He is calling on Americans who want to see Congress begin impeachment
hearings to put even more pressure on Congress to also change its
position.
"I think it's obvious that Congress is way behind the people on this,"
he said, "and it's quite obvious that in this case the people have
gotten it right."
Wexler said, "If the people in Congress could come up with reasons why
the abuses of this administratiion are not serious enough to impeach,
then I'd say Congress should not listen to the grassroots, but I don't
think anyone in Congress could say that with a straight face. In fact,
it's the opposite. They're saying, `Even though this administration has
committed these crimes against the constitution, we can't do anything
about it.'"
Wexler said that he thought Democratic leaders in Congress, who have
been aggressively blocking any effort to begin impeachment hearings,
even to the point of pressuring state and local party activists into
not passing impeachment resolutions, are risking alienating progressive
voters — both Democrats and independents — next November by failing to
act on impeachment.
"If Congress were really popular, with say 58 percent favorable
ratings, then maybe they could do that," he says, "but the fact is that
this Congress is very, very unpopular."
Wexler urged activists in favor of impeachment to put increasing
pressure on their own congressional representatives, on their local
news outlets, and on other members of the Judiciary Committee to
support hearings on Cheney's impeachable actions, and vowed to bring a
petition he has set up on line,
which has garnered over 120,000 signatures in less than a week's time,
to show every Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. "I will be asking
every Democrat on that committee to support immediate hearings," said
the six-term Congressman.
Wexler praised his colleague, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and a
candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, for pressing
forward with the impeachment issue, and for submitting a bill (H Res
799) for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney.
In another example of the effect of people power, Rep. Anthony Wiener
(D-NY), yet another member of the House Judiciary Committee, yestereday
vowed to sign onto Wexler's call for immediate hearings. Of the four,
only Baldwin is also a co-signer of Kucinich's impeachment bill. Since
she is one of six members of the Judiciary Committee who are
co-signers, that makes a total of nine Judiciary Committee members now
who are now on record as being in favor of Cheney impeachment hearings.
That leaves 13 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, including Chairman
John Conyers, who have not expressed any support. But of those 13, five
— Conyers and Reps. Brad Sherman, Mel Watt, Bobby Scott, and Artur
Davis, voted against a Democratic leadership move to table (and thus
kill) Kucinich's bill last Nov. 7, thus suggesting that they are likely
in favor of hearings on the measure. If those five were to sign on to
Wexler's call, that would mean a clear majority — 13-8 — of Democrats
on the Judiciary Committee would be in favor of hearings on Cheney's
impeachment.
In another development, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) added her name to the
Kucinich Cheney impeachment bill, bringing the total number of
co-sponsors of H Res 799, plus Kucinich himself, to 25 — the number who
initially signed on to impeachment hearings on Richard Nixon in 1974.
Things are definitely moving in the right direction. The bankrupt,
cynical and shameless effort by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other
Democratic Party leaders to snuff out the impeachment demands of a
majority of Americans and of the vast majority of Democrats is
crumbling. If you haven't signed onto Wexler's petition, go to
www.wexlerwantshearings.com, and help build the momentum by contacting everyone else you know and sending them there.
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