It was dismayed two weeks ago to read a letter by a fellow Democrat scolding the party — including Tucson area representatives Raúl Grijalva, Ann Kirkpatrick, and Tom O’Halleran — for backing a bill giving statehood to the residents of the District of Columbia.
I lived in DC for more than three decades before retiring to southern Arizona and know that this is not a trivial matter. Although they pay federal taxes, the 705 thousand US citizens living in DC, a larger population than both Vermont and Wyoming, have no voting representation in Congress. It’s taxation without representation.
Concerned that DC voting rights would be unconstitutional? The statehood bill sets aside a small amount of land for the operations of the federal government and affords DC residents equal protections under the law as guaranteed by the 14th amendment.