With shock I received word today from resolution sponsor Senator Ortiz y Pino's secretary Sharon Shaffer that the Republicans had used a procedural maneuver to stall the Impeachment Resolution and prevent a full debate on the floor. Immediately double-checking with Majority Leader Michael Sanchez's secretary Sharmaine, I realized that the impeachment resolution had been dealt a serious if not fatal blow.
During the ordinarily mundane reading of committee reports, wherein the Senate is informed of the decisions of the various Committees, the Republicans decided to block "adoption" of the Judiciary Committee report. They were successful in a voice vote largely because the Democrats, caught completely off guard, were not on hand in number to oppose the motion.
Majority Leader Michael Sanchez successfully held the roll call vote until the Democrats could be present in number, and when I spoke with him late in the day, he told me that the roll call vote would happen some time Thursday.
Therefore, it is now urgently important to call in high volume and with utmost respect to the swing vote Senators listed below under action items via the Capitol Switchboard at 986-4300. Let them know through their secretaries that the Republicans have chosen to use an unfair procedural method to require a vote on the resolution before it even gets a chance to be openly debated. Explain that there will be a Senate Floor roll call vote on the adoption of the Judiciary Committee Report with the Impeachment Resolution SJR 5 in it, and ask them to be on the floor alert to vote in favor.
This vote may be more difficult to win than the vote for final passage, because it must be taken without opportunity for debate on the merits of the resolution. Some believe that Senator Sanchez has everything under control and will successfully move adoption when he gets the opportunity. According to experienced sources, there is a remote possibility that there will be a "Call of the Senate" wherein the State Police are assigned to track down every Senator and all are required to be on hand. Regardless, this moment of truth will be a historic occasion and it is essential that maximum public scrutiny of the decision be brought to bear in order that the gravity of the decision be made clear by the citizenry. Be there. Along with the action items below, I have created two worksheets for serious citizens with the phone numbers of relevant Democratic Party Central Committee Members and County Chairs on it. Download and call away:
Basic List of All Relevant County Chairs and Vice Chairs
Complete List of All Relevant County Central Committee Members
Please lobby all media outlets aggressively to cover the floor vote.
Action Items:
Stay focused on the swing votes in order of difficulty from estimated hardest to easiest: John Arthur Smith, Shannon Robinson, Tim Jennings, Phil Griego, Lynda Lovejoy, Pete Campos, Nancy Rodriguez, John Pinto, and James Taylor. Lidio Rainaldi is a special case, having expressed exasperation with the amount of in-person activist pressure, but also appearing to be favorable. Senator Ortiz y Pino's strategy now is to leave all in-person negotiations to him, Senator Grubesic and the other favorable Senators. Some passionnate in-person testimony has disturbed undecided Senators and although understandable, it could swing the vote the wrong way.
Shannon Robinson, the respected sponsor of SJM 47 Prohibit Nuclear Weapons Production deserves special attention from Albuquerque voters, especially those in his district: 17. To find out if you are in his district, check the NM Legislature website at http://legis.state.nm.us . We can't really understand why he's against the resolution, and he needs to hear from his constituents. They can have a significant impact on him, especially delegates of the Bernalillo Democratic Party who should immediately pass a new resolution of support and forward it on to him.
Here's the info on the Bernalillo County Democratic Party Leadership for Senator Shannon Robinson:
Bernalillo County Democratic Party Officers: Chair: Marvin Moss (505) 298-2643 Vice Chair: Cate Stetson (505) 264-1658 130 Alvarado NE Suite 400 , Albuquerque New Mexico 87108 505-256-1855 (main) terribk7@aol.com
Here's the info on the Sierra, Luna and Hidalgo County Leadership, relevant to Senator John Arthur Smith (Deming):
Luna County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: Sam Baca (505) 546-3322; Vice: Sonia Arteche (505) 546-3406 322 West Pine Street , Deming New Mexico 88030 505-544-4609 (main) 505-546-5777 (fax)
Sierra County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: David W. Farrell (505) 895-3352, dafarrelli@hotmail.com Vice: Jan Thetford (505) 894-1208, jan@BlueFeatherEnergetics.com P O Box 583 , Truth Or Consequences New Mexico 87901 (505) 740-2700 (main) dafarrelli@hotmail.com
Hidalgo County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: David Escobar (505) 542-8053 Vice Chair: Rebecca Estrada (505) 542-9629 1516 Main St. , Lordsburg New Mexico 88045 (505) 542-8053 (main)
Here's the info on Chaves County, relevant to Roswell Senator Tim Jennings along with Eddy, Lincoln and Otero:
Chaves County Democratic Party Party Officers Chair: Tom Jennings (505) 625-1984 Vice Chair: Melissa Jones- Witt PO Box 1797 , Roswell New Mexico 88202 505-623-8331 (main)
All County Party Information is here.
http://www.nmdemocrats.org/ht
The below information is still relevant regarding the final outcome.
