Wally Dickson's remarks in response to Mark Plotkin’s column in the Sunday Washington Post, Metro page C5, entitled “Forget a ‘Clean Bill.’ D.C. Needs a House Vote.”

July 5^th, 2009

I like Mark Plotkin. I often agree with Mark Plotkin. But on the issue of Eleanor Norton’s “Voting Rights” legislation, I say Mark Plotkin is just plain wrong! Giving us one vote in the House of Representatives will not make us “truly citizens of this country,” as Mark suggests. One vote will not equals us make!

The flaw in Mark’s argument is revealed in his own words:

“I know there are those terrible pro-gun amendments in the bill. But those amendments unfortunately can be placed on any bill having to do with the District.”

In that one comment, Mark admits what many of us District citizens know as the fundamental outrage –the citizens of the District are denied full sovereignty in the determination of the affairs of their own governance and full standing in the national debate guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton should withdraw her “one vote bill.” We need to get everyone in the District on the same page, including Representative Norton and Mark Plotkin, and to focus on the one and only true solution to this outrage – Get behind and support DC Statehood NOW! – Yes We Can! DC Statehood is the only real solution. One small vote in the House of Representatives is not the answer. It’s an insult!

The citizens of the District of Columbia should be deeply offended by any suggestion that they accept the ”voting rights” bill - a mere “crumb” being tossed to us - as a resolution of the denial of their birthright to legal standing and sovereignty. The so-called “voting rights bill” is an insult to our collective dignity as taxpaying, law-abiding, loyal citizens of the United States of America! Shouldn’t we be seriously considered for full rights of statehood before the residents of Puerto Rico? Puerto Ricans deserve to control their own destiny, too. But I am appalled that 152 House members, including Eleanor Holmes Norton, eagerly signed on to legislation providing a referendum letting Puerto Ricans choose whether they want to become a state or an independent entity, but will not do as much for the citizens of the District of Columbia!

We are residents of the only national capital city on earth, insofar as I can determine, who are not allowed to fully participate in their national legislature and in the national debate. Here in D.C., we have no voice in the U.S. Senate, where important national policy is created, where Supreme Court justices’ appointments and international treaties are ratified, where wars are funded. U.S. citizens in all 50 states participate in those debates, through their Senators and Representatives. But we here in the District of Columbia have been “sitting in the back of the bus” for more than 200 years now, and we don’t want to wait any longer. To Mark Plotkin and other city leaders, including entrenched business interests who find the status quo to their liking, and to anyone who suggests we should be satisfied with the “crumb” being offered us – one vote in the House of Representatives - we say: This is an outrageous insult!

To those, like Mark Plotkin, who argue that the “one vote in the House” bill is “a first step” in the quest for statehood are perpetrating a fraud on the District residents. I don’t believe incrementalism is appropriate when the issue is one of a Constitutional promise of full citizenship. We are either full U.S. citizens or we are not! One vote in the House will not make the difference. Why are the half million plus residents of the District of Columbia being treated as something less than full citizens, when our population exceeds that of at least one other of the existing fifty states, i.e., Wyoming. I urge that further denial of our birthright is not an option!

It does our cause no good to take just the “crumbs” offered as the best we can expect, as Mark urges us to do. The only way to gain what is rightfully ours is through aggressively lobbying for a simple Act of Congress granting D.C. statehood, requiring only a majority vote. With the Democratic Party now in control of Congress and the White House – I say it is time for those who are tired of being in “the back of the bus” to shout:

Now is our time! This is our moment! DC Statehood NOW!

Signed – Wallace Gordon Dickson, Ward One DC resident, U.S. citizen, and Air Force veteran. ____________________________________________________________________________

By MARK PLOTKIN
Washington
Sunday, July 5, 2009

Yesterday was our nation's birthday, but D.C. residents weren't invited to the party.

Oh, sure, we can sit in front of the Capitol and along the Mall to enjoy the music and the fireworks. But D.C. residents are not truly citizens of this country: They don't have a voting representative in Congress.

This fight has been going on for a very long time. And now it seems as if it will never end. The D.C. voting rights bill is stalled. Our nonvoting delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, pulled it recently from the House floor. Washingtonians have been told to wait until the right time arrives.

Yes, I know there are those terrible pro-gun amendments in the bill. But those amendments unfortunately can be placed on any bill having to do with the District. The National Rifle Association has scared a sizable number of House Democrats so much that the District cannot get a "clean bill," without the pro-gun amendments.

For the District to get a modicum of democracy -- a full vote on the House floor -- we have to dramatically change how we do things. The first person who needs to change or get out of the way is Eleanor Holmes Norton. She has to stop calling the vote "her vote." The vote is not hers. Every citizen of the District deserves that vote. It belongs to all of us. Also, Norton should stop stalling. Her press releases give the false impression that a new strategy has been adopted and that victory is near.

It's not -- at least not right now.

Since the bill passed in the Senate this year, Norton has had more than ample time to move the bill in the House. Instead, I have been told by many involved in the process, she has been consistently inconsistent. One day ready to go, the next day timorous. She is acting not like a "warrior on the Hill" but rather a conventional politician who can't and won't act. For Norton, the status quo is far more acceptable than pushing ahead into possible opposition. She wants unanimity. In the real world, that cannot be achieved. In fact, Norton has said that in the end, she "might have to throw in the towel." Translated, that means accepting the House bill with the pro-gun amendments added in the Senate. But if she is going to do that anyway, why not do it as soon as possible?

Now more than ever, this bill should become law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are in favor of the bill and ready to move it. What a perfect vehicle to show the nation and the world that the District is not just a collection of buildings and monuments but a place where real people live. It is a city that has its own history and identity.

Another person missing in action in this debate is President Obama. He can go to Ben's Chili Bowl, but he refuses to say one public word about our lack of voting rights. He won't even put a "Taxation Without Representation" license plate on the presidential limousine. Bill Clinton did. In 2007 Obama voted for the bill in committee when he was a senator. But as president, he hasn't provided a scintilla of moral support. In fact, before he was inaugurated, he told The Post that D.C. voting rights is a "partisan issue." I don't recall him saying that about any other issue. It should not be viewed that way. It is an issue of fairness and justice.

Sometimes you have to compromise for the greater good. The citizens of the District of Columbia should not and cannot wait any longer. Move the bill and move it now.

The writer is the political analyst for WTOP Radio.