Power Elite Lean on Congress to Approve Bill

A prominent group of D.C. politicians and business leaders is making a new push for approval this year of a bipartisan bill in Congress that would give District residents full voting rights in the House for the first time.

The initiative comes six months after Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that includes a provision for D.C. voting rights. The advocates are calling on Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to move the bill to a floor vote in Congress before the session adjourns.

Thirty D.C. supporters of voting rights, including Adrian M. Fenty, the Democratic candidate for mayor, discussed the measure last week at a dinner hosted by local businessman Jeff Zients and Lanny A. Breuer, a lawyer and former special counsel to President Bill Clinton.

Others attending were former mayor Sharon Pratt; former Army secretary Clifford L. Alexander; political commentator Mark L. Plotkin; former New York representative Jack Kemp (R); former Louisiana senator John Breaux (D); former U.S. attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr.; and John Hill Jr., executive director of the Federal City Council.

"It's critically important," Breuer said. "It would be extraordinary at this time for there to be a bipartisan solution to give residents of the District of Columbia what they so deserve."

Passage depends on a bipartisan trade-off expanding the House from 435 to 437 members. One seat would go to the District and the other to Utah, which would make it a statewide position. Because more than three-quarters of registered voters in the District are Democrats and Utah is a Republican stronghold, the compromise would likely keep a balance between the parties.

Breuer said the group decided to make calls on Capitol Hill and reach out to lawmakers in Utah.

Michael Mower, a spokesman for Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R), said his office has received about a half-dozen calls from District voting-rights advocates, including Kemp, who want the state to approve a redistricting map, the first step toward creating a fourth seat in the state.

"The calls are always helpful, but we're committed to doing this," Mower said. "Our governor has said he's going to call a special session of the legislature very soon after the election to adopt a redistricting map."

Although the dinner meeting in the District did not create a new strategy for getting statehood, it strengthened what was already in place, said Ilir Zherka, executive director of D.C. Vote, a nonprofit entity established in 1998 to get voting rights for the city. D.C. Vote was made up of 24 groups a year ago and now has 60, Zherka said.

Breaux, who served in Congress for more than 30 years and is now a lobbyist at the law firm of Patton Boggs, said the key is to rally support across the country.

"It was never something that people in Louisiana were interested in," said Breaux, who lives in Maryland but also has a condominium in Georgetown.

Fenty said yesterday that he found the meeting at Zients's home informative. "It was a good briefing for me to get updated on the current situation and also hear from people who have expertise," he said.

Fenty heard from a pair of voting rights activists who recommended that he mention the importance of D.C. representation in his victory address if he wins today. They gave Fenty a "Free DC!" campaign pin, which he put it on his lapel.

Staff writer David Nakamura contributed to this report.