Village Board Meets to Consider Impeachment

On September 24, 2007 at 7 pm in the Fire Hall there will be a meeting of the Trumansburg Village Board. The public is encouraged to come. The Board will be considering our resolution (see below)

To:The Mayor and the Board of Trustees of the Village of Trumansburg, New York
As citizens ultimately accountable for our constitutional democracy and its actions, we submit a resolution calling on you to urge a full and comprehensive review of charges that may warrant impeachment of the President and Vice President of the United States. Under the Rules of the House of Representatives impeachment may be set in motion by a State legislature as well as a member of Congress. The resolution below urges you to request action by both.

Impeachment is not a remedy for policy differences or bad government or even ordinary breaches of the criminal law involving no abuse of public trust. Impeachment is a remedy to protect against serious abuse of power and subversion of constitutional government. By making dramatically clear that a public official's misconduct has compromised his or her function in the constitutional scheme, impeachment is a means to secure our democracy against present and also future harm.

While the impeachment remedy can only be used in the face of grave misconduct, the accumulation of evidence suggesting the Bush Administration's gross assault on government appears to be overwhelming. It has systematically violated the treaties, laws, and Constitution of the United States, deceived Congress and the public, and abused the public trust and our constitutional traditions. This misconduct has involved grave abuse on matters of national security, war, and domestic wellbeing, as well as abuse of the rights of citizens to bodily integrity, security in their homes, communication, travel, participation in the political process, and included even the use and justification of torture against U.S. citizens and others.

In the face of such evidence, the House of Representatives has a duty placed upon it by the Constitution to conduct an inquiry into whether grounds for impeachment exist to the end that abuse of office not become a precedent capable of destroying our constitutional form of government.

Where the assault on government is grave, impeachment may be used even in the event an official has already retired or otherwise left office in order to ensure his or her disqualification to ever again hold any office of trust under the United States and also to serve as a warning and precedent to those who might entertain similar ambitions.


We therefore submit the following resolution:
VILLAGE OF TRUMANSBURG IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY RESOLUTION PETITION

WHEREAS, substantial evidence has been gathered that indicates that President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney have committed high crimes and misdemeanors , and

WHEREAS, said high crimes and misdemeanors may include, but are not limited to the President and Vice President • Misleading Congress and the American people regarding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction • Misleading Congress and the nation about ties between Iraq and al Quaeda • Using these falsehoods to lead our nation into a war in contravention of U.S. and international law • Authorizing the unlawful use of torture and extraordinary rendition • Engaging in unlawful spying on American citizens and otherwise violating citizens' right to privacy • Declaring their intention to disregard their constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States, and

WHEREAS, Congress has begun the process of holding hearings to examine several of these charges, and

WHEREAS, the Rules of the House of Representatives call for the referral of possible articles of impeachment to the Judiciary Committee for investigation, and

WHEREAS, the people of Trumansburg, New York, desire a full and comprehensive review of these charges in an orderly fashion, NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE TRUMANSBURG VILLAGE BOARD That New York State Senator George H. Winner Jr. (53rd Senate District) and Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (125th Assembly District), be strongly urged to ensure that the Legislature of the State of New York submit charges to the House of Representatives in accordance with the House Rules, and that U.S. House of Representatives Congressman Michael Arcuri (24th Congressional District), be strongly urged to support the formation of an appropriate sub-committee to investigate and review said charges and that such support be evidenced by a written request to that effect addressed to the Speaker of the House, and

BE IT FURTER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be delivered to Congressperson Michael Arcuri, Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, State Senator George H. Winner, Jr., Assemblyperson Barbara Lifton, and the media.