Harry Jaffe: Feuding D.C. politicians cede power to Congress
By: Harry Jaffe
Examiner Columnist
November 22, 2009
Pretend you are a congressman and you sit on a committee that has jurisdiction over the District of Columbia.
Leaders of the federal city have come to testify in favor of a bill that would give the city more independence and greater authority over its own money.
Arrayed before you at the witness stand are Mayor Adrian Fenty and City Council Chairman Vincent Gray. You have recently read that Fenty and Gray are at war with one another, that the council has accused Fenty of playing fast and loose with city contracts, and that Gray has been accused of using a big developer to do work on his home -- and paying for it only under pressure from the press.
Would you be willing to hand over more control to this pair?
As it stands now, every law passed by the city council must "lay over" for 30 days for congressional review. Criminal laws hang around for 60 days before D.C. can put them into effect. And the mayor must get congressional approval for his annual budget.
There is nothing just or remotely democratic about this arrangement. It is a vestige of the 1973 Home Rule Act, which gave limited self-government to the District. For residents such as myself, that means the taxes I pay to the District cannot be spent on schools or streets or cops until Congress gives thumbs-up.
Would you Virginians and Marylanders stand for that?
Philadelphia doesn't have to come to Congress or the state house in Harrisburg to pass a budget or a law. Imagine how New Yorkers would react if they had to go on bended knee to Congress before they could spend their city tax dollars.
In reality, Congress rarely meddles in routine legislation. I can't think of an instance in which Congress stopped a law or redirected tax dollars. Still, the Home Rule Act as it stands is an affront. Good for Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton for introducing legislation to free D.C., as she has done year after year.
Our city leaders testified before the oversight and government reform subcommittee Wednesday in favor of a change in the law. If you were a congressman from rural Utah, would you look down on Fenty and Gray with the confidence they could handle the laws and finances without review?
"The District of Columbia is not a state," Rep. Jason Chaffetz said. He's a Republican from Utah. "I applaud you for the success you've had, but we have to hold your feet to the fire for the things that are not going well."
Such as feuding over baseball tickets and bashing one another over city contracts and feuding over the public schools. Both share blame for the feud. I heard former Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly offered to host a peace conference. Gray declined.
Congress will use the petty battles and whiff of scandal to withhold more autonomy -- D.C. taxpayers are the losers.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at hjaffe@washingtonexaminer.com.
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