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Subject: A Second Term for Mrs. Norton=
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 04:28:31 EST
Message-ID: <5.1992Oct28.042831@AmeriCast.com>

A Second Term for Mrs. Norton=

 TWO YEARS ago we were set to endorse Eleanor Holmes Norton in
her crucial primary race against Betty Ann Kane for District
delegate to Congress when the news broke of Mrs. Norton's default
on her local taxes. We put the endorsement on hold while waiting
for a clear explanation of the tangled and unreassuring tax prac-
tices of the candidate and the husband from whom she has since
been divorced. In the end we endorsed her opponents in both the
primary and the general election because we did not think the
Nortons' explanations had disposed of the issue. And above all we
believed that on this account Mrs. Norton would go to the Hill
with a disabling burden that would keep her from winning support
for District causes and District finances and from otherwise
representing the city effectively.

 In this we were surely wrong. Mrs. Norton has confounded our
every gloomy prediction. She has been a spectacular representa-
tive of District interests in Congress. She has enormously im-
proved on the record of her predecessor, the Rev. Walter E.
Fauntroy. Mrs. Norton, who came into the race far from expert on
District affairs, steeped herself in the issues and history she
needed to know and mastered the material with amazing speed. She
also quickly developed great skill in dealing with fellow members
of Congress; a woman whose reputation had held her to be rather
impatient and haughty proved herself to be - well - not "one of
the boys" but certainly a truly talented and successful maneuver-
er among her colleagues, a legislator who knew how to make bene-
ficial deals, how to get things to happen. When Congress started
up its predictable District-bashing late in the session, it was
Mrs. Norton who was able in face-to-face rounds at least to di-
minish the assault. She has, in this connection, worked excep-
tionally well with the regional caucus: Morella, Moran, Wolf, Mi-
kulski, Sarbanes, Hoyer, Robb and Warner.

 Mrs. Norton has also managed to stay in close touch with and ac-
tive in District affairs. She attends public and civic events in
every ward of the city and does well the work of listening to
constituents as well as that of trying to represent them in an
often hostile legislature. On issue after issue, in the tangle
between administration, business community, suburbs, Congress and
District, hers has been the voice of reason and authority. She
deserves to be sent back to the Hill with a resounding vote.02:04
10-28C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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