in the ward, but he cautioned that ward residents who have lived there all along should not be forgotten.
James Bunn, executive director of the Ward 8 Business Council, appeared excited about the project.
"This is supremely important," said Bunn, 70. "This is good that we will see this during our lifetime and our grandkids will be able to use this. There is a great future for this part of the city."
However, Ward 8 resident Brenda Jones tempered her praise for the project.
"I think it is wonderful but I believe that those who live in Ward 8 should benefit from the jobs and other opportunities that the pavilion provides. Ward 8 business owners should have the chance to be a part of the building of this pavilion, also," she said.
Vice President Joe Biden rolled his eyes, held his hands up to the sky and snickered while his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, struggled to make a presence during the vice presidential debate that took place Oct. 11 on the campus of Centre College in Danville, Ky. The occasion marked the only time the two vice presidential candidates will meet during the campaign.
Biden, 69, showed his mastery of foreign policy which should be of no surprise. Before he became vice president, Biden served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and, when the Republicans were in charge of that chamber, he was its ranking member.
By the way, it's no secret in Washington that Biden would love to be secretary of state.
So when Ryan, 42, took the Obama administration to task for not properly responding to an attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya and the death of the American ambassador last month, Biden had enough. Ryan towed the line of his running mate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) when he said that "it took two weeks [for the Obama administration] to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack."
In his now-famous line, Biden responded, "with all due respect, that's a bunch of malarkey."
Political analysts and observers understand that the vice presidential debates are, as in the words of Fox News journalist Chris Wallace, "fun, informative and they don't mean anything."
While the first presidential debate took place in 1960 with then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy, the first vice presidential face-off did not occur until 16 years later, with Republican Sen. Robert Dole and Democrat Sen. Walter Mondale fighting it out.
Mondale, in reference to his opponent, said that Dole "earned his reputation as a hatchet man." That characterization of Dole stayed with him throughout his successful career in the U.S. Senate and when he lost his bid for the presidency to Bill Clinton in 1996.
Eight years later, then Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush debated Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in na historic contest in which the first woman on a major party ticket took on a sitting vice president. Most political analysts considered the debate a draw, but Bush got flak from some in the media when he told an aide after the debate that, "we kicked a little ass."
The most famous vice presidential debate took place in 1988, when seasoned Democratic U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen said to then-Republican Sen. Dan Quayle, "senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
Biden may have been aggressive in the debate with Ryan because of Obama's mediocre performance with Romney a week earlier. It is likely that Biden, a well-tested politician, wanted to rattle the young congressman who has only been on the national scene for a few years.
Biden's strategy must have worked, for Ryan said that things like "the vice president very well knows that sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way."
Biden coolly, but firmly said, "but I always say what I mean."
Ryan, who seemed weary of interruptions and corrections by the vice president said, in a desperate, yet polite tone, "Mr. Vice President, I know that you are under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but I think the people would be better served if we don't keep interrupting each other."
HBO recently had a show, "Veep," that is about a vice president who is marginalized by the president and is never consulted on even minor policy decisions. John Nance Garner of Texas, who served as vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933-1941, said that the vice presidency "is not worth a warm bucket of spit."
Still, one of these men will become president if the leader of their ticket dies or becomes incapacitated. Along those lines, the Biden-Ryan contest was worth watching.
Otherwise, it was pure entertainment.
Bonds Will Go for Mendelson's Seat
The leader of the Democratic Party in the District has decided to transition from a political activist to a full-fledged council member when the opportunity presents itself.
Anita Bonds, the chairman of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, confirmed recent published reports that she will seek the at-large seat on the D.C. Council that is expected to be vacated by interim D.C. Chairman Phil Mendelson once he's elected chairman in a special election on November 6.
"I am interested in the position as the interim council member," Bonds said. "Sometimes you can make change on the inside and I feel like I can do that now. I can be useful to the residents as an insider."
When Mendelson wins, as expected in the special election, the D.C. Board of Elections will declare his seat vacant and determine a date for the special election, which will probably be in early March.
