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With 57 Senators voting in favor of DC voting rights, the majority was not enough to stop a few small, small Senators from dropping the F-bomb. The filibuster came from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Minority Whip Trent Lott, the one who celebrated Strom Thurmond’s failed 1948 segregationist presidential bid as glimpse of a rosy alternative history. Hmmmm. I wonder why he didn’t support DC voting rights?

As DC Vote notes,

This is the first filibuster of a voting rights bill since the era of segregation. The opposition of Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott reminds us of a time when a minority of Senators blocked the door to democracy and freedom … Shame on them. Shame also on Thad Cochran, John McCain and Gordon Smith, a group of Senators that did not have the courage to stand with us and against the outrageous tactics of their party leaders.

It really is hard to see longstanding politicians draw a line that stands not on principle nor integrity, but an atavistic partisan stance reminiscent of jim crow. Really hard. It makes one doubt not just human character, but the principles of the party. A supermajority could’ve passed the bill, and the few who couldn’t step up are marked by their neglect. Perhaps smaller than the Senators who filibustered were those who refused to defy a party position they know to be unjust.

History will note their names, though the character of such men are, perhaps, better suited for footnotes.

As DC Vote notes, “This marks the first time in nearly 30 years that a DC voting rights bill has made it to the Senate Floor for vote. It’s crucial that we show Senators that we demand the vote for DC!”

As Senator Reid has committed to bringing the bill to the floor tomorrow, DC Vote is sponsoring two huge activities today which are essential to passing the legislation. If you’re in DC, come join the leadership down on the Hill to call on members of the Senate to grant DC the right to vote. If you’re not in DC, today is a national call-in day to demand DC voting rights from your Senators.

In DC? Get out of work and join DC Vote:
Press Conference and rally
Monday, September 17, 11 am - 12:30 pm EDT
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Constitution Avenue NE and 1st Street NE

Not in DC? Call your Senator toll-free and demand DC voting rights:
National Call-In Day
Monday, September 17, 9 am - 5 pm EDT
Call 1-866-346-3008

And for Indie Roots’ part, we are releasing a single featuring three DC bands called “Three Red Stars (Over Two Red Bars)” about DC Voting Rights. Download it for free and share it with your friends and spread the word nationwide about the call-in!

For friends both in and out of DC
Indie Roots free DC voting rights download
“Three Red Stars (Over Two Red Bars)”
by Analog Jetpack with Gist, The Dance Party, Max Glass and Eleanor Holmes Norton
www.indieroots.org
Download and forward to your friends!

Help solve a problem left over by the Founding Fathers and make your own contribution to American History! Get busy today and stay tuned for more activities. Today and tomorrow are historical moments to be a part of!

…you know we’ve got a chance. Never known as a progressive publication, the Times usually gets a what-what from the far right. So it’s a huge pump of the fist to see their commentary this morning (via DC Vote), “DC vote threshold” by Republicans Michael Steele and JC Watts.

Steele and Watts do a tidy summary of the issue in saying:

The difference between the District of Columbia and every other city and state in America is that Congress is the final arbiter on how the bills are paid and what laws shall govern the people of Washington. The citizens have absolutely no say on the floor of the Congress — through the vote of their duly elected representative — about the matters that directly affect the people born and raised in our nation’s capital. This is a blemish on our democracy and it must come to an end.

And cheers to their nice deconstruction of the Constitution argument against DC voting rights: “… the argument that a right granted by statute and rescinded by statute can now only be granted by a constitutional amendment fundamentally makes no sense.”

Deputy assistant attourney general John P. Elwood offered testimony on the constitutionality of the DC voting rights bill on Wednesday, reiterating the naysaying position struck by Bush’s advisors:

In his testimony, Elwood repeated the Bush administration’s contention that the bill violates the constitutional requirement that House representatives come from states. In addition, he said, “the framers and their contemporaries clearly understood that the Constitution barred congressional representation for District residents.”

For decades, Elwood said, Congress and the executive branch had said that the District could get voting representation in Congress only through a constitutional amendment or by becoming part of Maryland.

Senator Feingold (D-Wisconsin) pointed out that the Justice Department should be “vigorously committing” to defend the bill if it is passed, though it didn’t seem to be their intent in this case. And fair enough, as the framers definitely knew they were doing a great injustice by leaving District representation out of the Constitution, it could be interpreted that an amendment or retrocession would be required. Testimony was offered on behalf both persuasions, for those of the “several states” bent and those of the “all cases whatsoever” stylee. And while Elwood declined to forecast what the department would do, he did offer the best soundbyte of the day.

“We’re law nerds,” he said, explaining that his job is not analysis, but policy.

