Participant statements to Chris Van Hollen at the 9/20 meeting

On Thursday, September 20, over two dozen impeachment supporters from Maryland’s 8th Congressional district met with our Congressman, Chris Van Hollen, to urge him to support the impeachment of George Bush and Richard Cheney. (The meeting is described in the prior post, “A town hall meeting on Capitol Hill.”) At a preparatory meeting on Tuesday, several participants volunteered to draft short, 60 second statements to deliver to Chris Van Hollen at opportune times throughout the meeting.

These are those statements, in the order that they were presented to Mr. Van Hollen. They are by Warren Kornberg, Thomas Nephew, Jim Agenbroad, Hank Prensky, and Joyce Sherfey.

Warren Kornberg, Garrett Park

We respect the need you see for drastic legislative reform, to strengthen your grip on the Congress and to recapture the White House. But we wonder if you see what you’re staking on a single throw of the dice—on the outcome of the next election.There is a cancer at the heart of our Democracy that did not exist six years ago. So many extralegal, unconstitutional powers are now concentrated in the hands of the President that we don’t dare pass that office on to any successor, regardless of Party, without first rooting out the disease.You appear to believe that if Democrats win the Presidency, the abuses of the Bush Administration will be laid to rest. But what if you lose the next election? What if those accumulated powers pass to a Bush or Cheney clone, or someone even less committed to the rule of law?

A town hall meeting on Capitol Hill

On the morning of Thursday, September 20, over two dozen impeachment supporters from Takoma Park, Garrett Park, and elsewhere in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District crowded into a meeting room in Longworth House Office Building for a wide ranging discussion with Rep. Chris Van Hollen.

State Senator and constitutional expert Jamie Raskin and Takoma Park Mayor Kathy Porter were among the delegates, who also included Lisa Moscatiello, Thomas Nephew, and Hank Prensky from Takoma Park, Warren Kornberg and Jim Agenbroad from Garrett Park, and Alan McConnell from Silver Spring, to name but a few.

Rep. Van Hollen was presented with a folder containing the Takoma Park City Council impeachment resolution, a list of signatories for the Garrett Park referendum, the agenda and attendance list for the meeting, prepared statements by several of the delegates, books on impeachment by Elizabeth Holtzman and John Conyers and his Judiciary Committee staff — and, in a small gesture he appreciated, a small box of “Impeachmints” candy bought at “Now and Then.”

What came next was basically a town hall meeting on Capitol Hill.

Statement of Maryland 8th CD impeachment supporters to Chris Van Hollen, 9/20/07

On Thursday, September 20, over two dozen impeachment supporters from Maryland’s 8th Congressional District met with Chris Van Hollen (D-MD-8) on Capitol Hill to urge him to support the impeachment of Vice President Cheney and President Bush.

Two days earlier, impeachment supporters including George Taylor, Hank Prensky, and Jay Levy of Takoma Park, and Warren Kornberg, Joyce Sherfey, and Jim Agenbroad of Garett Park, met in Takoma Park to prepare for the meeting. The following statement (principal author: Lisa Moscatiello) was read and accepted as a joint statement.

Lisa read the statement to Representative Van Hollen as the first order of business at the Thursday morning meeting.

—

On July 23rd, the City of Takoma Park passed a resolution asking that Congress introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney and President Bush. In the coming weeks another city in your district, Garrett Park, will be holding a referendum on a resolution that is nearly identical to the one Takoma Park passed.

We are asking you to honor the wishes of your constituents by introducing legislation in Congress based on the language in these resolutions. We are asking that you introduce such legislation boldly, making a statement on the floor of the House in front of C-Span cameras about why this bill is needed at this time. You can turn this into an opportunity to take charge of the national conversation about what this country stands for and why it is worth asking people to give their lives for it.

Why Isn’t Impeachment Getting More Traction?

Excellent article in yesterday’s Las Vegas Sun by Lisa Mascaro. It explores the infuriating Catch-22 between the media, the Congress, the pollsters and the public.

Here’s an excerpt. One wonders what pollster Keeter considers an appropriate level of ‘maturity in the public discourse’ before a topic merits a national poll:

At the offices of the Pew Research Center in Washington, Scott Keeter’s in box gets jammed up every so often with hundreds of e-mails asking him to poll on impeachment.

Pew and other pollsters say they have never seen anything like it – the impeachment movement is pleading for a clear assessment of its numbers.

