Various groups want to attain either congressional representation or full statehood for the District of Columbia. Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton currently serves as a D.C. delegate in Congress, but she is unable to vote on legislation because D.C. is not a state.
The movements in favor of congressional representation and statehood for D.C. residents employ such catchphrases as "No taxation without representation," and "The capital of the nation is the last plantation."
"We have no power over our own laws," said Scott McLarty, spokesman for the D.C. Statehood Green Party. McLarty said that Congress and the White House have the power to veto locally-drafted laws, policies, financial plans, and budgets. Congress also has the power to enforce policies over the District.
One recent example of this is the school voucher plan that Congress recently passed. The plan gives up to $7,500 to the District's public school students to allow them to attend private schools.
However, while some lobby for D.C. statehood, others find no reason for such an action.
"D.C. is too small to become a state," AU sophomore Greg Simon said. "It's also more of a transitional city. People come and go all the time. Most people who work here actually live in the suburbs."
Still, some groups plan to organize around the movement. The D.C. Statehood Green Party planned a Sept. 18 rally at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, which would have featured Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich and 2000 Green Party Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader as speakers. The rally was postponed until Oct. 7 due to Hurricane Isabel.
As a political party, the Statehood Green Party hopes to facilitate the election of people who will "articulate the needs of statehood and lead citizens in the fight for statehood," McLarty said.
Another group, D.C. Vote, holds education of the public as its primary goal, according to spokesman Kevin Kiger. He said the group is not a statehood organization, but wishes to inform people and advocate for full congressional voting representation.
Kiger said that statehood would be the most permanent solution to bringing voting and all other legislative bodies that constitute statehood to the District.
McLarty predicts that D.C. will become a state sooner or later, as a result of "necessity and the outrage of the people," but he said there are still obstacles in the way of statehood.
One such obstacle, McLarty said, is that "a lot of D.C. leaders, beginning with delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, talk about statehood but support only congressional representation."
According to McLarty, representation has to come from statehood; otherwise it is not democracy.
"Eleanor Holmes Norton encourages different ideas that different members of Congress have," said Norton spokeswoman Doxie McCoy. "The more we talk about different options, the more we make people aware of them. Perhaps all the talks and proposals will achieve something we can all be happy with."
McCoy said efforts toward representation and statehood make progress every year in steps and increments such as hearings in the House of Representatives and Senate.
Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) supports voting representation without statehood for D.C. residents according to David Marin, spokesman for the Government Reform Committee, which Davis chairs.
"Davis has support on the Hill from both parties," said Marin, who believes that the push towards representation will be successful. "It's hard to make a case against giving residents of the capital of the free world voting representation."
AU senior Robert Sander is supportive of representation and said it would have a big impact on area college students.
"Students in particular would be very enthusiastic about politics because it's so new to them," Sander said. "They're idealistic and want to make a difference so it would make sense that if they're allowed to vote for their representatives they would."
McLarty said representation would convince students to register in the District and vote in the local elections. Students would be voting for things like the educational budget, which would benefit colleges, he said. "It would be interesting to see thousands of college students voting, and how the face of D.C. would change," Kiger said.