The real shock of the article is the last sentence, “Supporters are attempting to round up 60 senators’ votes to head off a possible filibuster by Republicans.”

Wow, a filibuster? On the grounds that the minority party should interpret issues of constitutionality? If that’s not a partisan giveaway, I don’t know what is.

Link to Washington Post article by Mary Beth Sheridan.

The Post’s Express edition has a good summary of the kind of treatment our bill is receiving in the Senate. It seems the right people are getting on board, and an exhaustive outline of the bill’s constitutionality has been laid before this chamber. In addition, the great photo of Congresswoman Norton and Mayor Fenty makes us feel happy about our prospects.

Read:Utah Seat Reworked in Amended D.C. Vote Bill
(readexpress.com via DCist)

On Tuesday Senators Orrin Hatch, Bob Bennett, and Joe Lieberman introduced a DC voting rights bill on their half of the Hill. Notably, the sponsoring team consists of two Republicans and an Independent candidate, representative of a non-partisan issue. Given, the two Republicans are both Utah Senators who stand to help their home state through the bill, and the other is an ex-Dem. But we digress. The polls show broad public support for DC voting rights, and this bill reflects that.

One of the improvements on the House’s bill is to allow Utah to redistrict itself for an additional representative, an important development which eliminates one criticism of HR 1905: that giving the entire state a vote for an at-large seat is unconstitutional because it gives each citizen of Utah two representatives. The opportunity to fine-tune this bill is huge for the proposal, and the Senate leadership on this issue seems to be taking it on seriously. That bodes well for the final look of the bill, it’s passage and the repercussions of a presidential veto — which was threatened by White House advisors, not by the president.

Cheers to Shadow Rep Mike Panetta for putting together an elegant, simple tool to contact lawmakers regarding DC voting rights. The site freeandequaldc.com allows anyone to send their support for DC direct to their own lawmakers using their postal code. Getting the word back to DC has never been easier — now we need to get the word out to the states to let people know about it. We need something to do that… like an internet, or coast-to-coast tour of indie rock bands, or something!

H.R. 1905, the updated DC Voting Rights Act, passed the House earlier today. This three days after 4,000 to 6,000 defied inclement weather to support the Voting Rights March on the Capitol.

Ilir at DC Vote says, “Thousands of us turned out this week to demand the vote, and Congress listened. We have had an uphill battle, and DC’s struggle with Congress has often felt like David vs. Goliath. Today we celebrate a hard-fought victory and roll up our sleeves for the Senate. We will have a battle in the Senate, but we have democracy on our side.”

Congressional Quarterly covered the vote today, with all the partisan rhetoric you could dream up (or repeat by rote) from the minority party:

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/04/from_cq_today_house_passes_dc.html

No props to Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-NC, who championed the partisan flap of the day by saying, “The Democrats are looking for a raw power grab.” But due propers to Congresswoman Norton, who told them, ““If DC were Republican, they would be arguing for voting rights … I yield you no ground.”

Certainly the Voting Rights March on Monday was a good shot in the arm for Congress. The City Paper has some good on-the-scene coverage of the event:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1273

While we may have had a cumulative total of 75 paying customers over five nights, we also had hits in the AP, the Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor.

The print edition of the Post article featured photos of Rob and The Dance Party, and the online edition featured video of Analog Jetpack. link / video link.

The AP happened to be on hand when Rob interviewed Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and worked their interview into a broader coverage of the pop movement around the issue. They quote Norton telling us, “Thank you for singing us into freedom!” link.

And Rob composed an editorial for the Christian Science Monitor that ran Monday in time with the Voting Rights March: link.

This exposure does much more than we could ever hope to playing club to club in New England. Now imagine what Indie Roots can do when we take it coast to coast…

Congressional Quarterly reports,

The problem for the Democrats began when the Congressional Budget Office reported that the bill (HR 1433) would increase mandatory spending by $2.5 million, in addition to creating an at-large House seat for Utah and permanently expanding the District’s voting rights in the House.

… Democrats decided to offset the cost. They did so by drafting rules for debate that, upon adoption, would counter the price of the bill with a 0.003 percentage point change to a provision of federal tax withholding law …

… By adding a tax provision to the D.C. voting measure, Democrats broadened what is known as the thread of germaneness … the measure suddenly contained two unrelated provisions affecting the District the voting changes and an alteration of federal tax law that applies to all taxpayers … [making] more District-related provisions germane, according to GOP aides.

Such is how the outrageously non-germane repeal of District gun restrictions was thrown into the mix, causing the bill to be moved to the back burner. How is it that Milton-Bradley hasn’t turned “Parliament” into a board game by now?