Update: Nikolas Schiller sent along a clip of the video from Fox 5 news, you have to to see it for yourself!
So there was a press conference in the Wilson Building today about DC’s efforts to secure Congressional voting rights and plan for a lobby day and march. I applaud the effort, but I don’t think everyone had their ducks in a row before going to the media. They (the media) love to pounce on any fractures amongst elected officials, as shown in this Washington Post piece:
“[A]t the news conference, it was clear [Fenty] had not coordinated his plans with the city’s long-serving congressional representative, and the tension between them was evident. Norton told reporters she had not even been informed of the April march until she arrived at the news conference. “
Fenty also announced plans for a lobby day, but Norton didn’t really have his back on that:
“A zillion groups come up to lobby,” she said. The bill “will get attention from Congress when they see those citizens” in the street.
I don’t see why we can’t do both. What I’m focused on is getting contacts into Capitol Hill office from their constituents on this bill. Lobby days and marches are good - but a Representative will more likely be moved by a few letters from his or her district on the issue. (Don’t me wrong; when it comes to marches I’m like the Doobie Brothers!)
My other gripe is a little personal - nobody told me (or other members of the Shadow Delegation) about this event! I found about it about 10 minutes before it started, so I hustled over to see what was going on.
Now, I don’t have a big ego and nor do I expect to be invited to all official city events, to be asked to make remarks, or even to be recognized from the crowd. However, this is the one issue that the voters tasked me to work on — so I was a little upset that I didn’t get a little more of a heads up from the mayor’s people. Maybe next time 
On a positive note, I had a nice conversation with Hilary Shelton from the NAACP after the event. I told him that Evan Bayh’s office had told me that the Indiana chapter of the NAACP had come to their office and mentioned that the Davis bill was a priority for them during the last Congress, and I thanked him for making that so. I also told him that that sort of homegrown contact was exactly what we needed to get Members of Congress to support the DC Voting Rights bill. He agreed and told me to contact him if we need to push anyone on the Hill.
At the end of the day, this is all internal DC city government bunk that nobody besides guys like Mark Plotkin really care about. Let’s keep our eyes on the goal line and keep pushing to get voting rights in the House in the short term — and statehood in the long term!
Fenty, Norton Clash Over D.C. Vote in House
