It's Impeachment Week in Wisconsin's Capitol City - and County - as Impeachment Coalition Introduces Resolutions

The Impeachment Coalition of Dane County is introducing Bush-Cheney impeachment resolutions to the Madison WI city council on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 & the Dane County Board of Supervisors on Thursday, June 21, 2007.

Both resolutions will be introduced at the same location, the City County Building, 210 M.L.K ing Blvd., Room 201, Madison WI. The resolution will be introduced to the City Council by Alder Rummel and 7 PM, Thursday, June 21, 2007, a similar resolution will be introduced to the County Board by Supervisors Vedder and Kumar. The resolutions will not be discussed at these meetings – only introduced.

Resolutions calling for the impeachment investigations of President Bush and Vice President Cheney will be introduced to the Madison City Council and the Dane County Board this Tuesday and Thursday. The resolutions call for the U.S. House to commence impeachment investigations for an illegal war of aggression in Iraq , illegal torture of prisoners, illegal wiretapping of citizens and defrauding Congress and the American people in the run up to the war.

Three local Green party elected officials, Madison alder Marsha Rummel and County Board Supervisors Barbara Vedder and Ashok Kumar, who all belong to the Four Lakes Green Party, are the primary resolution sponsors.

Rummel said, “In April alders and supervisors took our oath of office. My city oath says, ‘I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, and the Charter of the City of Madison …’ I take this oath seriously. President Bush and Vice President Cheney are shredding the Constitution in front of our faces. It is our duty as elected officials to act to repair the damage they have done. We feel the people of Madison and Dane County are very concerned about the direction our nation is headed. More people each day are concluding that Bush and Cheney should be impeached. But Congress is taking little action. It is up to citizens and local government to demand impeachment action.”

County supervisor Vedder, Madison, stated, “If we are to preserve our democratic values and uphold the U.S. Constitution, it's imperative that we, as local officials, listen to our constituents and bring the issue of impeachment to the floors of the City Council and County Board and then pass it on to our elected representatives in Congress.”

Supervisor Kumar, Madison, explained at least 79 municipalities have passed impeachment resolutions. Many labor unions, community organizations, county and state political parties have also passed resolutions calling for impeachment.

Kumar said, “We hope the city and county resolutions will be read and discussed by the public. We modeled our resolution on that of the City of Detroit . Last month their city council, representing 900,000 people, unanimously passed a resolution calling for impeachment. We want to offer the 450,000 people of Dane county a similar opportunity to speak out through their elected officials. We ask that in the next few weeks citizens contact their elected alders and supervisors to explain their views. We need to help Rep. Tammy Baldwin decide that now is the time for impeachment. We need to call upon Senators Feingold and Kohl to speak out in favor of the House taking impeachment action.”

At the national level, Rep. Dennis Kucinich has introduced House Resolution 333 calling for the impeachment of Richard Cheney. Eight House members have signed on as cosponsors including the leaders of the House Progressive caucus Rep. Lynn Woolsey and Rep. Barbara Lee. Rep. Baldwin has not yet signed on as a cosponsor.

The national Green Party called for impeachment in 2003 and nearly every state Green party has called for impeachment. In 2007 15 state Democratic Parties have gone on record again calling for impeachment investigations. Five impeachment resolutions will be before the WI Democratic Party convention at the end of the month in Milwaukee.

Joint resolutions for impeachment have been introduced in 11 state legislatures. WI was the tenth state to do this when Rep. Frank Boyle of Superior, introduced such a resolution recently. State legislative joint resolutions, if passed, can force the U.S. House of Representative to take up the issue of impeachment.

The Impeachment Coalition of Dane County has been formed to help advocate passage of both resolutions. The Coalition intends to hold informal public hearings around the county to enable citizens to speak in favor or against impeachment. The Coalition is composed of members of the 4 Lakes Green Party, Progressive Dane, the Democratic Party of Dane County, Veterans for Peace, Democracy for WI, the Madison Area Peace Coalition, the WI Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition and the WI Network for Peace and Justice.

Rummel said, “It is unusual for people from so many different groups to come together behind a topic and form a coalition. I think it shows the broad range of people who feel ‘enough is enough’ – these men should be impeached and removed from office to restore the rule of law in America!”

More information can be found at www.ImpeachWI.org

Below is the county resolution and the city resolution has slightly different resolved clauses dealing with the city rather than the county.

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RES. ___, 2007-08
URGING CONGRESS TO BEGIN IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATIONS
AGAINST PRESIDENT BUSH AND VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY

The Constitution provides for impeachment of high government officials for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Conduct that undermines the integrity of a public office or is in disregard of constitutional duties or involves abuse of power is generally regarded as grounds for impeachment.

President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney conspired with others to defraud the United States of America by intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371.

President George W. Bush violated the United Nation’s Charter and the United States Constitution by launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause in violation of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 3314, Article VI, paragraph 2 of the US Constitution and U.S. Federal Law 18 U.S.C. § 2441 (War Crimes Act of 1996).

President Bush has admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American civilians without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review, duly constituted by Congress in 1978, in violation of Title 50 United States Code, Section 1805.

President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney conspired to commit the torture of prisoners in violation of the “Federal Torture Act” Title 18 United States Code, Section 113C, the UN Torture Convention and the Geneva Convention, which under Article VI of the Constitution are part of “the supreme Law of the Land”.

In all of this, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have acted in a manner contrary to their trust as President and Vice President, subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of Dane County and the United States of America.

The cost of war is enormous in both the loss of lives and in dollars. Thus far the number of Wisconsin troop deaths is 74 and 486 wounded for a total of 560 persons. Dane County ’s portion of the cost of the war is over $1.8 billion and the estimated cost for Wisconsin is approximately $6.863 billion.

The Constitution specifies that "the House of Representatives...shall have the sole power of impeachment" while the “the Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.” To begin the impeachment process, the House of Representatives would refer the investigation to its Judiciary Committee, which reviews the evidence and may conduct hearings. It determines whether an official impeachment inquiry is warranted and, if so, asks the House for permission to proceed. An official investigation follows, with the Committee deciding whether to offer articles of impeachment to the full House. The House then votes separately on each of the articles, with a simple majority needed to impeach the official. Articles of impeachment approved by the House are then presented to the Secretary of the U.S. Senate for trial.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, warrant impeachment investigations and trial.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Dane County Clerk be, and is hereby, instructed to certify to the Speaker of the House of Representatives a copy of this resolution and its adoption by Dane County, as a petition, and request that this petition be delivered to the Office of the Clerk and entered into the United States Congressional Journal.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Dane County Board of Supervisors urges the United States House of Representatives to begin the impeachment process by referring the investigation to the Judiciary Committee.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and Senators Herb Kohl and Russell Feingold.

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Below is the Oath of Office for City of Madison alders. County board supervisors take a similar oath.

State of Wisconsin
County of Dane
SS. City of Madison

I, do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, and the Charter of the City of Madison, and will perform the duties of in and for the City-at-Large City of Madison, to the best of my ability. Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of ___ (date) SIGNATURE