Arent Fox Partner Jon Bouker Begins Term as Chair of DC Appleseed

Washington, DC — On January 1, Arent Fox partner Jon S. Bouker, co-leader of the Government Relations practice, began serving as chair of DC Appleseed’s Board & Advisory Council. For nearly 20 years, Mr. Bouker has worked with DC Appleseed on a range of issues involving DC fiscal matters, voting rights and democracy, including the recently enacted DC Budget Autonomy referendum.

“It is a great honor to serve as board chair of an organization that helps solve problems affecting the daily lives of those who live and work in the nation’s capital,” said Mr. Bouker. “Going forward, DC Appleseed will continue its collaborative approach of bringing together volunteer attorneys, business leaders, community experts, and government officials to implement solutions to the District’s most pressing challenges.” 

DC Appleseed works exclusively on the most urgent public policy problems facing the District of Columbia, from voting rights and health care, to environmental concerns and housing needs. In 2013, as vice chair of DC Appleseed, Mr. Bouker led a team that developed the innovative legal theory allowing the District to amend its charter and give itself the authority to enact a local budget — the most notable advancement in DC Home Rule in a generation. The DC Budget Autonomy referendum passed in April 2012 with more than 80 percent support and as of January 1, 2014 it will relieve the District for the first time from having to get congressional approval to spend its own locally raised revenues. 

“Jon has been an instrumental member of DC Appleseed for nearly two decades,” said Walter Smith, executive director of DC Appleseed. “He will be a terrific leader of our board and I look forward to continuing to work with him as we find solutions for many of the biggest problems facing the District.”
 
Mr. Bouker’s previous work with DC Appleseed includes helping to write the DC Revitalization Act while serving on the staff of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). That legislation prevented the District from slipping into insolvency and saved it more than $1 billion annually by having the federal government assume DC’s pension liability and other state-like functions. 
 
In addition to DC Appleseed, Mr. Bouker sits on five other boards and commissions, including the Federal City Council, the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law Foundation Board, DC Vote, and the District of Columbia Federal Law Enforcement Commission, which makes recommendations for the selection of federal District Court judges, the US Attorney, US Marshals, and other federal law enforcement officials in DC.
 
Mr. Bouker has extensive experience in the US Congress and local politics, which he puts to work serving clients on a wide variety of general business and government relations matters before Congress, the White House and federal agencies, the government of the District of Columbia, and surrounding counties.
 
Arent Fox’s Government Relations practice is one of the nation’s most experienced, effective, and respected lobbying organizations. The group represents clients before government entities on the federal, state, and local levels to help them achieve their public policy goals.

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