..:.:: the indie roots weblog ::.:..

A DC elector in the 2000 Presidential election, Barbara Lett-Simmons abstained from voting in the Electoral College as a protest for DC voting rights, leaving Vice President Al Gore with only 266 electoral votes, not changing the outcome of the election. Her acts makes her the most recent (non-mistaken*) faithless elector in the United States and stands as the first electoral abstention since the 1832 Presidential election, which you might remember as a steamy contest between Pres. Andrew Jackson (D), Henry Clay (R), and William Wirt (Anti-Masonic.) Hey, what’d those Masons ever do to him, anyways?

*in 2004, a Minnesotan elector accidentally cast an electoral vote for VP-nominee John Edwards rather than Presidential-nominee John Kerry.

Here’s a novel idea on the heels of yesterday’s holiday. Ganked from Max’s blog. Is there anything comics can’t teach us?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has what I like to call the “ultimate voice of paternity.”  It’s so forceful and reassuring, that it can only inspire strength.  Do yourself a favor and give it a listen today, while thinking about those who fought for the civil rights that still struggle to take root in our country today, even here in the nation’s capital.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s non-voting member of Congress, introduced two bills this week. With Rep. Tom Davis, she reintroduced the DC Voting Rights Act, giving another go at a compromise on one rep for DC and another for Utah.

The buzz is that the new Democratic-controlled House will pass this one quickly, as even Republicans urged the passing of it last year. That would tee it up for the Senate by late Spring.

But on an issue with more “currency”, Norton has reintroduced a bill that has passed the House four times, only to be defeated in the Senate: getting the District it’s very own commemorative quarter.

I’m feeling a 25¢ piece with the DC flag on it, yeah? Perhaps an online design submission process is brewing…

From the DCist, who caught Pelosi’s remarks on C-Span:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi specifically mentioned D.C. voting rights in her remarks, prompting a standing ovation from Caucus members and emphatic thank-you kisses blown from Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton to the Speaker.

Read more about what Pelosi said here, and don’t miss their link to an older post about another solution to DC voting rights — taking back Arlington and some of NoVa and forming a 51st state with over 5 million people.

Former chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party Paul Goldman has a bold new strategy to attain DC voting rights, and it’s crazy political. After calling hypocrisy on the founding fathers’ use of “taxation without representation”, he proposes eliminating any taxes for the residents of DC.

… which I like …

His strategy then uses elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax as a fulcrum to turn Republicans into the plot. Tit for tat, as they say; this trillion-dollar carrot could be the right bait, for as of late the tax-cut and spend GOP has championed creative ways to drive up the national debt. Would they trade a DC voting Amendment for abolishing the AMT?

It’s definitely a creative solution, and if anything it points to more outside-the-box thinking on the issue. Which is good.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/
2007/01/another_approach_to_dc_voting.html

Some recycled AP material is mixed in with some new stuff, including some choice quotes from Ilir Zherka over at DC Vote.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16437036/

This comes to us courtesy of Ryan Avent, of the DCist and NE DC.

I like where this man’s head is…

This dense, but informative gem comes to us from a well known but not so accepted co-author, Ken Starr, as well as Patricia Wald. While Starr earned mixed reviews for his work in the Clinton investigation, his Washington Post article here presents some interesting angles on the constitutionality of DC suffrage. Namely, he breaks it down to the central question of whether Congress has the power to grant DC voting rights, or rather would there need to be a Constitutional Amendment. This is meat and potatoes kind of stuff for those budding attorneys out there. Enjoy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/15/AR2006091500935.html

CNN ran an update on the Utah-D.C. compromise ran today. Not a lot of revelations, but good to see the issue is really heating up!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/02/dc.vote.ap/index.html