When contacted, Senator John Arthur Smith D - Hidalgo, Luna and Sierra was solid against and it now appears that Senator Shannon Robinson D-Bernalillo is solid against. Please call them as well as Senator Tim Jennings, John Arthur Smith's co-chair on Senate Finance who now becomes a serious swing vote, along with Senators Phil Griego, Pete Campos, Lynda Lovejoy and the other undecideds above. Most are expected to vote with the Democratic leadership which is now solidly on our side.
Please remember decorum without feeling overly restricted.
If you have not already memorized the phone number for the Capitol Switchboard which can connect you with anyone in the Roundhouse, it's 986-4300. Click the image above right to view the Public Affairs Commitee hearing video. Judiciary Committee video coming soon.
Basic Impeachment Background Here.
by Leland Lehrman h: (505) 982-3609 o: (505) 473-4458
1 comment:
Vermont Votes to Impeach Bush/Cheney
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=172344
When Vermont Governor Jim Douglas, a Republican with reasonably close ties to President Bush, asked if there was any additional business to be considered at the town meeting he was running in Middlebury, Ellen McKay popped up and proposed the impeachment of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
The governor was not amused. As moderator of the annual meeting, he tried to suggest that the proposal to impeach -- along with another proposal to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq -- could not be voted on.
But McKay, a program coordinator at Middlebury College, pressed her case. And it soon became evident that the crowd at the annual meeting shared her desire to hold the president to account.
So Douglas backed down.
"It became clear that no one was going home until they had the chance to discuss the resolutions and vote on them," explained David Rosenberg, a political science professor at Middlebury College. "And being a good politician, he allowed the vote to happen."
By an overwhelming voice vote, Middlebury called for impeachment.
So it has gone this week at town meetings across Vermont, most of which were held Tuesday.
Late Tuesday night, there were confirmed reports that 36 towns had backed impeachment resolutions, and the number was expected to rise.
In one town, Putney, the vote for impeachment was unanimous.
In addition to Governor Douglas's Middlebury, the town of Hartland, which is home to Congressman Peter Welch, backed impeachment. So, too, did Jericho, the home of Gaye Symington, the speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives.
Organizers of the grassroots drive to get town meetings to back impeachment resolutions hope that the overwhelming support the initiative has received will convince Welch to introduce articles of impeachment against Bush and Cheney. That's something the Democratic congressman is resisting, even though his predecessor, Bernie Sanders, signed on last year to a proposal by Michigan Congressman John Conyers to set up a House committee to look into impeachment.
Vermont activists also want their legislature to approve articles of impeachment and forward them to Congress. But Symington, also a Democrat, has discouraged the initiative, despite the fact that more than 20 representatives have cosponsored an impeachment resolution.
"It's going to be hard for Peter Welch and Gaye Symington to say there's no sentiment for impeachment, now that their own towns have voted for it," says Dan DeWalt, a Newfane, Vermont, town selectman who started the impeachment initiative last year in his town, and who now plans to launch a campaign to pressure Welch and Symington to respect and reflect the will of the people.
It is going to be even harder for Governor Douglas, who just this month spent two nights at the Bush White House, to face his president.
After all, Douglas now lives in a town that is on record in support of Bush's impeachment and trial for high crimes and misdemeanors.
For the record, Middlebury says:
We the people have the power -- and the responsibility -- to remove executives who transgress not just the law, but the rule of law.
The oaths that the President and Vice President take binds them to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." The failure to do so forms a sound basis for articles of impeachment.
The President and Vice President have failed to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" in the following ways:
1. They have manipulated intelligence and misled the country to justify an immoral, unjust, and unnecessary preemptive war in Iraq.
2. They have directed the government to engage in domestic spying without warrants, in direct contravention of U.S. law.
3. They have conspired to commit the torture of prisoners, in violation of the Federal Torture Act and the Geneva Convention.
4. They have ordered the indefinite detention without legal counsel, without charges and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention -- all in violation of U.S. law and the Bill of Rights.
When strong evidence exists of the most serious crimes, we must use impeachment -- or lose the ability of the legislative branch to compel the executive branch to obey the law.
George Bush has led our country to a constitutional crisis, and it is our responsibility to remove him from office.
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