Illinois & California Introduce Impeachment Bills

In Illinois:

SPRINGFIELD — Leave it to the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to find an obscure way to attempt to oust President Bush.

State Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) has sponsored a resolution calling on the General Assembly to submit charges to the U.S. House so its lawmakers could begin impeachment proceedings.

It would be the first state legislature to pass such a resolution, though the measure faces a dim future in a Republican-controlled Congress.

[…]

To support her legislation, Yarbrough is relying on a provision from Jefferson’s Manual, a procedural handbook written by Thomas Jefferson as a supplement to U.S. House rules.

[…]

Jefferson wrote that there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion, including “charges transmitted from the legislature of a State.”

If Yarbrough’s resolution passes the General Assembly, it would go to the U.S. House, where it likely would be referred to the Judiciary Committee, said a spokesman for the Committee on U.S. House Administration.

“It’s up to that committee to decide what action it will take, if any,” committee spokesman Jon Brandt said. “[The resolution] does not, in and of itself, start a process.”

Nevertheless, a handful of cities and state Democratic committees have adopted impeachment resolutions similar to Yarbrough’s. Vermont Democrats agreed earlier this month to urge lawmakers to approve it at the state level.

These groups hope the measures generate dialogue that will eventually lead to impeachment. [“Resolution to push Bush impeachment bill” (Chicago Sun-Times)]

And from California:

California Assemblyman Paul Koretz of Los Angeles (where the LA Times has now called for Cheney’s resignation) has submitted amendments to Assembly Joint Resolution No. 39, calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney. The amendments reference Section 603 of Jefferson’s Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature.

The resolution, in the words of Koretz’s press release, “bases the call for impeachment upon the Bush Administration intentionally misleading the Congress and the American people regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify an unnecessary war that has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives and casualties; exceeding constitutional authority to wage war by invading Iraq; exceeding constitutional authority by Federalizing the National Guard; conspiring to torture prisoners in violation of the ‘Federal Torture Act’ and indicating intent to continue such actions; spying on American citizens in violation of the 1978 Foreign Agency Surveillance Act; leaking and covering up the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, and holding American citizens without charge or trial.”

Koretz submitted amendments gutting AJR No. 39, a resolution unrelated to impeachment, to the Assembly Rules Committee. The Rules Committee may take up the bill this week for referral, allowing him to formally introduce the amended resolution.

AJR 39 is a bill introduced in January by Koretz calling for a moratorium on depleted uranium:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ajr_39_bill_20060104_introduced.html

“At both the state and national levels,” Koretz said, “we will be paying for the Bush Administration’s illegal actions and terrible lack of judgment and competence for decades—not only in the billions of dollars wasted on the war and welfare for the rich, but in the worldwide loss of respect for America and Americans. Bush and Cheney must be impeached and removed from office before they undertake even deadlier misdeeds, such as the use of nuclear weapons. There are no bounds to their willingness to ignore the Constitution and world opinion—we can’t afford to wait for the next disaster and hope that we can survive it.”

For more information and to thank this American hero, contact Paul Michael Neuman in Koretz’s District Office: (310) 285-5490 paul.neuman@asm.ca.gov or go here:
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a42/Contact.htm [“California Becomes Second State to Introduce Bush Impeachment” (ImpeachPac)]

Tags: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Illinois, California, Impeachment, ImpeachPac, AJR 39, HJR0125