TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION NEWS: Shamed sent me this, with the note, “This has your blog written all over it.”

OVAL OFFICE ALLY

Is President Bush more sympathetic than his predecessors on the issue of voting rights for D.C. residents?

It was 202 years ago, where Rhodes Tavern once stood, that this city’s residents first protested the denial of full democracy and voting rights in Congress. Residents had enjoyed these rights until 1801, when the final transfer of authority over the District was made to Congress.

Joe Grano, longtime president of the Rhodes Tavern-D.C. Heritage Society, tells this column that he’s received a personal letter from Mr. Bush, in which the president acknowledges receipt of voting-rights petitions being circulated around Washington.

“He not only acknowledges receipt of the petition, he wrote a brief letter — it was not a form letter,” says Grano. “So somebody at the White House is taking this petition seriously. I think in the post-Trent Lott world, Republicans want to pay some attention to cities.” [sighhhh…I think there are more important things to do w/r/t cities, my obsessive friend…–Ed.]

“By the way,” adds Grano, “the president has been the only public official that ever wrote to me concerning the petition, the only one who bothered to take the time, and I think that should be noticed. (D.C. Delegate (and voting-rights activist)) Eleanor Homes Norton didn’t write me, (Washington) Mayor Anthony Williams didn’t write me, only the president of the United States.”

[My take on D.C., voting, taxation, statehood (ha), etc., can be found here. Sorry for the length.–Ed.]