to pass resolutions in favor of statehood for D.C. International diplomacy Strauss has engaged in various efforts on the international stage. In 2014, he visited Nagaland in India to take part in the 3rd biennial NER Agri Expo, an exposition attended by farmers, investors, agriculturists, business houses and entrepreneurs. In 2015, Strauss appeared before a panel of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and citing the lack of statehood for Washington, D.C., successfully petitioned for the District of Columbia to become the first and only North American participant in the international body. In June 2018, Strauss addressed the European Union in Brussels, Belgium to discuss the issue of D.C. statehood. The event was classified as a formal “exchange of views,” and was chaired by former Member of the European Parliament Alex Mayer of the United Kingdom in conjunction with the Secretariat of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with the U.S. Lucia Parrucci, DC's advocacy officer from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, and Richard Schiff, an Emmy Award-winning actor and democracy activist joined Strauss for the presentation. Mayer, a former United Kingdom Labour Party member representing the East of England region, expressed support for D.C. Statehood at a plenary session in the European Union following Strauss's visit, saying "We in the European Parliament call out human rights violations across the world. I see no reason not to do so in this case too. The citizens of D.C. are denied the basic rights that others living in liberal democracies take for granted. It is time that this 200-year injustice was ended." He is an honorary member of the Global Committee for the Rule of Law. Personal life On October 1, 2008, Strauss was arrested for drunken driving. He was found to have a blood-alcohol level at twice the legal level of intoxication. On May 29, 2009, he pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to a 60-day suspended jail sentence, 11 months of supervised probation, a $300 fine, and $100 fine to be paid to the victims of violent crime compensation fund. Strauss lives in the Observatory Circle/Glover Park neighborhood in the District. Electoral history References |- 1964 births 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American politicians American University alumni Trade unionists from Washington, D.C. Lawyers from New York City Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Living people People from the Upper East Side Politicians from