DC Voting Rights: New Dictator same as Old?

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DC Voting Rights: New Dictator same as Old?

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Washington, DC -  Taxation without Representation is emblazoned on license plates of DC residents to protest what we have, taxation and what we don't have, a vote in the US Congress. A more classical version of this phrase is attributed to Bostonian James Otis, "taxation without representation is tyranny." DC residents should not ignore that "is tyranny" part.

DISCLOSURE: I am in my second term as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in the District of Columbia.

At this time the US Congress is the best known symbol of tyranny to DC residents.  But if Congress were to acknowledge DC as the 51st state, would DC residents be better off? Or would they just be exchanging federal tyrants for other tyrants.

The answer is known to the 80,000 residents of Ward 3 where Mary Cheh is the Councilmember charged with representing them in the DC Council, a legislative-styled body of the DC Government. In addition to a $100,000+ yearly salary as a part-time Councilmember, she is also a paid George Washington University Constitutional Law Professor. In addition, Cheh has been a CNN Supreme Court
commentator and a federal prosecutor.

Cheh used her position on the DC Council during the March 2008 oversight hearings on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions ( ANCs which are also DC Government legislative bodies ) to chastise opposition from one of her Ward's communities.

Anne Sullivan, an elected unpaid ANC Commissioner and sign language interpreter testified on behalf of ANC 3E which represents 10,000 residents including Tenleytown, DC.

The Tenleytown library formerly one of the highest trafficked branch libraries in DC has been closed for many years while the DC government plans and re-plans its re-construction. The latest delays result from Councilmember Cheh's attempts to position a developer to profit from building housing units atop the proposed library. This has been a major issue before ANC 3E. The duly elected Commissioners of 3E have repeatedly stated their constituents concerns on the inappropriateness of this Cheh-developer initiative on this sliver of public land. Concerns havebeen expressed over the impact that such an expansive project would have on not one but two abutting schools.

The meeting started off with a very cordial exchange between DC Council Chairman Vincent
Gray and Commissioner Sullivan. When the chairman left the room, Councilmember Cheh unleashed her vast repertoire of lawyerly oral attacks upon Sullivan. Cheh sent a message to Commissioner Sullivan, ANC 3E and all the communities of Ward 3. What happens in the backroom of Suite 108, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, the DC Council Offices of Mary Cheh is of no concern to the public.

An excerpt of the hearing is available here and at youtube. The complete ANC 3E testimony is available at Viddler and the testimony of all Ward 3 ANC can be found at dc.gov.