Big Star Devotes 16 Seconds of Life to D.C. Voting Rights

The Shadow Delegation somehow roped Heroes' Hayden Panettiere into recording a PSA reminding you, District taxpayers, to donate to the D.C. Statehood Delegation Fund, which is used to support the doings of Shadow Sens. Paul Strauss and Michael D. Brown and Shadow Rep. Mike "Close Enough to Panettiere" Panetta.

The footage was shot back in January, Strauss says, when Panettiere was in town to lobby Congress on whaling issues. Strauss met her at the Barack Obama rally on Jan. 28.

"She was lobbying the Senate on whale issues as part of her Save the Whales campaign....I assured her that she would get my vote, but, hey, I don't get one." Over lunch in the Senate dining room, Strauss says, he explained "what I could do for whales and how much more I could do if I got a vote....She saw the injustice and agreed to help us out."

Lucky for Strauss, a camera crew documenting Panettiere's whale work was following her around and they agreed to shoot a quick PSA after their lunch.

But why wait until less than a week before tax day to drum up support for a tax-form check-off?

Strauss says getting a hold of the tape was a bit tricky: "The guy who had the footage was out on a boat chasing whales in the Dominican Republic....He was tough to track down."