D.C. Voting Rights

Listen here with Windows Media Player: http://wamu.org/audio/mc/10/11/m1101112-38626.asx

D.C. residents are the only citizens in the U.S. without a voting member of congress. WAMU's Patrick Madden talks with D.C. Mayor-elect Vincent Gray about the future of the battle over voting rights... and whether civil disobedience might be in the cards.

MR. VINCENT GRAY 13:48:26 You know, one of the things that the republicans have talked about consistently is not getting themselves involved, you know, the federal government getting involved in the life of people at the state and local level. And I think this had is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their belief in that, you know, as we move forward. So we'll never close the door on voting rights. We'll never close the door on self-determination. We're going to continue to fight no matter who is in the leadership.

MR. PATRICK MADDEN 13:48:49 You've mentioned that you want to meet with some members of the republican leadership in the House. My question is, what sort of leverage can you bring to the table?

GRAY 13:49:00 You know to demonstrate, once again, that we are a city that's on the grow, a well-managed city and that, you know, helping us to be able to work on behalf of our self is going to help the entire nation. We are the nation's capital. We are 600,000 also who deserve the same rights. Frankly, to me, one of the best elements of leverage that we have is the fact that we pay 3.6 billion dollars in taxes every year, which obviously makes an enormous contribution to support for our federal government.

MADDEN 13:49:25 You know, almost talking about sort of the carrot and the stick approach, obviously the city would like to convince the republican leadership to keep their hands off. But, again, going back to that leverage thing, is there something that we can do differently? GRAY

13:49:39 Well, I think we've got to stay the course. You know, we've been through republican leadership. We've been through democratic leadership. We've demonstrated that we can manage our finances. We certainly have demonstrated, over the many years, responsible legislation. I think the opportunity for the Congress to veto legislation has been used only three times in 35 years, which makes the case to me how responsible we are. So I think a lot of it is making a case for who we are and the fact that we deserve the same rights as everyone else.

MADDEN 13:50:07 In some of the town halls I've attended, you went across the city in different Wards and spoke to voters following the primary. You received a lot of applause when you talked about sort of civil disobedience and what that can do in terms of voting rights or statehood. Can you talk about what that means?

GRAY 13:50:25 Well, you know, it's something that we want to work with people on. I think oftentimes the people of this city have been too nice. And we've got to be able to stand up in larger numbers and demonstrate that this is something that we deeply care about. You know, when I go to rallies and there's 50 people, 100 people there, it doesn't make the kind of case that I think needs to be made. We need more people who are rallying around the cause of self-determination and autonomy for our city.

MADDEN 13:50:46 But how far are you willing to go? Are you willing, once you're mayor, to get arrested? Are you -- I mean, how far...

GRAY 13:50:53 I've said...

MADDEN 13:50:53 ...are you willing to push it?

GRAY 13:50:53 Yeah, I've said that. And I think we will continue to look at approaches that we will use, but it will have to be not just me. It will have to be the people of this city who will rally around. And I'm prepared to provide leadership to help make that happen.

MADDEN 13:51:04 Previous administrations have sort of pushed civilian rights with almost an incremental approach, others have gone for more vocal aggressive approach. What is your approach going to be?

GRAY 13:51:17 Well, I think we deserve statehood. I think it's going to be infinitely hard. I'm being perfectly realistic, you know, with the recent changes in the Congress. But I think, ultimately, we deserve statehood. We've done everything that's required of a citizen in this country. And, again, this country was founded on resistance to taxation without representation and that is precisely what we have here in the District of Columbia.

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http://theconversation.wamu.org/programs/mc/10/11/12.php

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