C4 voting rights from C1
mittee assignments until Decem- ber, so it’s unclearwhich lawmak- ers will have jurisdiction over the District. For now,Norton said she is most interested in arranging a meeting with House Minority Leader
JohnA.Boehner (R-Ohio), the incoming speaker, and D.C. Mayor-electVincent
C.Gray (D). Boehner has opposed D.C. vot-
ing rights in the House, and the math on the GOP side of the aisle does not bodewell for the cause. The last time a votingrightsbill
came to the House floor, in April 2007, 22 Republicans voted for it. Half of those lawmakers are now outofoffice, leavingjust 11Repub- licans in the House who are on record as voting for the idea. One of the 11 past supporters is
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the incoming chairman of the Over- sight and Government Reform Committee, but he later turned against the bill. He expressed a fear that the District would use it as a steppingstone to getting two senators and, eventually, state- hood. Issawon’t saywhathis commit-
tee plans to do in the next Con- gress, but his spokesman, Freder- ickHill, saidIssa“wants tostill try to work and find a way for the people of D.C. to have voting rep- resentationintheHouseofRepre- sentatives.” It’s unclear where Rep. Jason
Chaffetz (Utah), the current top Republican on the subcommittee onthe federalworkforce, thePost- al Service and the District, will end up, but he said he expected to be “heavily involved” in
D.C.mat- ters regardless of how the sub- committee shuffle plays out. As he has before, Chaffetz said
that he thinks granting full voting rights to the District would be
EZ SU
KLMNO D.C. set back on voting rights
unconstitutional and that he would rather have the District retain its current status than adoptNorton’s proposals. “Thereareotheroptions,”Chaf-
fetz said, suggesting — as other congressional Republicans have — that the District undergo “retrocession” to Maryland. He acknowledged that he did not know exactly how such a process wouldwork orwhetherMaryland would want to take over the Dis- trict. That idea is a non-starter to
most voting rights advocates on both sides of the D.C.-Maryland border. “I think the residents of the
District of Columbia have no de- sire to be subsumed into the state of Maryland,” Hoyer said. “They are very proud of the fact they are District of Columbia citizens.” Norton said she and other ad-
vocates would look closely at the incomingGOPfreshmen,particu- larly to see whether any from swing districts might be con- vinced that itwould be good poli- tics back home to support D.C. voting rights. Norton is also waiting for
something that could make or break her cause: the results of the 2010 Census. The last voting rights bill, Da-
vis’s brainchild, was predicated on giving one House seat to the District and one to Republican- leaning Utah, which had just missed out on gaining another seat in the 2000 Census. Now Utahisall-but-assuredofwinning another seat anyway,meaning the state no longer has a reason to partnerwith theDistrict. “What we’re doing is consider-
ing any other options,” Norton said. “Is there any othernear-miss [House] seat?” In theory, the 2010 Census
could leave another state frustrat- ed and eager to add a congressio- nal seat by other means. But the state would have to be controlled by Republicans — to ensure that the new seat would be a Republi- can seat — and amenable to cut- ting the kind of deal that most Utah leaderswere. Andevenif suchapackagedeal
were available a second time, vot- ing rights could well be derailed again by the debate over the Dis- trict’s gun laws. “The other thing that’s unpre-
dictable at this point is whether [Republicans]willmoveagunbill separate and apart from” the vot- ing rightsbill, saidIlirZherka, the executive director ofD.C.Vote. Davis predicted thatHouseRe-
publican leaders would move a stand-alone measure to weaken the city’s gun laws. ButwithDem- ocrats incontrol of the Senate and theWhiteHouse, such ameasure would likely stall. Zherka said there are a handful
of voting rights supporters left in the upper ranks of the GOP, in- cluding Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), who just stepped down from the party leadership to consider a run for governor or president, and Rep. Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), the in- coming chairman of the House Budget Committee. “We’re going to look for as
many unusual allies as possible,” Zherka said. Although it’s the House that
just flippedtoRepublicancontrol, the Senatemightpresent the larg- er obstacle to voting rights going forward. Davis said the District hadlittlechancetowinunlessand until Democrats secure a filibus- ter-proofmajority in the Senate. For now, Davis said, “the
chance is gone, I would guess, for 10 years.”
