It's OK in Bend that Bush, Cheney Keep Jobs; City Council Fails to Bring Impeachment Resolution to Vote

It's OK in Bend that Bush, Cheney keep jobs

BEND -- Late Wednesday, the Bend City Council weighed whether to impeach the president and vice president of the United States.

The verdict: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney can stay.

That was the expected outcome for a resolution that was added to the council's agenda two days earlier at the request of Councilor Linda Johnson.

Johnson said residents have pressured the council for weeks to weigh in on the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war.

"I believe our council has a responsibility to listen to all the members of our community, those that we agree with and those we don't," she said.

The two-page resolution cited declining federal funds available for local projects because of increasing war costs. As reasons for impeachment, it listed accusations from illegal surveillance of U.S. citizens to suppression of scientific evidence of climate change.

But councilors never even voted on the resolution because none of them made a motion to approve it.

Preceding Wednesday's non-vote, more than 50 residents, many wearing orange ribbons and bandanas signifying a nascent national impeachment movement, filled the council chambers.

All present rose, faced the flag behind the council rostrum and recited "The Pledge of Allegiance." Then a few came forward to plead for a yes vote.

"I think the reason a lot of us are coming to speak before our City Council, and I think it's happening all over the country, is that we do feel that our voice is not being heard in Washington," said Tracy Miller. She brought a 6-inch-thick printout of names and backgrounds of U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eighty-three American cities, towns and counties have passed such resolutions, according to ImpeachPAC, which supports Democratic candidates for Congress who support impeachment.

Washington's capital, Olympia, declined to vote on a similar motion in June. No city councils in Oregon have voted on impeachment, said Jennie Messmer, member services director for the League of Oregon Cities.

Critics of the Bend resolution said it distracted from issues such as public transportation and affordable housing in the swelling city of 75,000.

"We the citizens of Bend voted you in to office to handle local issues," said Sandy Joy, one of a few who spoke against the resolution.

Councilors' comments quickly made it clear they agreed.

"Those asking us to pass a resolution are barking up the wrong tree," said Councilor Jim Clinton. He pulled out his pocket-sized copy of the Constitution and offered a brief history of impeachment in Anglo-American governance.

The impeachment supporters then emptied the chambers, leaving the council to consider more mundane issues such as renaming a street and creating a sewer recovery district.