Into Law But Off The D.C. Tax Form

Browne suggested -- and the council agreed -- that the fund should be filled through the fundraising efforts of a new, nine-member statehood commission. The mayor is responsible for naming five members, while the council gets to pick four.

But Browne said he doesn't think anyone has actually been appointed to the panel. If the commission does exist, "I don't think they've done anything," he said. "They haven't told us if they have."

It was Mendelson's idea to add the tax form checkoff to the legislation. The entire package won the council's unanimous support in fall 2004.

A year later, Mendelson said, he wrote the city tax office to say: "Don't forget. We passed it. It's law."

Alas, the statehood checkoff had already been forgotten on the 123,000 tax forms set to be delivered to taxpayer doorsteps in December.

Hobbs Newman had 60,000 additional forms printed up with a special notice on the cover and sent them to public libraries and other city offices. But those forms don't actually have a checkoff box, either.

Browne said he was frustrated by the mistake.

"It wasn't our job to go down there and print it on the forms," he said. "We assume that if the city passes a law, there is a way for the city to follow through on it."

Staff writer Eric M. Weiss contributed to this report.