Congress is out of town, the President's on vacation and many government political appointees are off on their own vacations. But not everyone's gone.  It's a common misperception that Washington, DC is a one-company town and what political pundits talk about in this city is all that's happening. In fact, most Washingtonians don't work for the government, are not anymore political than most Americans and are working away at their jobs during the dog days of August.

DC residents can't be slammed with the derogatory "inside-the-beltway" tag -- they don't even have a vote in Congress. They're not insiders - they've been kept outside the system, alternately begging for deserved assistance from Congress and fighting to stave off the latest intrusion into the city's affairs.

It's shameful that the city at the center of our national politics is shut out of our national legislature.

Here in DC we're working to correct this historic injustice. We've had thousands of people around the country sign a petition urging Congress to give DC representation Congress.  Now we're going to focus on passing legislation that will give DC a vote in the House. Today we've got a message going out that asks citizens around the country to contact targeted Members of Congress and ask them to support Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) legislation, the DC Fairness in Representation Act.  And we're trying to get a Senator to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

More cosponsors for Davis' bill and a bill in the Senate will give this effort greater momentum. We particuarly want Republican support, so we can push the House leadership to give the bill a vote on the House floor sometime in the coming months. None of this will happen without strong support from citizens outside of DC who see the injustice in more than a half million of their fellow citizens in DC witihout a vote in Congress.