June 24, 2005: SOME MISTAKES AREN'T VERY FUNNY WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE A VOTE

January 10, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2005

SOME MISTAKES AREN’T VERY FUNNY WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE A VOTE

Washington, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that the joke is on MoveOn.org and she wants more than a retraction concerning a mass email to her constituents: “Your Congresswoman, Rep. Norton, voted the wrong way on NPR and PBS funding.” The email is apparently part of emails which had the laudable goal of keeping the pressure on to save the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) from death through Republican cuts. Norton said, “I’m a good sport when it comes to jokes on me, but this is a joke on my constituents. I admire MoveOn for its quick response, but I admire more the quick responses of my constituents who, without missing a beat, have flooded my switchboard with protests, in spite of the denial to them of a vote on the House floor.” Norton would have had a vote on the CPB amendment if Republicans had not taken the vote on the House floor she won more than ten years ago. Norton’s office has been patiently reminding residents that they don’t have a vote, encouraging them to join the struggle, and informing them of her long support for PBS and NPR. (Norton was a regular commentator on NPR before coming to Congress and is a Member of the Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus.) “MoveOn have been good guys,” Norton said, “unafraid and undaunted by Republican steps and missteps. Now they have made a misstep, and for my constituents, I am asking for real amends. This means not only a retraction, which comes with the territory after a mistake, but hopefully engaging MoveOn in a progressive cause they have had little to say about—equal voting rights for the citizens of the District of Columbia.”

Besides an email to her constituents from MoveOn, Norton is seeking a meeting with MoveOn to further inform their entire database about our struggle and to try to systematically involve them in doing for voting rights what they have formany other issues.