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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

D.C. Statehood Out of Democratic Platform

ANISE JENKINS
Jenkins is with the Stand Up! for Democracy
in D.C. Coalition (Free D.C). She said today: "Non-voting U.S. House
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at the Democratic convention
Tuesday night. She is the vice-chair of the DNC Platform Committee this
year as she was in 2004.

"Statehood for D.C. was dropped from the Democratic Party platform in 2004 at her suggestion and continues to be absent.

WASHINGTON

ANISE JENKINS
Jenkins is with the Stand Up! for Democracy
in D.C. Coalition (Free D.C). She said today: "Non-voting U.S. House
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at the Democratic convention
Tuesday night. She is the vice-chair of the DNC Platform Committee this
year as she was in 2004.

"Statehood for D.C. was dropped from the Democratic Party platform in 2004 at her suggestion and continues to be absent.

"Sen. Edward Kennedy was the original co-sponsor -- with former U.S.
Representative Ronald Dellums of California -- of the Statehood for
D.C. resolution back in 1980. Barack Obama told me personally that he
strongly supported D.C. statehood. So why isn't it the official
position of the Democratic Party?

"We talk about 'One Nation' and 'Renewing America's Promise' -- but we
in D.C. don't have full citizenship rights. We don't have control over
our budget and we can't elect local judges. We don't have voting
members in either the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate,
unlike, say, Wyoming, which has a lower population."

A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.