D.C. Statehood - The Only Solution!

I have served with distinction since first elected in 2006 with more than 84 percent of the vote.  I have received awards from local activist groups, veterans groups, international organization and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).  Barack Obama called me “a strong advocate for the rights of D.C. residents.”  THIS IS WHAT I'VE DONE: 

 

CAPITOL HILL: I have worked on getting cosponsors for our statehood bills in both houses of Congress. I have spoken directly with members of both parties in an effort to get our legislation passed.

SENATE TESTIMONY: Along with Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Alice M. Rivlin, Ph.D., of The Brookings Institution, and Wade Henderson, former president of the Leadership Conference on Civil
and Human Rights, I testified on the “New Columbia Admission Act of 2013” (S.132) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. 

OPINION PIECES: My letters to the editor and opinion pieces on D.C. statehood have appeared more than 21 times in The Washington Post and in other national publications.

 

SHADOW POLITICS: My internet radio show on BBS Radio promotes D.C. statehood.  The show has been on the air every Sunday for more than nine years.  We have interviewed governors, senators, congressmen and our podcast gets hundreds of thousands of hits on the internet every year.

STATEHOOD COMMISSION: I have served as one of the five members of the New Columbia Statehood Commission since 2015. 

NEW CONSTITUTION: I helped to author the Constitution of the State of Washington, D.C., co-chaired six public meetings and voted to pass the new constitution as a Commission member. 

ADVISORY REFERENDUM: I helped get the D.C. statehood referendum – which was overwhelmingly approved by 86 percent of D.C. voters – on the ballot in November 2016. 

STATEHOOD YES WE CAN: I created a project to erect 8,000 signs across the District in preparation for Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration. 

STATEHOOD BILLBOARDS: When the Democrats left D.C. statehood out of their national platform in 2012, I designed and paid for two billboards that were erected outside the Democratic National Convention
in Charlotte, NC. D.C. statehood was in the platform at the next Democratic National Convention. 

ARRESTED AND TRIED: I was arrested near the Senate and went to trial standing up for the rights of women and for D.C. statehood. 

VISITED 17 STATES: At various conferences and events, I have given more than 50 speeches and appeared at more than 150 events across the country and abroad to talk about D.C. statehood. 

D.C. STATEHOOD COALITION: Along with Jerry Clark, former president of D.C. for Democracy, and former U.S. Rep. Nate Bennett Fleming, I helped cofound the coalition that brings together 10 local democracy groups. 

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIAL STUDIES: I have given presentations on D.C. statehood at NCSS meetings in Atlanta, Ga., Washington, D.C. and Austin, Tex. I created two statehood workshops,
and put forth a resolution in support of D.C. statehood, which social studies teachers across America unanimously passed. 

SUPER-DELEGATE: I used my status as a super-delegate to the Democratic National Conventions to get presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden to agree to support D.C. statehood. 

STATEHOOD NO OTHER WAY (NOW) FOUNDATION: I created StatehoodNOW.org to help fund my work on D.C. statehood, which is seriously underfunded.

TEACH DEMOCRACY: I created the website TeachDemocracy.net to teach students, nationwide, about D.C. statehood and provide information to educators to use this issue as part of their civics curriculum. 

EXTENSIVE DATABASE: My statehood activist and national media database contains more than 20,000 names. 

SOCIAL MEDIA: I have an active presence on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube. 

BILLBOARD: I erected a huge warning sign in my front yard, which is the first house you pass coming into the District of Columbia, as a pronouncement to the world that residency in the District may result in the loss of your basic civil rights.
 

For more than 40 years, I have made Washington, D.C. my home. I am a graduate of the University of Maryland, where I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Government and Politics
and my Master’s Degree in Public Policy. I am the former administrative director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a top nonprofit organization located in D.C. For 25
years, I ran Horizon Communications, a national consulting firm and worked on five presidential campaigns. I am a former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. I have been
happily married to my wife, Patricia, for 31 years. Pat and I have three adult children, who all attended D.C. Public Schools, and a very sweet shelter dog named Bubba. 
I am a direct descendant of the Revolutionary War patriot, Joel Prescott, and I fight to regain the rights that he put his life, liberty and property on the line to secure for me.

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