Wednesday, July 14 at Onyx on First, 1100 1st Street SE, for the 2nd Annual “Warriors of Statehood” Celebration from 6:00-8:00 PM. The event honors DC’s military members and dedicated Statehood activists. Limited seating is available, and each attendee will receive a gift. Admission is $51. RSVP required to Beverly@aclu-nca.org. The closest Metro is Navy Yard Station (green line).

On Thursday, July 15 there is “An Evening of Education and Entertainment In Support of DC Statehood”. This event will take place on the West lawn of the US Capitol, East Capitol and 1st Streets NE, from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM.

Featured speakers include: Johnny Barnes as Master of Ceremonies, Former Congressman Walter E. Fauntroy, DC Vote Executive Director Ilir Zherka, Shadow Senator Michael Brown, and DC Councilmembers, plus performances by Batala, Backyard Band, Phil Ade, Rasi Caprice and RaTheMc. This event is free to the public. The closest Metro is Union Station (Red Line).

Hope to see you at these events!

Supporters Push to Save D.C. Vote Bill in U.S. House
Washington Post, March 4th

According to some sources, the National Rifle Association has hinted that it will count this vote as a ‘ranking vote’. That means the NRA will count voting for a DC voting rights bill without the gun amendment – or for any parlimentiary proceedure that allows it to be stripped – as a vote against guns. There are many Democrats who simply cannot vote against the NRA or they will face severe consquences during the next election.

Political realites aside, it’s a pretty telling of the situation we have in here in DC when it comes to Congress lording over our local affaris. We don’t have any voting representation in Congress, and when a bill comes along that would finally give us just one vote in the House it can’t pass without a bunch of members trying their best to legislate local laws for the city of Washington.

I know why they did it, but it still sucks that over 20 senators voted to give us a vote in the House, yet in the same breath voted to forever strip our local autonomy when over such an important public safety issue.

I would offer a friendly amendment to remove the metal dectors from the Capitol Complex and have the gun laws apply to Congress itself. Sounds like a fair deal to me.

(Click to Play the Video…)

Read more:

Senate Passes Bill Giving the District a House Vote
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/26/AR2009022601678.html 

In my address I wanted to lay out the path ahead of us in regards to DC Statehood and the DC Voting Rights – goals which are not mutually exclusive. I urged quick passage of the bill in Congress, and warned against declaring victory when it does pass as that is only the first step. My remarks as prepared are below.

Thank you.

I am deeply humbled and honored to serve the people of the District of Columbia for another term as Statehood Representative.

Before I begin my remarks, there are, of course, a number of people who need to be thanked publicly. Anyone who has ever run for office knows you don’t run a campaign without a lot of support and mine was no exception – there are too many things for a single person to do and it just simply won’t get done unless you have help.

I’d like to take a minute to thank the good people at DC for Democracy not just for the work they’ve done to help me over the years, but for everything this group has done to call attention to our lack of Congressional voting representation with progressives activists around the country. Thank you for all that you do for the people of the District.

I also need to thank everyone who volunteered to go out and get some signatures for my ballot petitions.  You find our quickly who your friends are when they volunteer to stand in Safeway parking lots and in front of Metro stations and badger voters to sign a petition on your behalf.  I would not be here in front of you today without their help and I cannot thank you all enough for your time and willingness to help my campaign.

Lastly, I need to thank my wonderful wife Cady and our daughter Sylvia for all they do to support me.  I wouldn’t be able to do this without their understanding and blessing, I love them both so much, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for all support and encouragement.

It’s hard to believe it was two years ago that I first took the oath for this position.

It was two years ago that America had just elected a Democratic Congress and we were starting work towards passage of the DC Voting Rights Act.

It was two years ago that our new mayor stood before us and pledged to work to make DC the 51st state.

And two years ago that I said nothing would make me happier than to not have to run for this position again as it would be eliminated with the passage of the DC Voting Rights Act.

