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D.C. Schools, Vote Plans Move Slowly in Senate

Photo by Michael Grass/ExpressWHEN LEGISLATION hits the U.S. Senate, any number of things can happen. The chamber's complex rules and power given to individual members can cause unanticipated slowdowns and frustrating delays, making it hard to forecast a bill's progression.

Take for instance Sen. Mary Landrieu's hold on legislation that would shift control of the D.C. public schools to the mayor. As The Post's David Nakamura reports, the Louisiana Democrat was contacted by the president of the Board of Education, Robert Bobb, who voiced his concern over the takeover plan.

A Landrieu spokesman told Nakamura that "the senator wants to ensure that the District's state education functions operate with enough autonomy from the rest of the school system."

While D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said Landrieu's hold "subverts the will of the elected government of the District of Columbia," the differences are apparently fairly minor and compromise on the schools measure is said to be close at hand.

Meanwhile, D.C. voting rights legislation, which cleared the full House last month and the Senate's Governmental Affairs and Homeland Security Committee last week, heads to the Judiciary Committee tomorrow. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who is the Senate co-sponsor of the bill that would grant D.C.'s delegate a full vote in the House, is a former chairman of the Judiciary panel. Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin will preside over the 1:30 p.m. hearing in the Dirksen Building.

» "La. Senator Blocked Vote On D.C. Schools Measure" [WaPo]
» "Ending Taxation without Representation: The Constitutionality of S. 1257" [Senate Judiciary Committee]

Photo by Michael Grass/Express

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COMMENTS (1)

  • It’s A Poor Mouse with But One Hole
    Bobb’s Disrespect for Home Rule in School Play

    By washingtonian in training

    So now we know why Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown sent City Manager Robert C. Bobb a packin’ from Oakland. Bobb, still sore from the combination win at becoming DC School Board Chair, but loss at potential DC School takeover by Mayor Adrian Fenty, has turned DC Home Rule on its head as he ran to the “Big House.” In what can only be called a turncoat move, Bobb touched the third rail of District politics, which was to run to the Congressional overseer, (in this case, theoverseeress, U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La.) to beg for interference with the governance of the District of Columbia.

    Since 1816, when the U.S. Senate created then United States Senate Committee on the District of Columbia until 1973, when the District gained Home Rule, District citizens always had to go to Congress, hat in hand, to inquire about how they would be ruled. Even though Home Rule, gave District citizens the right to elect a mayor and “city” council, it still left all Washingtonians, under Congressional oversight and with the passage of all laws, subject to the approval of Congress. The entire reason for the "DC Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act of 2006", introduced in the past Congress and reintroduced in the current Democratic party run Congress, was to not only give the DC citizens voting rights, but to sever even more ties to the “Big House” which is why many people refer to the District as one big “plantation.”

    With all that history behind and all the future at stake, Robert Bobb, in a purely ego-driven move, would dare ask Senator Mary Landrieu to place a “hold” on the mayoral school takeover, thus calling forth not a threat to Fenty, per se, but to place his ego needs above the dignity and pride of the District.

    Of the five Democratic members of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, (Daniel K. Akaka Chairman (D-HI), Carl Levin (D-MI), Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), Mark L. Pryor (D-AR) and Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA), it is surprising that Landrieu would choose to be the “cat’s paw.”

    Alas, Washingtonians now understand once again, the ambitions of an Eastern-bound carpetbagger like Bobb have the potential to undermine the District’s hard won sovereignty.

    By Washingtonian In Training , Posted May 22, 2007 7:08 PM
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