Bonds, a longtime political activist in the city, served as an advisory neighborhood commissioner who represented the Bloomingdale neighborhood for years.
She lives in Northwest and has ties to D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and a host of other seasoned political operatives. She said she intends to submit her name to the Democratic State Committee when the vacancy officially opens.
District law states that when a D.C. Council at-large member leaves the position, the party that the officeholder belongs to fills it temporarily until a special election is held, usually 90 days after the vacancy is declared. Bonds said that she has the right to seek the interim position.
"Even though I am the chairman of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, I do not have to step down in order to get the council member position," she said.
Bonds said that she knows the process of filling the interim position well. She presided over the January 2011 process in which Sekou Biddle, a D.C. State Board of Education member, got the nod to be the interim member over former D.C. Council member Vincent Orange by a vote of committee members.
Orange later defeated Biddle and other opponents in an April 2011 special election to fill the seat permanently.
Orange, who won the Democratic Party nomination for one of the two at-large seats on the D.C. Council in the November 6 general election, said that he's aware that Bonds wants the temporary position but said others are also interested.
Bonds said that she's not discouraged by the perception that some politicians who serve in the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest are morally and ethically challenged.
"I see myself as a problem solver," she said. "I am also known for not shying away from a fight and I think that is the way that I can be the most helpful [to District residents] by being a fighter for the people."
Cooper Wants Change – Now
A.J. Cooper, an independent candidate for the at-large position on the D.C. Council, said that D.C. residents should send a message to the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest in the November 6 general election that politics as usual is over.
"I am sick and tired of being sick and tired," said Cooper, 32. "We as D.C. residents deserve a lot better. I am a candidate running for [one] of the at-large seats on the city council who is not connected to corporate interests."
Cooper's main opponent is D.C. Council member Michael Brown (I-At Large) but he also faces Republican Mary Brooks Beatty, David Grasso, Leon Swain Jr., and Statehood Green Party Ann Wilcox for one of the at-large seats.
A candidate who gave it his best shot for the at-large seat in the Democratic primary in April is preparing once again to run in the hopes of snatching Phil Mendelson's spot before he was elected interim chairman of the D.C. Council.
Peter Shapiro, 49, who finished third in the spring Democratic primary with 10.56 percent of the vote, said that change is needed in District politics.
"I think we have a broken political system and we need fresh new leadership," he said. "We need someone on the D.C. Council that has experience in politics but has the perspective of an outsider."
Shapiro isn't a political novice. Although he's a D.C. native, he moved to Prince George's County in 1990 and served on the Brentwood, Md., town council and then served on the Prince George's County Council from 1998-2004.
While on the county council, he served as chair for two consecutive years, notable in that the tradition is for the chairmanship to rotate among members for one-year intervals.
Shapiro gained praise from county leaders and residents for his efforts to improve public education and by upgrading the busy Route 1 corridor.
Shapiro is the director of the Chesapeake Center for Public Leadership in Northwest, which is designed to instruct leaders in the public sector on how to approach problems with innovative strategies through programs and workshops.
Mendelson appears to be a shoo-in by most political experts to win the position as the chairman of the D.C. Council permanently on November 6, in a special election. If that happens, Mendelson's seat will be declared vacant by the D.C. Board of Elections and the D.C. Democratic State Committee will choose the occupant in mid-to-late November.
The occupant will serve on the D.C. Council for approximately 90 days until a special election is held to permanently fill the seat. The election will likely take place in early March.
It's the same process that occurred when Kwame Brown became chairman of the D.C. Council in November 2010 and Sekou Biddle won the intra-party contest to serve in the position until he lost to Vincent Orange in a special election in April 2011.
Chuck Thies, a District political analyst, said that Shapiro has a chance to win the special election to the at-large D.C. Council seat in 2013.
"He spent time, effort and energy in the Democratic primary," said Thies, 47. "He probably created a base for himself and he does have name recognition."
