News The Text of Oemig’s Impeachment Resolution
posted by on February 14 at 8:30 AM
Originally posted yesterday at 10pm
Tomorrow afternoon, freshman state Sen. Eric Oemig (D-45, Kirkland, Woodinville) will be unveiling this resolution. (I was leaked a draft, so it might change slightly, although I was told, it won’t change much).
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
WHEREAS, On September 8, 2006, when summarizing a bipartisan Senate Investigation into pre-war intelligence on Iraq, Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said that, “The Committee’s investigation into prewar intelligence on Iraq has revealed that the Bush Administration’s case for war in Iraq was fundamentally misleading. The Administration pursued a deceptive strategy of using intelligence reporting that the Intelligence Community had already warned was uncorroborated, unreliable, and in critical instances, fabricated.”; and
WHEREAS, The President, the Vice President and members of the President’s Administration appear to have deliberately misrepresented the severity of the threat from Iraq by providing distorted intelligence to Congress and the public in order to justify war with Iraq,
WHEREAS, The war with Iraq has cost the lives of many Washington State residents and squandered taxpayer money from the State of Washington; and
WHEREAS, The President has publicly admitted to conducting electronic surveillance of thousands and perhaps millions of American civilians without seeking warrants; and
WHEREAS, Washington State residents are likely to have been subject to this electronic surveillance; and
WHEREAS, The President, the Vice President and members of the President’s administration have acted to strip American citizens of their constitutional rights, based solely on the discretionary designation by the President of a United States citizen as an “enemy combatant;” and
WHEREAS, Such offenses, if committed, are subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of Washington State and of the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, Petitions from the country at large may be presented by the Speaker of the House according to Clause 3 of House Rule XII; and
WHEREAS, Jefferson’s Manual section LIII, 603, states that impeachment may be set in motion by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State;
WHEREAS, If the President and/or members of his administration committed such offenses, ignoring these offenses would undermine core American values of truth and justice;
WHEREAS, Impeachment is a process defined in the United States Constitution by which charges are brought against a President or Vice President or civil Officers of the United States; and
WHEREAS, The filing of these charges is followed by a trial in the United States Senate that determines guilt or innocence;
NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully request, in order to preserve confidence in the office of the Presidency and the Executive branch, that our senators and representatives in the United States Congress determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney with the above offenses, and if so, to follow the Constitutional process of impeachment.
BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.
Well, that's nice, but wouldn't moving on getting the Electoral College replaced by a straight-up vote by a majority of US citizens be more practical?
Well, here's hoping that the resolve get carried out.
Finally, a dem with a backbone, way to go! Prolly won't get to the floor for a vote until the bombs fall on Tehran.
Impeachment is a step on the path to reign in an out of control president before he sends the pilots in to bomb Iran.
Campign finance will come later, when McCain is elected president. Har har.
I think they need to impeach and convict Cheney first. Only Nixon protected his position better.
I will admit to feeling somewhat satisfied that ANYONE is doing this but practically it's useless. Cheney as president? Just as bad, likely worse. I'd rather Dems in state as well as national government focus on initiating bills that fix some of the Bush administration horrors-tax cuts for rich people, the Patriot act, NCLB, etc...then when Republicans fight them or Bush vetos them, they'll have some ground to stand on in the next election...as opposed to last time around, when the only thing for 99% of them to say was, "well, I'm not Bush."
Dianna, did you read the whole thing?
"Your Memorialists respectfully request, in order to preserve confidence in the office of the Presidency and the Executive branch, that our senators and representatives in the United States Congress determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney with the above offenses, and if so, to follow the Constitutional process of impeachment."
Cheney as president now would be a piece of cake. The administration would be crippled and humiliated. Cheney's about three yards from an indictment already. We're only talking about a year here, a year of the lamest of all lame ducks, rocked back on the defensive the whole time. It would be a beautiful thing to see.
There's also the issue of laying the groundwork for future criminal charges against the whole lot of them. This is going to drag on for a decade or more. I hope Doug Feith has a good lawyer. 3,127 today.
@ Will in Seattle:
Are you suggesting that we moved to a "one man, one vote sytem"? If not, please ignore this rant.....
I am always surprised when people in a minority viewpoint (most of us here in Seattle, on the Slog) want to get rid of the electoral college. So strange. The electoral college protects the rights of minority states that would otherwise not have any say in the presidential election. Now, I know that you may not agree with the opinion of smaller states, but that is BS. People who want to get rid of the electoral college are normally people that do not have mainstream views. Do you think that a presidential nominee would even come to washington state if there was no electoral college? Hell no. Would they even pretend to care about issues effecting small states or unique opinions. Nope. They would go to the major population centers, and never deviate.
"Would they even pretend to care about issues effecting small states or unique opinions."
No, No, please don't stop them from pretending.
Really the idea that a candidate could win in the 11 biggest states by 11 votes while losing in the 39 smallest states by millions of votes really gives those small states power.
But really without paper ballots, better public financing and better reporting who cares.
@Monique: WA is the 15th largest state, and rising. I'm sure someone would come over here to get some votes. But I'd prefer proportional representation over simple tyranny of the majority.
I'm glad he had the cajones to propose this resolution, although it won't go anwhere.
That's right... impeachment is a process where the crimes are laid out and tried. Cheney and probably not a few others would be brought down at the same time.. Oemig is AWESOME..
Awesome. I look forward to the response of the state legislature.
This thing would be the nuclear bomb if the legislature actually passed it and sent it to the House of Representatives, even if Congress didn't do anything with it.
Hey thanks for all the coverage of King and Snohomish county legislators that are trying to shove HB 2062 and SB 6040 through Olympia to waste your taxes on yet another stupid stadium.
Oh yeah. That is right you guys are totally ignoring this issue and writing about more crap about the viaduct and the Sonics.
So generally I feel pretty 'hip' to legislative terminology, but anyone know what's with the repeated use of the term "Memorialists"? It just sounds kind of creepy.
@8 - yes, I'm suggesting you "minor" states already get way too much power with your two senators - so that California gets as many Senators as Rhode Island. My dad lives in Vermont - two senators and one congressman. Pull the plug. It's the 21st century. Time to elect the pres/VP by majority vote.
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