Impeachment moves
forward in Vermont

By Thom White

AUSTIN April 22, 2007 -- The drive to have a congressional investigation into crimes committed by top executive branch officials since 2001 is growing strong in the state of Vermont.

On April 20, the Vermont Senate voted 16-9 for a resolution calling for a public investigation of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, stating that their actions, foreign and domestic, “raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust …”

There remains a roadblock for the state’s House of Representatives to approve the call for impeachment. The Associated Press reported, “Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington has kept a similar resolution from reaching the floor in her chamber. She argued that an impeachment resolution would be partisan and divisive and that it would distract Washington from efforts to get the United States out of Iraq, which she says is more important.”

Earlier town resolutions pushed for the Vermont legislature to make this move. The Vermont Guardian (March 7, 2007) reported that “Voters in three dozen towns want Congress to begin an impeachment probe of Pres. George W. Bush and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney … 13 towns in the tiny New England state called on Washington to bring U.S. troops back from Iraq … There are 251 towns in Vermont, but not all hold town meetings.”

After a four-day tour of the state by political activist Cindy Sheehan and three Vermont Iraq War veterans who spoke about what is really going on with the U.S. military in Iraq, twenty towns voted March 6 to approve the resolution urging legislators to begin the impeachment process against the current administration’s top figureheads. The Vermont Guardian reported, “Newfane Selectman Dan DeWalt is the major organizer of the impeachment resolutions … Last year [2006], six towns passed impeachment resolutions.”

The impeachment resolution passed by Vermont towns listed some of the accusations that should be investigated by the U.S. Congress:

“Whereas George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have:
1. deliberately misled the nation about the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war,
2. condoned the torture of prisoners in violation of the Geneva Convention and U.S. law,
3. approved illegal electronic surveillance of American citizens without a warrant.”

Two towns, Clarendon and Dover, voted down the resolution, while five cities tabled it, and did not take a stand on investigating potentially illegal orders given by Vice President Cheney and approved by President Bush.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) is currently chairman of the House Judiciary Committee which would be the first group in the U.S. Congress to consider impeachment of the Vice President and President.

Some Vermont towns have also voted for the “Soldiers Home Now Resolution” which urges a reversal of policy concerning the Iraq disaster, and stresses caring for American soldiers upon their return from overseas. The resolution reads in part: “… [Vermont] citizens strongly support the men and women serving in all branches of the United States Armed Forces in Iraq and believe that the best way to support them is to bring each and every one of them home now and take good care of them when they get home.”

One supporter of impeachment, Ellen McKay of Middlebury, says that the illegal Iraq War has proportionally cost her town $8 million in funding.
The Vermont Guardian reports that the legislature has already “approved measures in both the House and Senate calling for an immediate and orderly withdrawal of troops from Iraq.”

Bills calling for the impeachment of Pres. Bush and Vice Pres. Cheney are being considered in several states this session, including resolutions in Washington and Wisconsin.

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