Existing comment:
Government by Commission: 1874-1973:
Responding to charges of misappropriation and excessive costs in city improvements undertaken by the Board of Public Works, Congress abolished the territorial government. The President was given the authority to appoint a Board of Commissioners.
An act passed by Congress in 1878 provided for the appointment of three commissioners, two of whom were to have resided in the District for at least three years prior to their appointment. The third member was to be an officer of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
In 1967, Congress eliminated the three-man commission and replaced it with a single commissioner, deputy commissioner, and nine-member city council.
Between 1968 and 1970, Congress gave citizens the right to elect a Board of Education. The President restored the non-voting Congressional delegate (earlier eliminated with the end of territorial government), and reformed the local courts system.
"The three District Commissioners from start to finish were more intent upon satisfying the President and Congress than upon catering to local opinion."
-- Historian CM Green, 1962
Chronology:
1997:
Council Chair, David A. Clarke, becomes the first elected official of the District of Columbia to lie in state in the Wilson Building (April 3).
2002:
Official re-opening of the John A. Wilson Building following renovation. Public is invited for a ceremony and tours of the renovated seat of government (June 29).
2003:
Former Mayor Walter E. Washington lies in state in Wilson Building (October 31). |