Ben.Pershing@
wpost.com
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2010 Students lobby for DREAM Act dream act from C1
Advocates and critics both say the odds of it passing in the next Congress are slim, given that a GOP-controlled House is expect- ed to concentrate on immigration enforcement measures. Republi- cans have vowed to block the new bill because they believe it would provide amnesty to lawbreakers and legal status to criminals. Whilethemeasureoffersapath
to legalization for immigrants such as Gutierrezwho sign up for two years of college or military service, different versions of the bill currently under consider- ation would limit the benefit, de- pending on the age of the person. Military leaders have called for passage of the bill, citing its rele- vance in preparedness. Large numbers of legislators in
both parties once supported the measure, but a shifting tide of public attitudes towardillegal im- migration has prompted many Republicans and some Demo- crats to reconsider. “Many of these students aremy
students,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said at a recent news briefingheldtopromote the DREAM Act. He was referring to students in the Chicago public schools, where he worked before joining the Obama administra- tion. “The chance of going to college was denied them. It’s ab- solutely unfair to those children andultimatelyunfair to our coun- try.” Duncan said that President
Obama was willing to spend “po- litical capital” onmaking sure the measure passes and that about 55,000 young people a year could benefit fromtheDREAMAct. Opponents cite vastly larger
Bedbug lawyer bites back with suits bedbugs from C1
a few years ago after the blood- sucking insects came back from the brink. The common bedbug, Cimex
lectularius, which generally feasts on the blood of sleeping humans, was nearly eradicated in the United States in the 1950s through liberal application of potent pesticides, including the since-banned DDT. But the ap- ple-seed-size insect, which sur- vived in other parts of the world, has made an unexpected and unwelcome return here since the late 1990s. Bedbugs are showing up ev-
erywhere: in college dorms, gov- ernment buildings, Google’s of- fices—evenluxury hotels such as the Waldorf-Astoria, which has been sued by guestswho say they got chewed up at the New York landmark. As the snarky legal blog Above
the Law put it recently: “There’s Only One Way to Deal With Bedbugs: Release the Sharks.” “Bedbug infestations are
reaching levels like we haven’t seen inmore than 60 years,” Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) said re- cently at the Congressional Bed Bug Forum, which he hosted. Butterfield plans to introduce new bedbug legislation next ses- sion, building on a bill he spon- sored last year, “The Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2009.” Silly name, Butterfield said, “but this is a very serious conversa- tion.” Last year’s bill died in commit-
tee, perhaps proving that legisla- tion ismuch easier to kill off than pesticide-resistant bedbugs — which, according toUniversity of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter, “are virtually unstoppa- ble.” (Still, at that same forum, Dini Miller of Virginia Tech’s Urban PestManagement Labora- tory warned against alarmist panic. “Bedbugs,” she said, “are not the end of the world.”)
Psychological effects Bedbug bites don’t hurt and
aren’t known to spread disease. But people often develop itchy rashes orwelts and other allergic symptoms where they’ve been
bitten.Victims of bedbug infesta- tions often report psychological effects, too; Potter said he has a massive file of letters and e-mails from people whose homes turned into virtual bedbug ho- tels. Their common refrain? “Please help — I’m losing my mind.” Maryland’s health department
doesn’t keep statistics on bedbug infestations, but the District has seen a spike in bedbug reports, with calls up nearly 50 percent from last year to 270. The Dis- trict’s health department recent- ly moved a bedbug summit scheduled for January into a larger space “due to overwhelm- ing demand.” (But Washington has nothing on New York: With
more than 12,000 reported cases in 2009, it has become the bed- bug capital of North America.) Although Whitney is a new-
comer to Cimex lectularius liti- gation — a copy of “The Bed Bug Handbook: The Complete Guide to Bed Bugs and Their Control” sits on his conference table — he said he’s thought about the crit- ters for a fewyears, ever since his daughterwas traveling inEurope with a friend who was bitten by bedbugs. His daughter worried that
she’d brought the highly portable parasites home in her luggage and became distraughtwhen she discovered a bite. “It created quite a bit of tur-
moil in our household,”Whitney said. He eventually wrote a legal analysis for Toxics LawReporter: “The Prosecution and Defense of Bed Bug Lawsuits.”
Scarred and desperate Several months later,Whitney
received an e-mail from Amber Croshaw, a high school teacher who said she’d fled her apart- ment in Cockeysville after it became infested with bedbugs that exterminators couldn’t keep away. Several other attorneys had declined to take her case, but Whitney said he’d try to help. “She sounded kind of desper-
ate,” he said. “When I met with Amber, she had scars up and down her arms.” He filed suit in September in Baltimore County Circuit Court, seeking $100,000 in damages and claiming that Croshaw “has suffered embar- rassment, mental and emotional distress.” Three weeks later came a sec-
ond suit, in Howard County, on behalf of Orville and Rebecca Brown and their young daughter, Sarina. According to the com- plaint, their lives were turned upside down after bedbugs were discovered in their Ellicott City apartment building. The filing cites “anxiety and fear about the presence of bed bugs” and seeks $500,000 in damages. Incourt filings, the defendants
in both cases have denied liabili- ty. The Browns’ management company declined to talk about their case, and the company in the Croshaw case did not re- spond to a request for comment. Themost famous early bedbug
case dates to 2002, in federal court in Illinois, where two sib- lings who were attacked by bed- bugs during a two-night stay at a Motel 6 in Chicagowere awarded $5,000 each in compensatory damages—and $186,000 each in punitive damages. An appeals court judge affirmed the lower court’s decision, noting that the siblings were put in a room that motel management had desig- nated as unfit for occupation until an exterminator could treat it.
