Washington, DC Mayor Vetoes Vote Buying Ban

The Washington Post had an article in yesterday's paper highlighting Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty's pocket veto of a bill that would have brought DC code into line with Federal law.

Last month, the council overwhelmingly approved a bill by council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) that would have enshrined in the local code the federal prohibitions against paying someone to vote or register to vote, or accepting payment to vote or register to vote. It also made it a crime to use a false name to register to vote. Violators could be fined as much as $10,000 and face five years in prison.

Fenty's reasoning for the veto though is concerning and smells of pure politics

But Fenty friend and strategist Ronald Moten lobbied the mayor to veto the bill. Moten worried that the council, led by Fenty rival Vincent C. Gray (D) was trying to quash the mayor's go-go concerts designed to get low-income African American residents registered to vote.

This veto comes at a time when Fenty's political future is on line, he is facing a September 14 primary, and is trailing in some recent polling. While, the Fenty campaign commented that he believes that vote buyers should be "locked up", that did not stop his primary opponent from hitting on the veto.

But Mo Elleithee, a Gray strategist, blasted the mayor's decision.

"The bill says, in the most simple of terms, you can't buy someone's vote," Elleithee said. "The fact that the mayor wouldn't sign it speaks volumes. We knew that he had no problem bringing pay-to-play politics to the mayor's office. Now it appears he has no problem bringing it to the ballot box."