Statehood Greens Praise Mayor Fenty's Call for D.C. Statehood, Reject his Scheme for a Takeover of the School BoardThe DC Statehood Green Party Monday, January 8, 2006 Contact:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- DC Statehood Green Party leaders welcomed newly elected District Mayor Adrian Fenty and responded enthusiastically to his call for statehood for the District of Columbia. But Statehood Greens -- who call themselves D.C.'s second party after winning substantially more votes than the Republicans did in the 2006 election -- condemned Mr. Fenty's plan to strip the D.C. Board of Education of its power, saying that it undermines Mr. Fenty's stated support for D.C. democracy. "Mayor Fenty's inaugural speech places statehood front and center as the District's goal," said Renée Bowser, who has established an exploratory committee for a run in the Ward 4 special election May 1, 2007 to fill the D.C. Council seat that Mr. Fenty vacated <http://reneebowser.com/>. "Until we win self-determination and are allowed to become a state, the people of D.C. will continue to see Congress force unwanted policies on us and veto locally passed legislation. We now have the status of colony -- a stinging insult to a city with an African-American majority." Statehood Greens warned that democratic self-governance achieved through statehood should not be confused with voting representation. The party has sharply opposed the Davis bill, calling it a trap that would backfire against those who support full democracy and citizenship for District residents. Statehood Greens also agreed with D.C. democracy activists who have called the bill an affront that establishes 'one third citizenship' for District residents, since all other Americans enjoy three voting seats (one Representative, two Senators) in Congress. Statehood Greens have promoted a plan to win statehood based on precedent 1846 legislation that transferred part of D.C. (Arlington) to Virginia. For more on the DC Statehood Green Party's support for statehood and its opposition to the Davis bill, visit <http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org//press/press.php?annc_id=176§ion_id=2>. "We call on Adrian Fenty to understand what the Davis bill really means for D.C., and instead to keep the focus on statehood," said Ms. Bowser. Statehood Greens sharply criticized Mayor Fenty's School Board takeover plan, calling it inconsistent with the principles of democracy he espoused in his campaign and in his inaugural speech. "Mayor Fenty wants to go over the heads of D.C. voters, who have a right to vote on amendments to the D.C. Charter, and instead get Congress to ratify his bid to strip the Board of Education of its powers," said Marc Borbely, who ran for the Wards 5 and 6 seat on the School Board in 2006. "This is an injury to the democratic rights of D.C. residents, and it turns the words in his inaugural about D.C. deserving statehood into complete hypocrisy." The Home Rule Charter requires that proposed changes be placed before D.C. voters in a referendum. Mayor Fenty intends to bypass this process by asking Congress -- which holds power over District legislation and policy -- to approve the amendment. "We urge City Council and the people of Washington, D.C. to reject Mayor Fenty's antidemocratic scheme," said Mr. Borbely. "Mayor Williams succeeded in pushing through a partial bureaucratization scheme, which did nothing for D.C. children. Mayor Fenty's plan isn't education reform, it's a step further in the wrong direction." "Worst of all, it robs D.C. parents and other citizens of the right to representation on the Board of Education. We didn't ask Council members or the Mayor, before they were elected, about their position on selling school buildings, tracking in schools, class sizes, school-based management, charter schools, or other important questions. We elected the School Board to address these issues," Mr. Borbely added. Statehood Green leaders noted that Mr. Fenty has named a Federal City Council employee, Victor Reinoso, an advocate of the takeover plan, as Deputy Mayor for Education. (The Federal City Council is a secretive private business roundtable that seeks to influence public policy.) Mr. Fenty, after he won the Democratic primary in September, said that he would consider a takeover. Mr. Fenty also chose Neil Albert as his new Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. Mr. Albert was C.E.O. for Ed Build, a private education services and construction firm created by the Federal City Council and the New Schools Venture Fund, an investment group tied to the national charter school movement. The partially appointed School Board was responsible for expanding D.C.'s failing charter school program, said Statehood Green leaders, who opposed Mayor Williams partial bureaucratization a few years ago. The party has called for public schools to be modernized and provided with up-to-date equipment and textbooks. "We expect our new Mayor to respect D.C. voters and our election process, which voted the newly elected School Board members in. We expect him to bring his ideas, plans and work closely with the new School Board to bring about positive changes in the education of our children. Democracy cannot be compromised," said Joyce Robinson-Paul, who ran for the District's 'Shadow' U.S. Senator in 2006. For further information on the School Board takeover, visit <http://www.saveourschoolsdc.org> and <http://www.saveourschoolsdc.org/newsflash.html>. MORE INFORMATION The DC Statehood Green Party
|