By District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty
April 23, 2007

As a native Washingtonian, born, raised and educated in the District of Columbia, I have much to be proud of this spring. My 572,000 constituents continue to amaze me with their civic-mindedness, thoughtfulness and creativity. Our 6,800 cherry trees, a gift from the citizens of Japan, just finished another spectacular bloom. And I recently delivered our 11th straight balanced budget to the DC Council.

But my sense of civic pride is always tempered by outrage and shame. The United States, which holds itself up as a beacon of democracy for the entire world to follow, has not extended democracy to the residents of the nation’s capital. We are the only capital of a democracy in the world that has no vote in the national legislature. And so it can be said that our federal government has brought democracy to Baghdad before bringing it to the District of Columbia.

As Congress debates important issues of war, social programs and infrastructure, we have only a nonvoting delegate in the United States House of Representatives. We elect nobody at all to speak for us in the United States Senate.

Federal disenfranchisement is a powerful form of oppression. It makes District residents feel detached from and unaffected by what goes on in the halls of Congress, even though the Capitol is literally in the middle of town. But the national political process has a major impact here – perhaps more so than anywhere else in the United States.

Unlike anywhere else in the United States, Congress has the power, under Section 8 of the Constitution, to “exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever” in the District of Columbia. What this means in practical terms is that every local law we pass, and every tax dollar we collect, is subject to congressional oversight and revision. It means Congress has the power to require us to serve on federal juries, to go to war, and to pay federal taxes – all without our input.

And we do pay our taxes. The District of Columbia has the nation’s second-highest per capita federal income tax. “Taxation without representation” is a cry that should have died out when we won our independence from Great Britain. Instead, we have it stamped on our license plates, and I have to tell my twin 7-year-old boys that they can’t grow up to be United States Senators.

We are not simply unrepresented in Congress. Our unique status as a federal district – not a city, not a county, not a state, but filling the roles of all three – leaves us underrepresented as well. Consider this:

A District of Columbia resident elects a nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House, a mayor, a council chairman, five councilmembers and three Board of Education members.

Meanwhile, a resident of Takoma Park, just across the border into Maryland, elects a U.S. Representative and two Senators, a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller, Attorney General, State Senator, three State Delegates, a County Executive, two County Councilmembers, three judges, a State’s Attorney, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Register of Wills, Sheriff, three Board of Education members, a mayor and a city councilmember.

If the residents of the District of Columbia wanted to change their government to allow for more representation – perhaps by including more elective offices as their neighbors have – Congress would have to act to make it possible. Voters could do this by referendum, but Congress could, as it has in the past on other issues, deny the District the money to count the votes.

I ask you to imagine the indignity of having your local government working constantly under the threat of congressional intervention. Imagine living a few blocks from the Capitol and being voiceless in both of its chambers. Better yet, imagine living in a house that your family has owned since before Reconstruction, bemoaning your lack of voting rights to someone from out of town and being told, “If you don’t like it, move!”

The Founding Fathers never saw this coming. When they drew up plans for a capital city unattached to any state, they couldn’t have envisioned the District as more than a company town for the federal government. They had no idea hundreds of thousands of people would live here permanently. And there was no air conditioning at the time, so it’s unlikely they contemplated year-round residents in light of our humid summers.

The structure of our government has changed over time to allow people of color, women and people under the age of 21 the vote. The time for another change is long past due.

Our disenfranchisement has stood for more than 200 years. It wasn’t until 1964 that a constitutional amendment allowed us to vote for President, and until 1973 that our modern, locally-elected government was born. It’s true that 200 years is a long time, but I am optimistic for the future. Thousands of District residents recently marched with me to the Capitol to demand our full participation in the democratic process. At press time, the House of Representatives was poised to pass a bill giving us a vote in that body for the first time.

The United States Conference of Mayors has been exceptionally supportive of the District of Columbia in its quest for voting rights. Today, I’m asking for a favor. You have three voting members of Congress, and we have none. Please call your U.S. Representative and Senators and tell them it’s time to spread democracy to the nation’s capital.

Two hundred years is far too long to wait for democracy in the capital of the world’s greatest democratic nation. It’s time for us to have the vote.