January 25, 2001

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ. We congratulate you on your recent Inauguration as President of the United States and wish upon you every blessing and good fortune during your Presidency.

We write to you today as fellow Christians and fellow United Methodists, hoping you will lend your support to make a difference in our city. The Foundry Democracy Project is a faith-based organization that believes that the continuing disenfranchisement of the people of the District of Columbia from full representation in the Congress is an egregious moral wrong that must be rectified. We believe that it is immoral that the young men of the District are subject to the draft but have no say in whether this nation goes to war. We believe that it is immoral that people are subject to taxation, but have no representation in the decision to tax or how the money is to be spent. It is the official position of the United Methodist Church that the people of the District are entitled to the same rights available to all other Americans and should be fully represented in the Congress. A copy of the United Methodist position is attached.

There are at least four ways the people of the District could be given their full voting rights: (1) D.C. could be made a state; (2) D.C. could be made part of another state (e.g. Maryland); (3) D.C. could be treated as though it were a state for purposes of Federal representation; and (4) D.C. could be treated as though it were part of another state (e.g. Maryland) for purposes of Federal representation. As a faith-based organization, we do not advocate for any particular political solution. Rather, we advocate solely for the moral principle that the residents of Washington should be afforded the same rights as their fellow Americans and should be given voting representation in the United States Congress.

We hope you will reflect prayerfully on this. We were gratified by your statement in your Inaugural Address that "everyone belongs." We are hopeful that with your help, the people of our Nation's Capital will belong to the same promise available to all other Americans.

We understand that our Senior Pastor has extended an invitation to you to come worship with us at Foundry United Methodist. We join him in extending an invitation to come to Foundry. We thank you for your time and consideration and we hope to see you soon. May the grace and peace of the Lord our God be with you.

Yours in Christ,
 
Mark A. Schaefer
Chair, Foundry Democracy Project

June 9, 2001

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This past January, we wrote you a letter in which we asked you to help to make a difference in our city by assisting the people of the nation's capital in achieving full citizenship by being fully represented in Congress. We included a copy of a resolution of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church supporting Voting Representation for the People of the District of Columbia.

Curiously, the only response we received was a letter dated April 25, 2001 from Mr. Bradley Blakeman, Deputy Assistant to the President, informing us that you would be unable to worship with us at Foundry United Methodist Church. While the letter graciously responded to the invitation we extended to you at the conclusion of our letter, it did not respond at all to the content of our letter: the rights of our people.

Since you are a Christian and a brother Methodist, we are unwilling to assume that the slight was intentional, and figure it was rather a case of a misdirection or misfiling by your staff. Therefore, we are enclosing another copy of our letter and a copy of the response in the hopes that you will have the opportunity to reflect upon and respond to the important issues facing us and our city.

Thank you for your time and your consideration. The grace and peace of the Lord our God be with you always.

Yours in Christ,

Mark A. Schaefer
Chair, Foundry Democracy Project

cc: Bishop Felton E. May