Del. Norton has no juice
When Eleanor Holmes Norton was first elected, amid a nasty scandal where she, Yale Law graduate, Georgetown University Law Center professor, and feminist activist, had to say "I don't know...my husband does our taxes..." she was apparently a tax resister and an advocate that DC residents have at least equal rights with Puerto Ricans, who also don't have representation in the Senate or a real Congressperson who can vote even if the rest of Congress does not appoint them to committees, and who therefore do not pay federal income taxes.
Since DC residents are lower on the totem pole than resident of the territory of Puerto Rico, without full representation but subject to federal income tax, Delegate Norton proposed that they be exempt from federal income taxes and sponsored a bill to that effect.
She soon dropped that. I guess opposing a tax did not fit the Democratic Party narrative.
And now the Democratic Party takes her, and by extension the rest of us in DC, for granted. Because Eleanor was a paper tiger, unwilling to fight for equality and freedom for DC residents.
Since DC residents are lower on the totem pole than resident of the territory of Puerto Rico, without full representation but subject to federal income tax, Delegate Norton proposed that they be exempt from federal income taxes and sponsored a bill to that effect.
She soon dropped that. I guess opposing a tax did not fit the Democratic Party narrative.
And now the Democratic Party takes her, and by extension the rest of us in DC, for granted. Because Eleanor was a paper tiger, unwilling to fight for equality and freedom for DC residents.
D.C.'s missing invitation
By Editorial Board, Washington Post, Saturday, September 1, 6:16 PM
D.C. DEL. ELEANOR Holmes Norton (D) has spoken at each Democratic National Convention since 1992 to advocate for the rights of the District. With this year's convention less than a handful of days away, Ms. Norton has yet to receive an invitation to speak, and the fear is that she won't. We've long recognized the tendency of national Democrats to take the District for granted, but the failure to carve out even three minutes to spotlight the need for fair treatment of D.C. residents is over-the-top insulting.
As of Friday, Ms. Norton had yet to hear whether she would be given, as she has been in years past, an evening speaking slot at the convention, which starts Tuesday in Charlotte. "This has nothing to do with me; this is about the opportunity for a city that doesn't have a full voice in Congress to be heard," she told us. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and local Democratic Party leader Anita Bonds sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee urging that tradition be honored in letting Ms. Norton speak, but they got no response. "No one has given me a logical reason," Donna Brazile, vice chairwoman of the committee, told us as she expressed frustration with a schedule seemingly so set in stone that time can't be found to champion "fairness, justice and equality." She said that she is still hoping a change will be made.
Washington Post Editorials
Democrats, of course, are not the only ones to disrespect the District. Republicans at their recently concluded convention seemingly went out of their way to trample on the rights of D.C. residents with what Ms. Norton called the "most hostile Republican language on the District of Columbia in a Republican platform in American history."
Not only did Republicans oppose statehood and call for changes in the city's gun laws, but they refused to even discuss voting rights and budget autonomy, positions backed by the local GOP delegation that have received support from prominent Republicans. For instance, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), who chaired the platform committee, has advocated for the city's right to control its local dollars.
The slight from Democrats is nevertheless particularly galling given the loyalty that D.C. residents have shown the Democratic Party. The very least they should get back from that party — one that supposedly stands for the full enfranchisement of citizens — is the chance to air the grievance of their disenfranchisement.
Eleanor Holmes Norton DC's missing invitation
Washington Post
ELEANOR Holmes Norton (D) has spoken at each Democratic National Convention since 1992 to advocate for the rights of the District. With this year's convention less than a handful of days away, Ms. Norton has yet to receive an invitation to speak, and ...
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