Common Cause Blog

Veterans for DC Voting Rights

Just got back from a rally on Capitol Hill for DC voting rights.� A good crowd on a beautiful fall day, literally in the shadow of the Capitol.�

It's Veterans' Day and a number of DC vets spoke, including one about to go off to Afghanistan.� They spoke of serving their country proudly, but having no voice in decisions to go to war.

In a crowd filled with Obama supporters thrilled with the new President and a newly-empowered Congress, no one was taking for granted that this 200+ year struggle would end next year -- they'll still be fighting, Demanding the Vote.

And, as always at DC Vote events, a few special "performances":� DC Vote staffer Erica Spelling's fabulous voice singing the national anthem, a young poet from Ann Arbor reciting his own DC voting rights poem and, as I walked away, hearing Joe L. Da Vessel's "Demand the Vote" go-go song.

Did You Know DC Has No Vote in Congress?

What do people who don't live in our nation's capital know about the city?� Not much - a lot of myths and misinformation.� Some don't even realize it is a city with nearly 600,000 residents; or that it wasn't until 1974 that it had a�local elected government - 185 years after the Constitution.� According to�one survey, few Americans know that DC doesn't have voting representation in Congress - more than 80% - but when told about it, they support the vote overwhelmingly.

Here's a quick anecdote from a DC resident visiting Georgia, illustrating the poll's analysis.� Here's what one person said when told about the lack of a vote: "Well, that's just wrong. Shouldn't be like that."

Not Yet "Getting It Straight in 2008"

Nearly eight years ago, the country had an election meltdown, ending with misguided Supreme Court intervention in a presidential election. There's been some progress in fixing the "system", but Election Day still is a time for election officials to pray that there won't be a close election exposing the fatal flaws in their state's system.

One reason we still cannot trust our voting system is the resistance to change by many state and local officials. For instance, their opposition recently helped derail an effort in Congress to fix the voting machine problem. There are heroes, of course, among them these Profiles in Courage (see 2008 awards). But, as the NY Times pointed out today, but not enough of them. The Times editorial notes some federal reform leglislation that is languishing in Congress:

But they have faced strong partisan opposition, and lobbying from influential state and local election officials. Critics of reform make the specious argument that states have the right to set the rules for federal elections. The founders, when they wrote the Constitution, said otherwise.

National Watermelon Month

Hey, in case you thought our Congress was in the grips of partisan bickering while the country grapples with high fuel prices, Iraq, tanking economy, etc. - not to worry. The NYT tells us that the "House voted Tuesday to designate National Watermelon Month and National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day."

Awesome.

Got Pork?

The New York Times has a�story today�on pork barrel spending which highlights the large sums appropriated for soft earmarks.� Clearly we have a problem with pet projects getting the green light through committee reports, winks and nods.� True, many projects may be worthy of funding.� However, until we remove special interest campaign contributions from the equation and enact public financing it will be a way to reward donors not voters.� Publicly funded elections, as set forth in the Durbin-Specter Fair Elections Now Act (S. 1285), are the best way to achieve sensible spending priorities in the Congress.

Friday's Washington Post featured a letter to the editor from Sean Parnell, President of the Center for Competitive Politics.� It misses the point, although I agree that "better scientific, enonomic, and policy arguments" should be the focus of debate.

MD & DC

US Rep. Al Wynn, defeated in a primary, announced this week that he is quitting his seat in June, six months before his term ends. He's taking a job as a partner in a Washington lobby firm. This comes as no surprise. I'll let the WaPo comments stand by themselves:

Mr. Wynn has done his constituents a disservice and demonstrated contempt for the legislative body to which he was elected. ... If any of his constituents were wondering whether they made the right choice in voting to dump Mr. Wynn in the Democratic primary, his contempt for public service should set their minds at ease.

But there's something else in the Post editorial that's worth noting:

If [the Governor] does not call a special election, the district's residents will have no voice in the House of Representatives for more than half a year.

I agree that's an injustice. And, how about this injustice: DC residents have had no vote (and only recently a voice) for more than 200 years. Maryland can fix the 6-month injustice easily. The US Senate can undo the injustice to DC's residents - three more Senators can vote to end the filibuster blocking a bill giving DC a vote in the US House of Representatives.

Congressional Oversight?

At a panel discussion I attended�last week, a congressional expert noted that a primary function of Congress, oversight of the executive branch, has been badly neglected for years.� So, I'm disappointed that two of my heroes in Congress - Henry Waxman and Tom Davis - have chosen to pursue an investigation of Roger Clemens (not a hero).� Here's what my favorite baseball blogger wrote from spring training:

USA Today is dropped at the hotel door five days a week. The front page today�detailed that two Congressional committees are investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. The story next to it was about how many troops are being sent to Iraq without the proper equipment and that is leading to needless injuries and deaths.� ... Sorry about your son's leg, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. But you'll be happy to know that your government is hot on the case of that menace to society Roger Clemens.