Over those two years we’ve all worked hard:

We marched through the streets of Washington in a cold rain

We rallied in the streets of Denver during the Democratic National Convention

We walked the halls of Congress knocking on doors of legislators

We made phone calls and wrote letters – and encouraged our friends to do the same.

We even blogged and even organized on Facebook

But, as we all know, we came up three votes shy in the Senate and the bill died in the last Congress. …and now here we all are again two years later.

Only now we are here with an expanded Democratic majority in the House and Senate and a President-elect who was a supporter of the legislation in the Senate.

Right now, we stand so close to getting a vote in the House, with possible passage of legislation in the next few months.  A House vote is on the table right now just ready for the taking – and of course we should grab it.  And I pledge to continue working towards this objective – as I have for the last several years.

I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t use this opportunity to remind all of us who care so deeply about this issue not confuse getting a single vote in the House with a complete triumph or a reason to slow down.

A lot of us have been working with a version of this compromise bill for the last two Congresses…but in that time, change has come to Washington.

We cannot – and must not  – let the passage of a bill that was created during a Republican Congress and administration define success for us.

Yes, it is progress and yes it is a step in the right direction. But let’s not fool ourselves. A single vote in the House, while symbolic, doesn’t amount to much when it comes to policy and legislation.

It’s a shame we don’t have a vote in the House.

But, will a single House vote end taxation without representation in the District?
I’m not going to turn in my “taxation without representation” license plates…will any of you?

Only when we have full legislative and budgetary autonomy will be really be free. Only when we have not only a vote in the House but two in the Senate will DC truly be an equal among the family of states. Only when there are 51 stars on the American flag should can we be truly satisfied.

When the bill giving the District a vote in the House passes, yes we should be happy as we have something we didn’t have before…and we worked hard to get it.

But let’s be clear that it’s only the beginning. Let us not use words like “victory” or “triumph” to describe its passage. There should be no banners that read “mission accomplished”.  It should be seen as a single – but important – step in a journey

This year, we have been given a rare opportunity – the political stars are aligned in way that we may not see again in our lifetime.  We have a president who supports not just DC voting rights but statehood, we have a delegate in Congress who has been a member of Congress for almost 20 years and was recently named one of the most effective legislators in Congress

We have an activist Mayor who is committed to this cause with the full weight of his office, and we have a Council Chair and Council that have been pushing this issue with more passion and zeal than I’ve seen in my 20 years here in DC.

In addition to the support of the elected officials, we have grown grassroots support around the country as well – thanks to the work of groups like DC Vote, Stand Up!, and DC for Democracy to name a few.

We have the momentum and we owe it to future District generations not to squander this opportunity.

My friends – the time is right, the conditions are right, we are right – now…now is our time.

Thank you and God bless the District of Columbia.

Here’s a brief article about it: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1565918

Please take a minute and send a message to you legislators in support of this bill at my web site:
http://www.freeandequaldc.com/

Let’s get this bill passed, the start the fight for full statehood!

I’ve set up a page where you can learn more and donate to candidates here:
http://www.actblue.com/page/freedc

Or you can use the from below:

Please give what you can in these final hours to give the campaigns an extra boost of funds to bring them over the finish line! Thanks for everything you do!

• Ward 2 Democrats
• Ward 4 Democrats
• DC for Democracy
• Gertrude Stein Democratic Club
• DC Latino PAC
• Washington City Paper

And…after you vote for me, please take a minute to help some U.S. Senate candidates in other states so that we can elect a Congress that will work for DC, not against it. You can make a donation here: http://www.actblue.com/page/freedc

Hope to you see you at the polls on Tuesday!

If you’d like to find out where I’m going to be tomorrow to say hello, please just follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MikePanetta

p.s. – I didn’t get to blog as much as I would have liked in Denver, but I did get some cool pictures, you can check them out here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55168&l=7555b&id=500566336