NM Impeachment Resolution Officially On Agenda for Friday around 9:00 AM

The New Mexico Impeachment Resolution, SJR 5, will finally get its
hearing in the Rules Committee this Friday morning somewhere around
9:00 AM. The official agenda has been posted on the New Mexico
Legislature website and can be downloaded here:

http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/fileExists/sessionAgeCalendar/sSched.pdf

Grant County Democrats on Senator Ben Altamirano's home turf in Grant
County recently strongly approved a resolution in support of
impeachment. The Silver City Sun News ran an article on the Grant
County vote which was excellent in all aspects except that it
suggested that the Resolution would have to be put to voters. Only
Constitutional amendments require a public referendum. See the article
here:

http://www.scsun-news.com/news/ci_5197003

The Santa Fe County Democratic Party recently sent a letter out to
their members and will be appearing at the Rules Committee hearing to
express their official support for the Resolution as well. Below,
please find the text of the letter.

To Santa Fe County Democrats,

State Senator John Grubesic of Santa Fe joined Senator Gerald Ortiz y
Pino of Albuquerque in sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 5, Impeach
President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. The resolution is in line
with the Democratic Party Platform as established at the platform
convention in March of 2006 where impeachment was put on the platform
with thunderous applause by more than 95% of the 1200 delegates
present.

We hope you will voice your support for the resolution by calling
President Pro Tem of the Senate Ben Altamirano and Majority Leader
Michael Sanchez to urge their support for the resolution. Their
support is necessary for passage. Call any legislator at the
switchboard: 986-4300. We also need Senators Rainaldi, Papen, Ulibarri
and Martinez of the Public Affairs and Judiciary Committees.

The resolution will probably come before the Rules Committee this
Friday, February 16th around 9:00 AM in Rm 321 at the Roundhouse. It
will be officially posted on the Rules Committee schedule at
http://legis.state.nm.us on Wednesday, Feb. 14th. We hope you will
make time to attend the hearing and voice your support for the
resolution.

As the President ignores the American people and Congress on the
subject of Iraq and prepares for war with Iran, it becomes more and
more obvious that the duty of citizens is to impeach. The resolution
itself lists four charges, which under Jefferson's Rules of the House
can be transmitted by a State Legislature triggering Federal
proceedings:

1. Lying to Congress to provoke war.
2. Ordering warrantless wiretapping.
3. Ordering torture.
4. Ordering illegal detentions.

Any one of these charges is grounds for impeachment. In the case of
ACLU vs. NSA, federal judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the President
had "indisputably violated" not only the First and Fourth Amendments
of the Constitution, but also statutory law, the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act.

How long can we allow the Executive Branch to put itself above the law
before our cherished Democratic Republic is destroyed, taking the
world with it? Now is the time to act. Please attend the Rules
Committee Hearing this Friday morning around 9 AM and call Senator Ben
Altamirano and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez asking them to support
the Democratic Party platform and the welfare of the American people
and the world.

Sincerely,

Connie Salazar, Chair Santa Fe County Resolutions Committee and Member
of the NM Democratic Party Resolutions Committee