Another Road Trip For Voting Rights

D.C. Council members are in New Orleans this week for the 34th annual legislative summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group that, according to its website, was founded "to improve the quality and effectiveness of state legislatures."

Well, the organization serves all 50 states, plus territories and the District, which wants the privileges of a state. That's voting rights, folks. Taxation with representation in Congress.

Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), who organized a road trip in January to New Hampshire to push the legislature there to support voting rights for the District, made another plea to his colleagues to head to the Big Easy. This time, the audience is all 50 states.

Dawn Slonneger, chief of staff to Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), said Gray, Catania, Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large), Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) were scheduled to attend. The conference is five days, starting today, though some council members would just make a day trip out of it, she said.