As easy as it is to criticize some of the things that newly elected Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has said and done, I have to say he is dead on with his opposition to giving Washington D.C. a seat in Congress.
The Constitution only gives voting rights to states and Chaffetz recognizes that Washington D.C. is not a state. Yet, the thousands who live in D.C. are crowing about “taxation without representation” and clamoring for a vote in Congress. Chaffetz has a solution for this, or, for at least most of these people: Transfer the residential areas of D.C. to Maryland.
If you trust that Washington D.C. was set up to just be a city of government, then this would work. There’s precedent for it too, with areas of Washington D.C. being transferred to Virginia many years ago.
Many Utahns who support D.C. getting a seat in Congress because it would grant Utah a fourth seat are not seeing the forest because of the trees. Utah will get a fourth seat after the 2010 Census and redistricting anyway, and violating the Constitution in the name of getting one extra seat for two years just doesn’t seem to be worth it.
All of Utah’s delegation supported the bill when it came up for a vote last year, although Rob Bishop voted “present.” The bill died in the Senate.
It will likely pass this time given the gains by Democrats in November, but I will certainly reserve respect for this issue on our local officials who oppose the measure.
-Tyler
