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| Statehood Greens Urge Public Support for D.C. Democracy Activists as Trial Begins. |
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THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY Rally on January 27 for D.C. citizens charged for delivering petitions demanding D.C. budget autonomy to the office of House Speaker Hastert. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The D.C. Statehood Green Party is calling for public support for seven District citizens who have been charged with "unlawful entry" and face six months in jail and up to $300 in fines for attempting to deliver petitions to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-IL), during a visit to Hastert's office on October 1, 2003. A rally will take place outside the courthouse at 8 a.m., on the morning of January 27, the first day of the trial. The defendants, David Barrows, Jill Blankespoor, Adam Eidinger, Anise Jenkins, Zoe Mitchell, Bill Mosley, and Karen Szulgit (the 'Budget Autonomy for the District Day Seven', or 'B.A.D. Day Seven'), will go on trial in the court of Judge Craig Iscoe on Tuesday, January 27, 2004. Mr. Barrows, Mr. Eidinger, and Ms. Mitchell are D.C. Statehood Green Party activists. Mr. Eidinger is a member of the party's steering committee. Ms. Mitchell has posted an account of her arrest at <http://www.zoemitchell.com/archives/000114.html>. 'Budget Autonomy for the District Day' featured a rally and visits to congressional offices on October 1, 2003, with many participants wearing colonial and plantation attire in protest of Congress's rule over D.C. The petitions, with more than 1,000 signatures, demanded that Congress cease reviewing and altering the District's budget and cede control of D.C. finances to local elected officials. The D.C. Statehood Green Party has called for full legislative autonomy for the District of Columbia, insisting that the only acceptable solution to the lack of constitutional rights for D.C. citizens is statehood for the District. Congress imposes changes and restrictions on the D.C. budget, such as a ban on spending local funds for lobbying Congress for D.C. statehood and voting rights in Congress. A five-month delay in 2003 kept local firefighters from getting new equipment and D.C. public schools from hiring school nurses. In the past, Congress has attached riders on D.C. Appropriations Bills, vetoing local legislation such as Initiative 59, the 1998 ballot measure for medical marijuana, which passed with a 69% majority. Statehood Greens have protested Congress's imposition of unwanted policies, such as the recent vote for school voucher program in the District. Statehood Greens have sharply criticized Mayor Anthony Williams, comparing him to a colonial puppet governor, for ignoring the will of the people of D.C. and working with congressional Republicans to force school vouchers on D.C. The D.C. Statehood Green Party rallied behind earlier D.C. democracy activists who were tried for protesting, including Anise Jenkins and Karen Szulgit, who were arrested and charged with "Disruption of Congress" on July 29, 1999, and the 'D.C. Democracy Seven', who were arrested on July 26, 2000 in the U.S. House of Representatives Visitors' Gallery after they spoke out on the D.C. Appropriations Bill. All were acquitted. RALLY for the 'B.A.D. Day Seven': |
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