Keeter said there’s a lively debate in the polling community about whether to ask the question, but Pew has declined. The issue does not appear to be concrete enough, Keeter said, and the organization is loath to query Americans on a topic that hasn’t matured in the public discourse in a way that gives respondents enough information to form opinions.

Read more here>>

Join us at the September 15th demonstration

On Saturday, September 15, tens of thousands of people from across the country will gather at 12 noon at the White House (north side in Lafayette Park) and then march to the Capitol (west side) to call for an end to the Iraq war — and for impeachment of Bush and Cheney. A map of the march route and other event details can be found here.

Join us for a quick coffee and breakfast at either Savory Cafe (the one at 7071 Carroll Avenue, up the hill from the gazebo in Takoma Park) around 10:30 am, and then we will walk down to the Metro together. Bring your IMPEACH THEM signs, banners, t-shirts etc. (If you miss us and want to try to find us at the demonstration, call 240-462-5973.)

Speaker and march co-chairman Ramsey Clark strongly supports impeachment, and the impeachment group ImpeachBush.org is a major co-sponsor of the demonstration. Clark:

Each and every one of us must do all that we can to support the major Peace/Impeachment demonstration in Washington, DC on September 15, 2007, backed by more than a million votes for impeachment, and accelerating… Only if we do our part might the rest of the world again believe, as it usually has, and has always wanted to do, that the American people are their friends, it is their government that is the problem.

Clark also makes his case for impeachment at the ImpeachBush.org web site.

Screening of Bill Moyers’ Impeachment Special at Garrett Park Town Hall Friday October 5th

Impeachment: Cure for Constitutional Crisis

Impeachment Event: Friday, October 5, 7:30 P.M. Garrett Park Town Hall. Screening of Bill Moyers’ Journal episode “Tough Talk on Impeachment” with guests John Nichols and Bruce Fein. Discussion to follow.

Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick joins the Wall of Patriots, cosponsors H Res 333

Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan has become the latest cosponsor to H Res 333, Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s bill to impeach Dick Cheney.

Garrett Park, MD to Hold Impeachment Referendum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2007
Contacts:
Garrett Park Town Hall: Mayor Carolyn Shawaker (301) 942-0766
MD8Impeach: Lisa Moscatiello (202) 256-1764

Garrett Park, MD City Council Votes to Hold Impeachment Referendum

On Monday, September 10th, the City Council of Garrett Park, Maryland voted to hold a referendum on a resolution to call on the Maryland Congressional delegation to begin impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney. Approximately seventy-five residents attended the meeting with ten speakers addressing the Council, all expressing views in favor of impeachment.

The referendum would replace a resolution that was on the agenda Monday night that would have allowed only the Council members to vote on impeachment. Mayor Carolyn Shawaker said today that the decision was based on the Council’s judgment that a referendum with a secret ballot would encourage wider community participation by including those who might be reluctant to sign a petition. She said that the Council will set a date for the referendum once the city’s legal counsel can determine the amount of lead time that is required by law.

Garrett Park is in Representative Chris Van Hollen’s Congressional District (MD-8). On July 23rd, the City Council of Takoma Park, Maryland, which is also in Congressman Van Hollen’s district, voted unanimously to pass a resolution similar to the one Garrett Park is now considering. Next week a delegation of elected officials and other members of his constituency will be meeting with the Congressman to ask him to consider cosponsoring an existing bill to impeach the Vice President (H Res 333) or to introduce an impeachment bill himself.

« Video: Takoma Park, MD citizens organize to Impeach Them!

Charlie Savage discusses the unitary executive theory on “Fresh Air.”

One of the articles of impeachment recommended in the Takoma Park impeachment resolution concerned the abuse of presidential signing statements.One of the leading journalists to expose this unprecedented power grab by the White House was Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his article. His new book is called Takeover: the Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy.Wednesday Savage spoke to Terry Gross about his new book. Hear the interview on Fresh Air.

A BURIED 60 Minutes INTERVIEW / INDICTMENT

Reading Paul O’Neill’s book, “The Price of Loyalty,” was a big turning point for me with regard to my opinion of this administration. This is a 2004 interview with the former Secretary of the Treasury that demonstrates that the Iraq war was not about terrorism but was a pre-emptive war planned before 9-11-01. Starting a war of aggression is one of the articles of impeachment in Kucinich’s Cheney impeachment bill H Res 333. (disclaimer-We’re not endorsing candidates on this site, but because the video was posted by Ron Paul’s campaign it contains some of his campaign messages, which you can take or leave as you wish! Lisa)

Citizens demand that Representative Hinchey support impeachment