August 2000 Newsletter

HIGH TECH KICKOFF OF JULY 4TH FOCUSES ON VOTING RIGHTS FOR D.C.

Ushering in the July 4th weekend with a new online campaign to focus on democracy in the nation's capital, DC Vote and SpeakOut.com launched a partnership that brings powerful online tools to all who want to make their voice heard on the issue of congressional representation for DC.

Joe Sternlieb, President of DC Vote, Josh King, Vice President of National Affairs for SpeakOut.com, and Dr. Abdusalam Omer, Chief of Staff to Mayor Anthony Williams, presented DC Vote's stirring five-minute video directly from the Speakout.com website at a news conference on June 28th. The DC Vote video is the first partner-provided educational video to be hosted on the SpeakOut.com site.

If you haven’t yet seen the DC Vote website, now is the perfect time to visit www.dcvote.org. And if you have already been to the site, check out the new features, including the button that takes you to the Speakout.com site where you can view the DC Vote video and get involved.

DC VOTE TAKES ITS MESSAGE TO BOTH PARTY CONVENTIONS

Expressing the city’s commitment to change its license plate motto to "Taxation Without Representation," the citizens of Washington, D.C., sported t-shirts and distributed key chains and flyers featuring that same slogan at this year’s Republican Convention and are gearing up to do the same in Los Angeles in a few weeks. DC Vote will be joining some 50 D.C. delegates, the Mayor, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton in L.A. Please call us if you plan to attend the convention or know someone who is who might like to get involved.

OUR ISSUE IN THE NEWS: REBELLION KEEPS BREWING

As expected, the "Taxation Without Representation" license plate slogan for DC continues to make the national news. Sarah Shapiro, the DC resident who is credited with generating the idea, was interviewed on CBS weekend national news. And on the heels of the New York Times article citing a "rebellion brewing in the nation’s capital," The Dallas Morning News ran a new story saying, "It’s been centuries since patriotic colonists campaigned against the tyranny of taxation without representation." The article called the current license plate campaign "a modern day revolt in the nation's capital."

Stories about the partnership between DC Vote and SpeakOut.com appeared on NPR' s "Morning Edition," Newschannel 8, and Associated Press. DC Vote President Joe Sternlieb was featured in a live interview on Fox Morning News on July 4th.

RELIGIOUS GROUPS URGE COURT TO HEAR APPEAL

Several major religious organizations asked Attorney General Janet Reno to join them in asking the US Supreme Court to hear the appeal of the Alexander v. Daley case brought on behalf of the citizens of the District of Columbia to gain full voting representation in Congress. The letter declares that "the ongoing disenfranchisement of the people of Washington, DC, is an egregious moral wrong that must be rectified."

The letter was signed by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Unitarian Universalist Association Washington Office for Faith and Action, the United Methodist Church Board of Church and Society, NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, and The DC Catholic Conference.

Alexander v. Daley was rejected by a vote of 2-to-1 by the special three-judge panel that heard the case. The plaintiffs represented by Covington and Burling, are filing a direct appeal to the Supreme Court.

WHO SAID THAT?

Last month we printed this 1969 statement by former President Richard Nixon:

"It should offend the democratic sense of this nation that the citizens of its Capital... have no voice in the Congress."

IN MEMORY OF ART SCHULTZ, DC VOTE FOUNDING MEMBER

DC Vote was saddened to learn of the death of Art Schultz earlier this summer. True to his tribute in the local paper, The Georgetowner, as a great spirit who was "everywhere and always trying to bring people together," Art attended the very first meeting at which DC Vote founding members discussed the idea of creating a new group to champion the cause of full voting representation. He guided us and gave many hours of time and advice in those critical early days. We wanted the many who knew him from his tireless work on behalf of a host of social, political and economic initiatives to benefit the District that in the last week of his life he was still actively involved in our activities, and that he will be sorely missed.

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