Congressional Republicans Should Stay Out of D.C.'s Affairs

...Many city officials are expecting some Republicans to use the District to score political points on controversial social issues or as a laboratory for pet programs. The concern is well-founded in history, but D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is right to warn against snap judgments. Ms. Norton has spent most of her 19 years in Congress in the minority, with a Republican president, but she's been able to advance the city's interests. At times, she was helped by Republicans sympathetic to the District's needs. The city wouldn't have come as close as it did to winning voting rights, for example, without the work of then-Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.); there probably would not be the thriving community of charter schools in the District if not for former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). An early indicator of how the District will fare will be seen in whether the Republican leadership decides to be churlish and rescind Ms. Norton's vote in the committee of the whole. ad_icon

Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray (D) is smart to reach out to Republicans and remind them of the city's record, now well entrenched, of governing itself responsibly. But it's also good he's having lunch with President Obama on Dec. 1 so that he can ask him not to hesitate to wield his veto pen to protect the rights of D.C. residents.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11 /05/AR2010110506454.html

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