Time for a legislative push on DC Vote .

Dear Common Cause Activist,

We received a great outpouring of support earlier this month for our petition drive for DC voting rights. Thousands of activists have joined our campaign to pressure Congress to give DC citizens a vote in Congress. If you have not signed our petition yet, it's not too late! You can find the petition by going to the following link. Sign it today and pass it on to everyone you know:

http://www.commoncause.org/EndTaxationwithoutRepresentation

We are now working to pass a law that finally gives representation in Congress to the more than 500,000 Americans living in our nation's capital.

We are supporting an innovative and politically pragmatic legislative approach that we think is the best opportunity for DC to gain a vote in Congress. Specifically, Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) has introduced legislation that recognizes the most likely way to succeed is to make certain that neither political party gains an advantage, an approach that worked when Alaska and Hawaii joined the union. Rep. Davis' legislation gives DC a voting member in the House (likely to be a Democrat) and gives a temporary additional seat to Utah (likely to be a Republican); House membership will rise to 437 until after the 2010 census, at which point DC will keep its one seat and Utah's allotment of US House seats will be determined through Census figures, just like all the other states.

We need your help now to get some key members from both chambers of Congress - especially Republicans - to cosponsor Rep. Davis' legislation. We need more Republican cosponsors in the House and we need a Senator to introduce the bill in the Senate. First, we believe the following members of the House may be open to sponsoring Davis' legislation, but we need your calls to show them how important this issue is to Americans all over the country. Please call the following House members today and urge them to cosponsor Rep. Davis' bill:

· DE-At Large: Rep. Michael Castle - (202) 225-4165
· NH-2: Rep. Charles Bass - (202) 225-5206
· NJ-3: Rep. Jim Saxton - (202) 225-4765
· NY-13: Rep. Vito Fossella - (202) 225-3371
· PA-9: Rep. Bill Shuster - (202) 225-2431

After you have called the House members' offices, please call the following Senators and ask them to support Davis' legislation by introducing a companion bill in the Senate:

· UT: Sen. Orrin Hatch - (202) 224-5251
· UT: Sen. Robert Bennett - (202) 224-5444
· KS: Sen. Sam Brownback - (202) 224-6521
· OH: Sen. George Voinovich - (202) 224-3353
· OH: Sen. Mike DeWine - (202) 224-2315

A Senate bill will attract cosponsors and give more momentum to this effort. So, please call these Senators today and urge them to introduce legislation giving DC voting representation in Congress.

Making these phone calls to House and Senate lawmakers is crucial. While we and other advocates of DC voting representation believe that DC citizens should have full voting representation in both the House and Senate, we strongly believe that Rep. Davis' legislation, the District of Columbia Fairness in Representation Act, will be a huge step forward for democracy in our nation's capital.

As we have mentioned before, DC residents pay taxes, fight and die in wars - including the one in Iraq - and live and work in the city that houses the United Stations Congress, yet they have no real voice in the institution that represents all other Americans. This is not right. You can help bring democracy to all Americans by calling these members of Congress and reminding them that the citizens of our nation's capital deserve a vote in Congress too.

So please make these 10 calls today and urge everyone you know to join our campaign for DC Vote:

http://www.commoncause.org/CampaignforDCRights

Thank you again for all you do to protect our democracy.

Sincerely,

Chellie Pingree
President & CEO, Common Cause