Bedbug lawsuits “have been
steadily increasing since then,” said Richard Cooper, a research
entomologist with BedBug Cen- tral who has been retained as an expert witness in two dozen cas- es in the past two
years.Most, he said, are settled out of court for undisclosed amounts. But Dan Cytryn, a personal
injury lawyer in Coral Springs, Fla., said he has stopped taking bedbug clients in large part be- cause although the bites may look “grotesque, generally the majority heal without major scarring, so the cases are not large, and our firm handles only large cases.” Cytryn’s firmsettled one case for about $4,000, anoth- er for $10,000. Christopher Robinette, a pro-
fessor at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pa., and co-editor of the TortsProf Blog, recently reviewed Whit- ney’s bedbug lawsuits and was struck by the dollar amounts attached to the filings, each of which asks for at least $100,000. “I’msympathetic to these peo-
ple because of what they went through, but I’m skeptical about the extent of the damages claimed in these suits,” he said. “I knowplaintiffs’ lawyers claimup to a large amount so they can get it if they’re awarded it, but $100,000 is an enormous amount ofmoney.”
$3 million suit In a suit filed Nov. 12 in Anne
Arundel County Circuit Court, Stephanie and Ishmael Josiah and their four children are seek- ing $400,000 in compensatory damages and $3.15 million in punitive damages from their landlord over a bedbug problem at their apartment complex in Glen Burnie. “We’re trying to set anexample
for other companies,” Stephanie Josiah said in an interview. (Their apartment complex’s management firm did not re- spond to a request for comment.) Whitney knows what you’re
thinking now. “Why so much money?” he said. “There’s been a deliberate disregard for the risk of harm. . . . People say this is overstated, overblown. But to be able to appreciate it, you need to put yourself in the position of a bedbug victim. It’s terrible.” Recently, he said, an insurance
adjusterworking for a defendant made what Whitney considered an unreasonable request for doc- umentation. “I said, ‘I’ll tell you what — if
you really want to have a sense what this case is worth, why don’t you get a sleeping bag and spend a night in the apart- ment?’ ” Whitney said. “ ‘But make sure when you wake up in the morning, you throw your sleeping bag away, because it might be infested with bedbugs or eggs.’ ” And? “I didn’t get a response. Tomy
knowledge, he didnot takeme up on that.”
dulacj@washpost.com
numbers and say the bill would pave the way to legalization for millions of undocumented immi- grants and attract new waves of illegal immigration. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
warned his colleagues in an alert last week that the DREAM Act could give “green cards” to as many as 2.1million people imme- diately and that that number could triple within a decade. The measure could offer legalization
EVY MAGES FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Teacher EliasVlanton, whose family hosted Anngie Gutierrez for Thanksgiving, spoke about what an exemplary student she is.
The bill had support from both parties, but shifting public attitudes toward illegal
immigration prompted many Republicans and some Democrats to reconsider.
to people convicted of visa or marriage fraud or drunken driv- ing, he asserted. Themeasure calls for students
tocomplete twoyearsof collegeor serve in the uniformed forces to qualify for conditional perma- nent residency, but Sessions said that the barwas being set too low. Sessions also warned fellow con- servatives that the measure would allow undocumented im- migrants to receive in-state tu- ition benefits. “Whenmy parents came to the
United States, no one asked, ‘Do youwant tostay,ordoyouwant to go?’ ” said Jaime Mauricio, 18, of Hyattsville, who recently visited
Congress to lobby Sen.Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) to support the DREAM Act. Mauricio said he was 9 years old when his family moved here from Honduras: “This is the only country I know.” Gutierrez attended Thanksgiv-
ing dinner last week at the home of one ofherhighschool teachers, Elias Vlanton. A group called United We Dream organized 300 to 500 holiday events at which students who would benefit from the DREAM Act could dine with citizens and performvarious acts of service, according to Jose Luis Marantes, a senior organizer for the group. “All teachers push every day to
get our kids to go to college and workhard,andthenyouhavekids whowant todo that andare being denied,”Vlanton said as he talked aboutwhat an exemplary student Gutierrez is. “It’s painful — it’s painful to you as a teacher.” Gutierrez said shewas not sure
what shewilldoif theDREAMAct is not passed. “I guess they don’t see it from
our point of view,” she said of the measure’s opponents. “If the U.S. was an impoverished nation, if Guatemala was the rich country and the one with education, I bet thenAmericans that areopposing this would say, ‘Hey, give us a chance!’ But since they have it, they don’t realize how important it is to us.”
