New Hampshire to Initiate Impeachment

This was just emailed from a friend of Impeach for Peace:

Feb. 19, 2008 Concord, NH [will be holding a] hearing for New Hampshire State H.Res.24 to Impeach Bush and Cheney. The Resolution, since is is a STATE resolution, if passed (which it HAS a good chance of passing) will set in motion Jefferson’s Manual, obligating Congress to ACT! State Rep. Betty Hall, 14-term 86 year old state rep., introduced the resolution. She can be reached at 603-672-8712.

Start: Tue, 02/19/2008 – 1:00pm
Location: Legislative Office Building, Rooms 305-307, Concord, NH

Hearing for Betty Hall’s Impeachment Resolution HRes 24 to be held at 1 pm, Tuesday, Feb. 19 in Legislative Office Building, Rooms 305-307, Concord, NH

DemocracyForNewHampshire.com — Speech to the NH House on Impeachment resolution

Editor’s note: Representative Hall’s speech on the House floor last week is posted here in its entirety. Unfortunately, her colleagues never heard the whole speech, because she was interrupted by hoots and howls, and because the Speaker of the House also interrupted her. NH Secretary Gardner reminded us all at DemocracyFest that, according to our first President, George Washington, democracy demands that we “extend our views beyond ourselves”. Thank you Representative Hall, for the attempt to do just that. And shame on your colleagues for not honoring your patriotism and for preventing you from doing so.

Why now? Why NOW? That’s the question I have been asked constantly since I made the request for late introduction of a Resolution to Petition the U.S. House of Representatives to Commence Impeachment Procedures. I based this request to our Rules Committee on House Rules which specifically provide for late introduction after the deadline if approved by the House Rules Committee or a 2/3 vote of the House. The Rules Committee in its wisdom voted (and I understand their reasoning) not to allow the introduction and I am before you today asking this House in its wisdom to allow the introduction of this resolution. The resolution I will propose if this motion passes has been drafted by me and is based on the resolution introduced by Representative Perry at the Democratic State Convention in June of 2006. It passed overwhelmingly even though the Resolutions Committee of the Convention in their wisdom did NOT recommend it.

Impeachment Resolutions have been introduced in this House before. I was a member of this House when President Nixon was facing the impeachment and Franklin mayor and House colleague, Eugene Danielle introduced an impeachment resolution. It was one of the first to be introduced in the country and Danielle gave an impassioned speech. I wish I was the orator he was.

I have talked with at least three members of this House today who were members then and they remember that speech. It was a very rousing speech and at the end of the speech we had a standing vote. Some remember 11 courageous people stood up and voted for the resolution. I was very moved but I failed to stand up. At least one member today who was a member then stood up. I have always been ashamed that I did not stand. I believe we HAVE TO STAND UP FOR WHAT IS RIGHT, NOT WHAT IS WINNABLE. This is why I believe so strongly NOW is the time to stand up. At least ten other legislatures are reportedly considering the urgency of acting now. I believe there is a compelling need to start the ball rolling NOW. Waiting for the regular process which has been urged by many I respect will put the schedule behind by six months. The people are angry””they want action now. They are angry with Congress as well. The polls affirm this conclusion. They are angry because we are not moving fast enough to stop the Iraq war. Because the war puts our finest young soldiers in harms way, many of our grassroots people have concluded that Congress and the Military, and our Chief Executives have failed in all the arenas listed in the Resolution to Petition Congress. They are afraid that our Chief Executives are still leading us down the path of shock and awe, lies, and deadly assault. Our wonderful troops are being unfairly strained already. How can we sustain a broadening of the conflict to another country? Iran is an absolutely pressing concern, today, tomorrow, the next day. Can we really afford the same mistakes in Iran?

Everything I understand by reading the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution sets forth principles by which we the people must act when a situation develops such as we face at this momentous moment. We have a failure of leadership. I mean ALL leadership. Both parties and the three branches of government bear responsibility. Each citizen bears the responsibility also. If citizens fail to act we are just as doomed as the Germans were when Hitler was allowed to come to power. They let it happen. I know because I was there.

When all else fails, the Constitution provides for impeachment and removal from office. Republicans thought that point of failure happened and impeached President Clinton, and my party thought that happened and both parties forced the resignation of President Nixon when it become obvious he would be impeached. Frankly, I would prefer resignations rather than impeachments as a result of this resolution. No one wants to go through the gut wrenching of impeachment and trial. I want new leadership immediately. Resignations would be the fastest and best. Nobody thought Nixon would resign, but he did.

I think even worse could happen were impeachment not introduced because that could set a precedent for future generations and future presidents. Would you want any one of the Democratic Presidential hopefuls to have the power to do what President Bush and Vice President Cheney have done? Would you want any one of them to commit any of the impeachable offenses listed below, and not be held accountable? Would I want any one of your hopefuls to carry on the offenses into the next term? Even if you yourself don’t think the offenses are impeachable, aren’t they serious enough to find out through investigation and testimony?

I think we need to have this discourse once again to purge our system when it goes as far awry as I think it has. I think the sooner the discourse starts, the sooner we can start saving lives. Even if it were to start Wednesday, there is no assurance where it will go, and if it doesn’t start until September, there will still be no assurances. But history teaches us that the American people will not ignore our Constitution and Declaration of Independence.