Pubdate: Sat, 20 Dec 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Robert V. Percival
Page: A14
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n920/a06.html

CONGRESSMEN WHO MOVED TO BLOCK D.C. MARIJUANA INITIATIVE: 
HYPOCRITICAL OR HELPFUL?

How courageous of Republican Reps. Andy Harris (Md.) and Joe Pitts 
(Pa.) to answer "head-on" charges that it is hypocritical for 
proponents of self-government and democracy to overrule the 
District's marijuana initiative ["Congress's duty trumps D.C.'s 
vote," op-ed, Dec. 14]. The enormous flaw in their argument that 
federal interests should trump the will of District residents is 
that, unlike Mr. Harris and Mr. Pitts's constituents in Maryland and 
Pennsylvania, D.C. residents have no voice in defining those federal 
interests because we have no voting representation in Congress.

If they were men of courage and principle, they would follow in the 
footsteps of such Republicans as President Dwight D. Eisenhower and 
Sen. Prescott Bush (father of one Republican president and 
grandfather of another), who helped win ratification of the 23rd 
Amendment giving D.C. residents the right to vote in presidential elections.

Granting the District voting representation in Congress would make 
the incoming Republican majority truly a party of principle. Until 
that happens, it is illegitimate for Mr. Harris and Mr. Pitts to 
claim that the will of D.C. residents should be trumped by a federal 
interest we are not allowed a voice in defining.

Robert V. Percival, Washington
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom