The Butler Blog Endorses Michael Brown for DC Mayor

The District of Columbia has a political problem; it's citizens have less voting rights than the citizens of Baghdad. It's not that we adore Eleanor Holmes Norton so much as the fact that No One in Congress sent by the District of Columbia has full voting rights in Congress and we don't have any Senators. We are about the same size as Vermont. We are completely disenfranchised. Citizens of the District of Columbia are offering their sons and daughters in the service of this war to spread Democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq- yet we can't vote here for anyone who gets a full voice in Congress. We can't run for Senator because there is no Senator from the District. It is a point of international human rights attention that half a million people in the District of Columbia have taxation with no representation and it is the deepest hypocrisy of our Republic. Should we throw tea in the Potomac? Here is a better idea; We can start serious reform by electing Michael Brown to be DC Mayor.

The Butler Blog believes that the one candidate in the District of Columbia whose commitment to fighting for DC Voting Rights is more than lipservice is Michael Brown. Michael Brown has the right blend of experience, maturity, political and financial savvy, kind heartedness, legal adeptness and intelligence and broad coalition vision to be an outstanding Mayor for the District and really move the Statehood discussion to another level. None of the sitting city counsel people have succeeded to date in bringing about the full voting rights of the District and we need a fresh approach from Brown who is enough of an outsider to have a fresh vision and a national voice as the son of Ron Brown, former US Commerce Secretary and DNC Finance Co-Chair.
Brown has bizarrely received a bit of mixed press in the Washington Post, mostly because people have opined without knowing much of anything about the legal structure of the District of Columbia courts about some minor civil legal troubles over contract disputes. We have researched these issues and find them totally inconsequential to his ability to be a fine Mayor. In fact, we believe that they highlight the fact that there are structural reforms in the District of Columbia court system that are necessary.
One reported suit has to do with not being served a Complaint until it went to judgment involving the then MCI Center (now the Verizon Center) box resulting in a Magistrate who is not a full judge defaulting him.
Our research has determined that in fact he was never served. This is not an uncommon problem in the Superior Court system where people who are not served, or served improperly at the wrong address never know legal action is being taken against them. A number of cases are dismissed every year when people are not properly served. Similarly, the Butler Blog does not believe that the fact that someone who claims-- much after Brown announced his mayorial candidacy--that several years earlier he was cut out of a deal involving several other people is remotely grounds to challenge Brown's viable candidacy. To the contrary, someone doing business and politics at the level at which Brown has done business and politics would typically have far more detractors and legal issues than these two -and the Butler Blog believes it's equally credible that he is not at fault in any of these issues (he had unnamed partners who were also supposed to contribute to the MCI box at issue for example).

Please read below the statement we received from the Brown campaign indicating his commitment to DC Voting Rights. If the citizens in fact had full voting rights, perhaps they would have more substantive control over legislative reform of court procedures.

Michael Brown for Mayor
One Mayor. One D.C.
Brown supports statehood lobbying bill.

Robert Redding Jr.Communications Director202-548-0047
press@brownformayor.com
WASHINGTON,
June 15, 2006 -
Michael Brown, a leading Democratic mayoral candidate, supports a bill to help the District regain the right to lobby for congressional voting rights."I have always said that we should have a representative lobbying for the residentsof the District to vote," Brown said. "I feel this bill is a vital step in that direction."U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, says he will introduce an amendment to the District's federal appropriations bill, according to the Associated Press. The District's federal funding currently comes with the stipulation that no taxpayer dollars can be spent to lobby for boycotts, statehood or voting rights. Rohrabacher's plan would only remove the ban on lobbying for voting rights, the Associated Press reported. The other two rules against lobbying would remain. Mr. Brown has spent countless hours traveling across the country and the District advocating the need for statehood."As the next mayor of the District of Columbia voters know that I understand that we can not just talk about voting rights in the District, but elsewhere as well," Brown said.

Michael Brown welcomes invitations to explain his platform before deserving groups and welcomes contributions to his campaign. Contact his press secretary above for more information.