D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray was visibly annoyed when, at his regular press conference, he was asked if his arrest last week was an attempt to direct attention away from his scandal-dominated political narrative. He and his 2010 campaign are being investigated by multiple local and federal agencies.
That seemed a fair question. After all, Gray was never arrested during his tenure as city council chairman. When D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton was unceremoniously stripped of her vote in the Committee of the Whole, he didn’t gather his posse for a smackdown with House Speaker John Boehner. In fact, Gray subsequently had a private get-to-know-you meeting with the Republican leader.
Nevertheless, channeling civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer, Gray claimed he was “sick and tired of being sick and tired” of congressional interference in city affairs. He said that’s what led him to subject himself to handcuffs.
Gray’s history and the timing of his civil disobedience suggest he wasn’t simply peeved with Congress’ decision to reinstate the federally funded education voucher program and prohibit the city from spending its money on elective abortions for low-income women. He needed to change the conversation and reset the public’s perception of his administration.
Gray may have helped himself. But he has created a much bigger problem for the city. He has linked abortion rights to the District’s struggle for full citizenship.
The two issues were connected when, the day of his arrest, Gray held a press conference at Planned Parenthood, a principal figure in the country’s decades-old abortion battles. No doubt pictures from the event and comments made by Gray during multiple media appearances linked the two issues in the minds of many Americans unfamiliar with the city’s political structure.
The District needs allies if it is to win its fight for independence. But friends will be harder to come by if the city’s cause is cemented to one of the most divisive issues in the country.
Unfortunately, myopia has been a consistent affliction of voting rights advocates. Last week wasn’t any different. Surely their anti-congressional interference message could have been better constructed.
Even in the District, there isn’t consensus on government-financed abortions. Some residents, who don’t describe themselves as conservatives, are upset they weren’t consulted by local elected officials on the use of their tax dollars for such procedures. They embraced Congress’ prohibition.
A woman may have the right to choose. But the government isn’t obligated to finance that choice — regardless of the woman’s economic status — said those residents I spoke with. Under no circumstances should the government pick up the tab for non-medical abortions when the life of the mother is not in jeopardy.
Gray may have been appalled that the city was used, yet again, as a pawn in the fight between Republicans and Democrats. But his impetuous response and self-preservation gambit may have guaranteed that the District will be forever trapped in this role.
Coming soon: the District as a tool of abortion rights advocates.
Jonetta Rose Barras’s column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
