Impeachment is Back

Andrew Bird

The Times-Standard

ARCATA -- Impeachment is on the agenda again this week.

City Councilman Dave Meserve will ask the council at Wednesday's meeting to approve his resolution calling for the immediate impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.

The vote in Arcata on Wednesday is likely to attract some national attention.

Last month the Santa Cruz City Council voted to send a letter asking the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the Bush administration.

Meserve's resolution, which he is sponsoring on behalf of Veterans for Peace, is somewhat stronger.

As written when presented at an Aug. 20 meeting, the resolution reads, "The City Council of the city of Arcata calls upon the United States House of Representatives to immediately impeach George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney."

The case for impeachment outlined in the resolution focuses on the war in Iraq and statements the president made in his State of the Union address that turned out to be false.

The City Council declined to take action at the Aug. 20 meeting, although Mayor Bob Ornelas said he would vote for the resolution.

To gauge support for the resolution, in early September Meserve and the Veterans for Peace held a town meeting, which was dominated by those who want to impeach the president.

Meserve said the resolution on Wednesday's agenda is identical to the one that came before the council in August.

He needs just one more vote to get it passed.

However, Meserve said on Friday he is willing to compromise if he can't get the third vote.

He said he would accept a letter similar to the one the Santa Cruz City Council sent last month.

The resolution comes back before the council as the White House is attempting to bolster support for its Iraq policy.

Bush, Cheney and other top administration officials have delivered speeches in the past week, as the president's poll numbers have slipped.

Meserve said the California recall election last week was a sign that voters are becoming more disenchanted with government -- and it's reflected in the president's drop in popularity.

Now the White House is facing an investigation by the Justice Department to determine who leaked information that revealed the identity of a CIA agent.

Meserve said he will bring up that investigation at Wednesday's meeting to bolster the case for supporting his resolution.
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Story on Yahoo had quote of Bush saying, " If people are not happy with how I do my job they'll find someone else". Well Duh, George! We were planning on doing that anyway(did anyone else see this quote?)

I wonder if this will catch fire like the anti-patroit act resolutions that cities are enacting?