Ward 1 Board of Education member Pat Mara has pulled off a rarity: This week he became only the second Republican to serve on D.C. Vote’s board of directors.
Mara moved to the Washington area in 1997 to work for the late Sen. John Chaffee or Rhode Island and originally opposed D.C. voting rights. But over the past 10 years he became supportive of the movement.
As a member of the board, he said he hopes to engage more Republicans on Congress on the issue. He argued that Puerto Ricans get better treatment than Washingtonians since they have a delegate in Congress but don’t pay federal taxes.
“We’re American citizens, so we should at least have more rights than Puerto Rico,” he said.
