Articles of impeachment to be filed against Cheney by Rep. Kucinich!

This was posted on the Information Clearing House website (www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17554.htm) and comes the same week as the Vermont Senate overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution for impeaching Bush and Cheney and Gonzales was grilled by Congress members and appears to be on the way out. 

 

Articles of Impeachment To Be Filed On Cheney

By Mary Ann Akers

04/18/07 " Washington Post' --- -- Looks like he's reached his boiling point.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), the most liberal of the Democratic presidential candidates in the primary field, declared in a letter sent to his Democratic House colleagues this morning that he plans to file articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Kucinich has made ending the war in Iraq the central theme of his campaign. He has even taken aim at the leading Democratic presidential candidates in the field for their votes on authorizing the war.

Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to impeach the president, vice president and "all civil Officers of the United States" for "treason, bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Sources tell the Sleuth that in light of the mass killings at Virginia Tech Monday, Kucinich's impeachment plans have been put on hold. There will be no action this week, they say.

Kucinich's office had no comment on the Congressman's "Dear Colleague" letter -- which apparently was drafted over the weekend, before the school massacre -- or on what the focus of articles of impeachment against Cheney would be.

But Kucinich shouldn't hold his breath on getting anywhere with his impeachment plan. "We'll see a Kucinich Administration before we'll see a Cheney impeachment," quipped one Democratic aide.

Here is the text of his letter, a copy of which was forwarded to the Sleuth:

April 17, 2007

Dear Colleague:

This week I intend to introduce Articles of Impeachment with respect to the conduct of Vice President Cheney. Please have your staff contact my office . . . if you would like to receive a confidential copy of the document prior to its introduction in the House.

Sincerely,

/s/

Dennis J. Kucinich

Member of Congress

letter to Hawaiian legislators on impeachment bill

This is a message I sent to Hawaii State Senators Clayton Hee (senhee@Capitol.hawaii.gov) and Russell S. Kokubun (senkokubun@Capitol.hawaii.gov ) on the Judiciary and Labor Committee.  You can find out more about SCR 83 at www.capitol.hawaii.gov.  This is the first time I have done this for other impeachment campaigns, but I should do it more often, if it helps them help all of us. 

 

Dear Senator Hee:

I am writing to ask you to bring Senate Concurrent
Resolution 83, on impeachment, to a vote in your
committee.  The text does not seem to be online [actually it is], but
it is probably something I can also recommend that you
vote for.  I am a North Carolinian (and a member of
the Grass Roots Impeachment Movement,
www.impeachbushcheney.net ), but I was asked to support
the Hawaiian impeachment movement, and if Hawaii
forces Congress to consider impeachment, it will be
fulfilling the wishes of a majority of Americans.  It
will be a while longer before we can get North
Carolina to consider and pass a similar resolution.

This is not a partisan issue and I would be as hard on
a Democrat who commits the same crimes as Bush and
Cheney (and Bill Clinton did, but that is not what
Congress decided to impeach him on).  I was as much
for impeachment when Republicans controlled Congress
as I am now that the Democrats are in control.  In
North Carolina it is mainly Democrats who support
impeachment, but they are joined by Libertarians,
Greens, other third parties, and, at least nationally,
by some Republicans.  We need to send a message that
the Bush Administration's illegal and dangerous
actions will no longer be tolerated, and impeachment
might be required to bring peace to Iraq and prevent
aggression against Iran and anything else the
Administration is planning.

Some of the main reasons that both Bush and Cheney
deserve to be impeached are illegally lying to
Congress to start the Iraq War, illegally spying on
Americans, authorizing torture, and subverting
democracy in other ways, such as through their
excessive secrecy and habitually lying on a variety of
issues.  I think they are also guilty of war crimes,
such as crimes against the peace in Iraq and targeting
civilians and journalists.  War crimes are also
illegal under American laws.  There are other offenses
that might not be illegal, but should be impeachable,
such as corrupt government (serving Big Business, such
as Enron and Halliburton, at the expense of most
Americans), inaction in the Katrina disaster, the
Patriot and Military Commissions acts, anti-unionism,
etc.

I would welcome a reply, although I am not one of your
constituents.  Thank you for considering my concerns.

Solidarity with the impeachment campaign in Hawaii

An impeachment activist from Hawaii has requested the help of people here in getting the Hawaiian legislature to consider an impeachment resolution.  If it passes, it will force the US Congress to consider impeachment.  We need to contact Hawaiian senators Clayton Hee and Kokubun before this Friday.  The email does not include their contact information, but I'm sure it can easily be found through Google or any search engine.  This was sent over the GRIM listserve, so I assume it can be publicly posted (let me know otherwise and I will edit out whatever needs to be confidential). 

 

> Subject: URGENT ACTION NEEDED ON Hawaii SCR 83 requesting impeachment
>
> Aloha,
>
> I live way out in Honolulu and I have been fortunate
> enough to suggest and help draft for the Hawaii State
> Senate, Senate Concurrent Resolution 83, requesting
> Congress to commence impeachment proceedings against
> the President and the Vice President of the United
> States.
>
> The deadline for this resolution to make it through
> the Hawaii State Judiciary and Labor Committee is
> Friday the 13th. Senator Clayton Hee is the chair and
> he decides whether or not it will be heard. He has
> waffled a bit on this and is very clearly seeking a
> great deal of attention to be paid to this if he is
> going to hear it. Hence my desperately late letter to
> you to ask people on your list serve to sign a
> petition, call, or write letters to Senator Hee, the
> Vice-Chair Senator Kokubun and the other committee
> members before this thing dies in committee! It might
> actually work here in one of the most liberal states
> in the Union, but its got to get through this
> committee first!
>
> It does not matter that you and those you might be
> able to get to help call or write are not Hawaii
> residents, this Senator (and frankly this issue) needs
> national attention for action to take place.
>
> Below is a proposed draft letter. PLEASE get back to
> me on this ASAP. The local media wants to do a story
> on it too, but only if Sen. Hee agrees to hear the
> resolution. But unless people know about the
> resolution, they wont contact him to ask him to hear
> it...
>
> Dear Senator,
>
> If a state legislature forwards a bill or a resolution
> on impeachment to the Congress of the United States,
> then the Congress must act. I urge you to hear Senate
> Concurrent Resolution 83 before the JDL committee.
> This resolution reflects the sentiment of a growing
> number of people in the State of Hawaii and in the
> nation at large, and the people and the sentiment of
> the people should be heard.
>
> Considering this resolution before your committee can
> only strengthen our democracy by fostering a much
> broader national debate on the importance of holding
> he executive branch of our federal government
> accountable for its actions and will send a strong
> message to future Presidents and Vice-Presidents of
> the United States that they are not above the law.
> Please do not shy away from making the State of Hawaii
> politically relevant on the national level and hear
> SCR 83 before your committee before it's too late!
>
> Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work.
>
> [ML]
> Honolulu, HI