Word: rule
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...arguments are overwhelmingly in favor of home rule. What killed it during the last session and may smother it again this year is public indifference. A few national organizations--the AFL-CIO, ADA, and the League of Women Voters--lobbied for home rule, but not vigorously. Except for the NAACP, the national Negro organizations did not exert grass-roots pressure...
Confronted with continual Congressional opposition to a home rule bill for the District of Columbia, President Johnson has now made his own proposal to replace the city's present three-man Board of Commissioners. The measure differs significantly from traditional home-rule proposals, which would give Washington citizens the right to elect their own city government...
...objectives of both proposals--to streamline the government and to provide congressional representation--are reasonable. Unfortunately, the President's plan to remake the city's local government may do more harm than good by permanently killing the chances of a genuine home-rule bill. The President's executive order will go into effect 60 days after it reaches Congress unless either house votes to disapprove it, and the danger is that this measure will be accepted as an adequate substitute...
...citizens have every reason to want complete home-rule. Self-government at the local level is a fundamental right which should not be denied 800,000 citizens. A locally elected mayor and city council would be better informed and more responsive to the needs of the District than an appointed council. Moreover, the President's plan would not free District government budgets from control by the Southern-dominated House District Committee and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The appointed council would still be faced with the meager appropriations that have stymied efforts to solve some of the city...
...result, home-rule opponents had little trouble defeating the bill in the House. They traded on fears that the Negro majority would dominate the city elections and consequently the city government. Or, they raised unfounded doubts that a locally elected mayor and council would show sufficient concern in maintaining the proper character of Washington as The Federal City with all its buildings, employees, and interests...