Advocates for Washington voting rights are lobbying President-elect Barack Obama to put “Taxation Without Representation” license plates on the presidential limousine.

President Clinton had the plates on his limo, but President Bush, who opposes giving D.C.’s representative in Congress a vote, replaced them, in one of his first acts as president, with D.C. plates that do not include the taxation slogan.

“We will make this point and encourage them to make the change,” said Ilir Zherka, executive director of D.C. Vote. He said his office has been talking to Obama’s transition team.

“We’d love to see the presidential limousine come down Pennsylvania Avenue after the inaugural with the new license plates on [it],” she said.

A spokesman for D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said the mayor has not discussed license plates with Obama, whom Fenty endorsed early in the Democratic primary. The spokesman said Fenty would leave the matter for the president-elect to decide.

Washington’s Department of Motor Vehicles issues the “Taxation Without Representation” license plates as default plates to every vehicle registrant. Residents can opt for plain D.C. license plates without the slogan, but have to request them specifically.

When Clinton fitted the plates on his limousine shortly after their creation in November 2000, it was seen as a symbolic gesture of his support for the issue. Clinton put the plates on his limo two months before he left office.

A bill granting D.C. the right to have a representational vote in Congress almost became law in 2007. The bill gained the support of eight Senate Republicans, in part by granting an additional member of Congress to GOP-leaning Utah. The result would probably have been another Democratic vote in Congress from D.C., and a Republican vote from Utah.

The bill was approved by the House but fell short in the Senate. Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden both voted for the measure, which Bush had threatened to veto.

Advocates believe they have a better shot in the next Congress, given gains by Democrats in the Senate. Democrats will hold 58 seats in the Senate with the concession Thursday of Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens. (Two Independents caucus with Democrats.)

They also think that with the nation’s first black president poised to take office, they are gaining a powerful ally. They have long argued D.C.’s heavily African-American population is disenfranchised.

In a floor speech on the bill last year, Obama acknowledged the importance of D.C. gaining voting representation in Congress.

“As a community organizer in Chicago and as a civil rights attorney, I learned that disenfranchisement can lead to disengagement from our political system,” he said. “In many parts of D.C., you can look down the street and see the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Yet so many of these streets couldn’t be more disconnected from their government.”

Opponents have opposed granting full voting rights to D.C.’s representative, who can vote in committee but not on the floor, on constitutional grounds. They argue the Founding Fathers never intended for the District to have a voting member of Congress.

Advocates also see Obama’s possible appointment of Eric Holder as attorney general as a key in furthering their cause. Holder, a native of D.C., was one of 25 prominent lawyers who signed a letter to members of Congress last year stating his support of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D-D.C.) measure. Under Clinton’s administration, Holder served as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia for four years and then as deputy attorney general.

“Under Bush, the Justice Department was in opposition to [Norton’s] bill, and we expect that the Justice Department will take a different posture under Eric Holder, who comes from the District and is supportive of both our efforts to get a bill passed and also the constitutional arguments that we have presented to support our bill,” Zherka said. “So I think his selection, if that indeed happens, will be a major leg up for us in the fight to both pass the bill and defend it on Capitol Hill and potentially the court.”

If the bill is passed in the next Congress and becomes law, it could be challenged in court.

Washington’s shadow senator, Paul Strauss, said he expects Obama will put the “Taxation Without Representation” license plates on his limo on Inauguration Day because it would be an important symbol of solidarity.

He also joked that if he could, he would lend a helping hand to Obama in getting the new plates on the limo.
“If the Secret Service would let me, I’d grab a screwdriver and put them on myself,” he said.