Some political observers say that Shapiro spoiled the seat for Biddle during the Democratic primary in April in Wards 2, 3 and 6, because Biddle lost the seat to Orange by only a few thousands votes. Biddle fared well in the predominantly white areas of the city while Orange won black neighborhoods by comfortable margins.
Thies said that a special election is "different" from a primary for a candidate like Shapiro.
"He has built a base and could be formidable, in that he will likely face a number of people running for that seat," he said.
He said that there is a question "of what Sekou will do?"
Biddle, who works as the vice president of advocacy for the United Negro College Fund in Fairfax, Va., refused to answer questions about whether he will seek Mendelson's seat in a 2013 special election.
Thies said that the biggest advantage Shapiro has is his experience in running in a D.C. race.
"Newcomers should not plan on winning the first time," he said. "They should be in it for the long haul."
Shapiro said that he is ready to provide the leadership that the city needs.
"I want to be an advocate for the people and be a good public leader," he said.
Norton Blasts GOP Stance on the District
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton made it clear that she didn't like the part of the Republican Party platform that disparaged the District of Columbia.
"The Republicans have just rejected attempts by D.C. Republicans for a D.C. voting rights plank that is virtually the same as the bill for a D.C. House vote, whose chief sponsor was former Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican," Norton said on the heels of the Republican National Convention. "The bill passed both the House and Senate and would be law today except for a gun safety amendment that sought to eliminate all the city's gun safety laws."
The D.C. platform that the GOP adopted at its convention last week in Tampa, under the subhead of "Preserving the District of Columbia", said that the "nation's capital city, a special responsibility of the federal government, belongs to its residents and to all Americans, millions of whom visit it every year."
The platform talked about efforts to provide school choice to low-income District residents, corruption among the city's elected leaders, called for a non-partisan elected attorney general and a call to stop "one party-rule." It also said that the city's tough gun laws should be gutted and remained very clear on one specific topic.
"We oppose statehood for the District of Columbia."
There's a perception that the Republican Party and most members of the party have always opposed District political representation, autonomy and statehood. However, that's not the case. Nelson Rimensnyder, a candidate for D.C. shadow senator, published a piece in The Washington Post in 2005. He said that President Dwight D. Eisenhower became an advocate for the city while serving in office.
Indeed, Eisenhower, in his 1954 State of the Union Address, said "in the District of Columbia the time is long overdue for granting national suffrage to its citizens and also applying the principle of local self-government to the nation's capital."
Rimensnyder said that Eisenhower supported a 25-member legislative body and a governor to run the city. He said that Eisenhower had Sen. Prescott Bush (R-Conn.) push for the adoption of the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which allowed the District three votes in the U.S. Electoral College.
The amendment passed in 1961 and the District supported Democrat Lyndon Johnson for president in 1964. Moderate Republicans such as Sen. Charles Mathias of Maryland supported D.C. Home Rule and voting rights in the U.S. Congress.
However, the GOP abandoned its support for full political rights for the District in 1980, when the conservatives took over the party. Since then, most conservative Republicans have not supported expanding D.C. political representation and autonomy, stating that the Constitution prohibits the city from participating in national affairs because of its status as the nation's capital.
Conservative Republicans have argued that the city should retrocede back into Maryland, but that has been rejected by political leaders in both political parties and those in Maryland.
However, some conservative legal scholars such as Kenneth Starr have argued that the District deserves a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives and points out that the U.S. Congress can do this under the authority given by the Constitution.
Ironically, Prescott Bush's son and grandson, Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, don't support a voting member of the U.S. Congress from the District or D.C. statehood.
The Democrats have supported, in theory, the political aspirations of District residents in their party platforms but recent bills that support D.C. statehood or a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives have fallen short.
Norton, 75, who did not get a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte at Informer press time, said that the Republican platform aims to disempower D.C. residents.
"We did not expect the Republicans to fully embrace our rights, but we had every right to expect more than the most hostile Republican language on the District of Columbia in a Republican platform in American history."
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