vedantams@washpost.com College entry policy endures admissions from C1
ington, Maryland and Virginia. Applications are flat at a few institutions; no one is reporting a decline. U-Va. ended its early-decision
program after concluding that it drew an inordinately privileged pool. Early-decision students pledge to attend one school and cannot compare other financial aid offers, a major drawback for disadvantaged students. Of 200 low-income students
who entered U-Va. in the final year of early decision, only one had applied early decision. “Those numbers were alarming to us,” Roberts said. Schools vary intheir approach-
es to early admission: Early deci- sionis binding,while early action is not. Both programs remain popular, admission officials say, because their benefits outweigh their drawbacks. Most debate has centered on
early decision, an option at about 18 percent of colleges nationwide and more common at selective schools, according to data from the National Association for Col- lege Admission Counseling. The binding contract appeals to insti- tutions because it yields a stu- dentwho isbothenthusiastic and virtually certain to attend. U-Va. will adopt early action, a
programthat leaves students free to shop around, eliminating the ethical dilemma of asking teen- agers to commit irrevocably to one school. Roughly one-quarter of colleges offer early action. Students and counselors
across Virginia had clamored for U-Va. to return to early admis- sions, Roberts said. On high school campuses in
Northern Virginia, the return of early admissions to U-Va. is in- deed amajor
development.Guid- ance counselors are particularly excited that U-Va. has chosen a nonbinding program. “We love early action, because
it’s like having your cake and eating it, too,” said Cynthia Coo- gan, professional school counsel- or at McLean High School. “There’s no downside to it.” Students flock to early-admis-
sion programs thinking — some- times correctly — that they will have an easier time getting in. Early-admission rates are often higher. Some schools, including American University, expressly favor the early applicant. “We want students who want
us. The ultimate demonstration of interest is applying early deci-
More students apply early Several local schools report rising applications in both early- decision programs, which require students to attend if admitted, and early-action programs, which do not. Some offer both.
Early action
Georgetown University Goucher College Loyola University
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Early decision American University
College of William and Mary George Washington University Goucher College
Johns Hopkins University University of Richmond Virginia Military Institute Virginia Tech
Washington and Lee University SOURCE: Staff reports NOTE: Some figures are not final.
sion,” said Greg Grauman, direc- tor of admissions at AU. The school’s early-decision program yielded576 applications this year, a 7 percent increase. Students like having an accep-
tance letter in hand by the holi- days. It reduces stress heading into spring, and it can render further applications unneces- sary. “I firmly believe that many,
many more families are interest- ed in liberating themselves from the anxiety of having towait until April 1,” the traditional notifica- tion date for college admissions, said Gil Villanueva, dean of ad- mission at theUniversity of Rich- mond. Applications are up 38 percent
to 579 in Richmond’s early-deci- sion program,which promises an answer by mid-December to stu- dents who apply by Nov. 15 and pledge to attend. It’s one of two early-decision cycles at the pri- vate liberal arts school. Applications are up 9 percent
to 6,615 in Georgetown Universi- ty’s early-action program, which promises aDec. 15 response to an application submitted by Nov. 1. At the University of Maryland Baltimore County, early action applications are up 12 percent to 3,381. Harvard is reviewing its deci-
2009
6,092 6,615 587 760 6,728 7,445 3,010 3,381
538 576 1,081 1,080 1,455 1,620 38
44
1,155 1,330 420 579 336 413 2,072 2,082 312 314
2010 % CHANGE 9%
29% 11% 12%
7% 0
11% 16% 15% 38% 23% 0
1% THE WASHINGTON POST
ed their stance against early ad- mission, “thehope, for all three of us, was that more schools would join,” Roberts said. Butmost schools clung to early
admissions. The programs can firm up as much as half of a college’s entering class months ahead of schedule. Logistically, earlydeadlines allowoverworked admission committeesmore time to read applications. Locally, early-action programs
remain at Georgetown, George Mason, James Madison and Loy- ola universities, among others, and early decision programs at American, George Washington, Howard and Johns Hopkins uni- versities, as well as Virginia Tech and the College of William and Mary. Early decisionhelps evenhigh-
earlyadmit28.MET
sion to eliminate early admis- sions — not in response to U-Va. but by its own timetable, which calls for periodic reevaluation, officials said. When the three schools adopt-
ly selective schools improve their yield, the share of admitted stu- dents who choose to attend. It can infuse the campus with a “nucleus of young people who have a stake in the place,” said William M. Hartog, dean of un- dergraduate admissions and fi- nancial aid at Washington and Lee University. That wouldn’t matter much at
Harvard or Princeton, schools that are the automatic first choice of most who gain admis- sion. “If early decision was bad for
Harvard, thatwas all they needed to say,”Hartog said. “But for them to say that itwas bad for all of us, that was just inaccurate.”
devised@washpost.com
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