Article: Raising the dialog on Impeachment

In considering how to raise the dynamic for a House Judiciary Congressional Investigation of Bush and Cheney it seems one element missing is changing the discussion about impeachment from one about "political fallout" to a discussion of "accountability" in government. Since many Republicans currently in the House voted to impeach Bill Clinton on December 19, 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice, presumably justified by the need for accountability in the Executive Branch, these same individuals should be able to explain why they have ignored the far more egregious violations of the Bush Administration and fail to support at least an impeachment investigation. Alternatively, if the only interest of these members of Congress in 1998 was the use of impeachment for "political advantage" perhaps it is time they go on record as stating why they felt impeachment was acceptable for Bill Clinton just 9.25 years earlier but is not acceptable now with respect to holding George Bush and Dick Cheney "accountable". It may not change anything but the fall election by doing this. However, having each person on record as stating they don't believe Bush or Cheney has done anything worthy of an impeachment hearing even though they felt impeachment was justified and voted for it when Bill Clinton was in office in 1998 may be a worthwhile objective to clarify this hypocrisy.

Voters can decide for themselves whose interests these Representatives truly serve later this year. Not a single person on this list who felt Bill Clinton had violated his oath of office and was guilty of impeachable offenses has been so moved to support even an impeachment investigation of President George W. Bush or Vice President Richard Cheney for any offense while they have been in office. Not a single person on this list has requested that George W. Bush be investigated by the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) even though several are HJC members (***). If possible, each and every person on this list should be asked the following 4 questions:
1. What do you believe is the purpose of impeachment?
2. Why do you believe we have an impeachment process as part of our US constitution?
3. Why did you support the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton in December 1998?
4. Why do you feel none of the following charges made against the present administration of George W. Bush and Cheney is worthy of even an impeachment hearing?

a. Misleading Congress about the need for a war with Iraq.
b. Obstruction of justice by telling Federal Employees not to testify before Congress and/or not to respond to Congressional subpoenas.
c. Misuse of the Department of Justice for political purposes instead of law enforcement.
d. Approval of torture for captured prisoners by the US in violation of ratified US treaties.
e. Not providing the due process guaranteed to a US citizen by our Constitution by placing him in Guantanamo Bay Prison camp without access to a lawyer for an extended time period.
f. Attempt to bribe a US citizen who was raped and illegally imprisoned with US tax dollars to keep her silent and get her to drop her suit against Halliburton and the State Department.
g. Approval of the spying on US citizens by the NSA without a warrant.
h. No-bid extended contracts and failure of government agencies to enforce rules and regulations on the businesses they regulate leading to the loss of billions of tax payer dollars from the US treasury.
i. Destruction of government records to circumvent accountability by Congressional oversight.

While I suspect we all feel we know what their answers may well be, why not give each and every one of these Representatives an opportunity to state so for the public record? Perhaps the very fact they had to face such questions might change some minds (theirs or their constituents). Either way, it can't help but encourage more change in Washington by this fall.

Aderholt – Alabama 4th District
Bachus – Alabama 6th District
Bartlett-Maryland 6th District
Barton – Texas 6th District
Bilbray – California 50th District
Bilirakis – Florida 9th District
Blunt – Maryland 7th District
Boehner – Ohio 8th District
Bono – California – 45th District
Brady – Texas 8th District
Burton – Indiana 5th District
Calvert – California 14th District
Camp – Michigan 4th District
Campbell – California 48th District
Cannon – Utah 3rd District ***
Castle – Delaware (at large)
Chabot – Ohio 1st District ***
Christensen –US Virgin Islands
Coble–North Carolina 6th ***
Cubin – Wyoming (at large)
Davis – Virginia 11th District
Deal – Georgia 9th District
Diaz-Balart – Florida 21st District
Doolittle – California 4th District
Dreier – California 26th District
Duncan – Tennessee 2nd District
Ehlers – Michigan 3rd District
Emerson – Maryland 9th District
English – Pennsylvania 3rd District
Everett – Alabama 2nd District
Forbes – Virginia 4th District ***
Fossella – New York 13th District
Frelinghuysen – New Jersey 11th District
Gallegly – California 24th District ***
Gilchrest – Maryland 1st District
Goode – Virginia 5th District
Goodlatte – Virginia 6th District ***
Granger – Texas 12th District
Hall – Texas 4th District
Hastings – Washington 4th District
Herger – California 2nd District
Hill – Indiana 9th District
Hobson – Ohio 7th District
Hoeskatra – Michigan 2nd District
Hulshof – Michigan 9th District
Hunter – California 52nd District
Inglis – South Carolina 4th District
Johnson – Texas 3rd District
Jones – North Carolina 3rd District
King – New York 3rd District
Kingston –Georgia 1st District
Knollenberg – Michigan 9th District
LaHood – Illinois 18th District
LaTourette – Ohio 14th District
Lewis – California 41st District
Lewis – Kentucky 2nd District
Linder – Georgia 7th District
LoBiondo – New Jersey 2nd District
Lucas – Oklahoma 3rd District
Manzullo – Illinois 16th District
McCollum – Minnesota 4th
McCrery – Louisiana 4th
McHugh – New York 23rd
McKeon – Louisiana 25th
Mica – Florida 7th District
Miller – Florida 1st District
Moran – Kansas 1st District
Myrick – North Carolina 9th
Paul – Texas 14th District
Peterson – Pennsylvania 5th
Petri – Wisconsin 6th District
Pickering – Mississippi 3rd
Pitts – Pennsylvania 16th
Porter – Nevada 3rd District
Pryce – Ohio 15th District
Radanovich – California 19th
Ramstad – Minnesota 3rd
Regula –Ohio 16th District
Rogers – Kentucky 5th
Rohrabacher – California 46th
Ros-Lehtinen – Florida 18th
Royce – California 40th
Saxton – New Jersey 3rd
Sensenbrenner – Wisconsin 5th ***
Sessions – Texas 32nd
Shadegg – Arizona 3rd
Shimkus – Florida 15th
Shuster – Pennsylvania 9th
Smith – New Jersey 4th
Smith – Texas 21st ***
Souder – Indiana 3rd District
Stearns – Florida 6th District
Taylor – Mississippi 4th District
Thornberry – Texas 13th
Tiahrt – Kansas 4th District
Upton – Michigan 6th District
Walsh – New York 25th
Wamp – Tennessee 3rd District
Weldon – Florida – 15th District
Weller – Illinois 11th District
Whitfield –- Kentucky 1st District
Wilson – Ohio 6th District
Wolf – Virginia 10th District
Young – Alaska (At large)
Young – Florida 10th District