Imagine if the mayor of Washington, D.C., decided when Salt Lake City's bars could serve customers. We'd scream bloody murder that politicians outside our city were writing our laws.

If you live in Washington, D.C., you don't have to imagine such a scenario, because the opposite is happening.

The Council of the District of Columbia - the city council of our nation's capital - recently approved an emergency law to allow D.C. bars and nightclubs to stay open all night during the week of Barack Obama's inauguration.

But, according to The Washington Post, two U.S. senators - Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. - have written to the D.C. Council objecting to the plan, saying it "could seriously strain law enforcement resources that need to be focused on the large crowds and security requirements of the Inaugural."

One councilmember, Mary M. Cheh, pooh-poohed such worries - noting that bars in Minneapolis and St. Paul stayed open until 4 a.m. during the Republican National Convention without any major security problems.

"I respect their view, but we should be the best judge of what happens locally," Cheh said.

That's the thing about Washington. Thanks to the 1973 Home Rule Act, Congress - yes, folks from Utah and Maine and Kansas, not the people elected by the citizens of the city - has the final say over D.C. matters.

Labels: Barack Obama, Robert Bennett