When is enough enough?
Citizens group pushes Congressman Schiff on Bush impeachment
By Joe Piasecki , Kevin Uhrich 08/30/2007
As Glendale residents Nancy Kent and Bill Weisman stood Wednesday outside the office of Pasadena Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff on Aug. 14 holding signs that read “Impeach the Bush Gang,” a few passersby signaled their support, some even stopping to sign a petition to that effect.
Upstairs, other members of the Glendale/Pasadena Impeachment Committee and the Los Angeles National Impeachment Center (LANIC) weren't having as much luck persuading Schiff to do the same.
“He's not reading the community the way I read it,” said Weisman's wife Sharon, a retired computer technician who was among the eight people who spoke privately with Schiff and left unsatisfied that he was really that open to what they had to say.
A Weekly reporter had also arrived at the meeting but was asked by Schiff to leave.
“His two major points were that impeachment would polarize the nation, and that it would prevent him from working to get our troops back from Iraq,” said Peter Thottam, a Green Party activist with past ties to the Pasadena-based Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP) and a former state Assembly candidate who volunteers his time as executive director of LANIC.
How impeachment would negatively affect the war wasn't perfectly clear to Thottam, but recent political discourse on the subject suggests that a move to impeach the president and vice president (which, if successful, would make House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said impeachment is not on the table for Democrats, president) would likely polarize congressional votes against all Democrat-led legislation and ultimately fail to achieve a needed two-thirds Senate majority.
In previous conversations with the Weekly, Schiff — who came to office by defeating former Republican Congressman Jim Rogan, an architect of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton — has said he considered impeachment extraordinarily disruptive and divisive.
Schiff's most recent take on impeachment was sent to the Weekly via email Monday. He didn't support it or rule it out, but cited his calls for the resignation of embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his vote to cite former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff Josh Bolten with contempt of Congress for their refusal to comply with subpoenas.
“I am acutely aware of the impact such an extraordinary remedy can have on the country and understand why Speaker Pelosi has said it is not on the table. At the same time, I am deeply concerned about the president's policies and actions, and believe Congress must reassert its institutional authority — so neglected during the years of GOP misrule,” read part of that statement.
And, perhaps most heartening to Bush-Cheney critics, he closed by writing, “I believe that Congress must be prepared to take further steps to beef up its oversight and to insist that the administration adhere to the rule of law.”
Thottam, however, had few kind words about the statement.
“I think he's being evasive. He's stonewalling, and he's downplaying his duties to defend the Constitution. Schiff knows better than anybody that the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by this administration rise to meet a clear and convincing evidentiary standard, more so than at any other point in this country's history.”
A House Resolution calling for the impeachment of Cheney has been introduced by Ohio Democratic Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, and is cosponsored by 18 congressional Democrats, including Maxine Waters of Los Angeles.
LANIC, meanwhile, is also targeting local governments for support.
On Aug. 20, the San Fernando City Council unanimously adopted a pro-impeachment resolution, joining such cities as San Francisco, Portland, Detroit and, locally, West Hollywood.
Plans for the LA City Council to do the same stalled Aug. 17 when Councilman Bill Rosendahl changed his mind about introducing a motion.
Rosendahl, according to an email from spokeswoman Safiya Jones, “is a strong and vocal supporter of the nationwide grassroots effort to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.”
But, “After considering the issue further, [he] determined it would be inappropriate for the City Council to take action on this issue. While it is an issue he feels passionately about, the City Council has no jurisdiction or power in impeachment proceedings, and introducing a support resolution would be unnecessarily divisive and would distract the City Council from pressing matters within its jurisdiction,” she wrote.
At the state level, an impeachment resolution was introduced by former LA Democratic Assemblyman Paul Koretz but died in committee after party leadership failed to offer support.
Although it seems Democratic leadership at all levels of government cannot be moved to embrace impeachment, nothing will stop Kent, a retired teacher, from trying to change their minds.
“The people in charge of the executive branch of our government are criminals. They belong in jail, not the White House,” she said.
“I want to live in a country governed by the Constitution,” added Bill Weisman. “But this ain't it, America in 2007.”
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT