Complaint to the Board of Elections and Ethics on the
School Governance Charter Amendment
Dino Drudi
April 28, 2000

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938 Perry Place, N.E.
Washington, DC 20017

28 April 2000

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to DCMR Title 3, Section 1803.1, I hereby request a hearing before the Board of Elections and Ethics to raise objections to Proposed Charter Amendment III, The School Governance Charter Amendment Act of 2000 The bases for my objections are:

(1) Section 303 of the Homerule Charter requires Council-proposed charter amendments to be by acts, and Section 412 requires all legislation to be by acts. Section 412 also requires that each proposed act must be "read twice in substantially the same form" at least 13 days apart. Although the Council read Bill 13-469, The School Governance Charter Amendment Act of 2000, three times, no version of the bill approved at any reading was in substantially the same form as one approved at any other reading. Because this bill has not been passed in accordance with the requirements of the Homerule Charter, it is not properly before the Board and the Board should not submit it to a charter amendment election.

(2) Inasmuch as the ward pairings might be meaningful to some voters, and might influence whether they vote for or against the measure, the summary statement should contain the ward pairings. I am enclosing my proposed revisions to the summary statement. Adopting these revisions, I believe, would improve the summary statement language, allow for the ward pairings t6 be contained in the summary statement, and keep the summary statement within the requisite number of words.

Please notify me as to the date, time, and place of the hearing.

Respectfully submitted,

Dino Joseph Drudi
Reg. No. 00M015368

Proposed Summary Statement Revision Enclosed

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938 Perry Place, N.E.
Washington, DC 20017

28 February 2000

Open Letter to DC Councilmembers:

I would like to urge you to hold a fourth reading of the School Governance Charter Amendment Act of 2000 to properly comply with Section 412 of the Homerule Act which requires legislation to be read twice in substantially the same form. The School Governance Charter Amendment Act of 2000, Bill 13-469, as passed on third reading/reconsideration differs from the previous two readings in the following substantial ways:

(1) The creation of a mixed board of elected and appointed members, whereas previous versions created boards of either all-elected or all-appointed members;

(2) Grafting of language on ward-pairing from first reading into language delineating the Boards authority from second reading;

(3) Authorizing a state education agency to which the Council might delegate certain specified responsibilities that would otherwise be retained by the Council.

A fourth reading would assure that the legislation is read twice in substantially the same form, and would allow the public an opportunity to suggest appropriate changes, such as ward pairings that would be more respectful of similarities between wards -- i.e., Wards 1 and 3; 2 and 6; 4 and 5; and 7 and 8. Failure to hold a fourth reading would render the legislation vulnerable to legal challenge.

Respectfully,

Dino Joseph Drudi

cc: Mayor Williams
Control Board