[PAA-Discuss] Impeach Cheney First Campaign: Kucinich No Longer Alone in Seeking Cheney Impeachment

[C. Lee Taylor]

Here's a heartening read from Paul Kane's blog at the Washington Post
(http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/?hpid=news-col-blogs):

Posted at 5:10 PM ET, 07/ 2/2007
Kucinich No Longer Alone in Seeking Cheney Impeachment

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is no longer "standing alone" when it
comes to calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.

On the same day the House failed to de-fund the Office of the Vice
President, the chamber crossed another anti-Cheney milestone: Kucinich
entered double digits in terms of co-sponsors for his bill to impeach
Cheney.

Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison (Minn.), Hank Johnson (Ga.) and Jim
McDermott (Wash.) signed on to Kucinich's bill on Thursday, which also
came a day after the conclusion of Barton Gellman and Jo Becker's
stunning four-part series on Cheney in the Washington Post.

Kucinich introduced his impeachment articles with much fanfare outside
the Capitol on April 24, but with little expectation for the measure
to go anywhere legislatively speaking. House Democratic leaders have
publicly and privately rejected talk about moving forward with the
impeachment process.

It took more than two months for Kucinich to round up his 8th, 9th and
10th co-sponsors, a rate that would bring roughly 40 co-sponsors by
the end of this year. Instead of impeachment, Rep. Rahm Emanuel
(D-Ill.) took another approach. After stories emerged about Cheney
rebuffing disclosure laws on intelligence matters, citing himself as
not a part of the executive branch, Emanuel offered an amendment last
week to de-fund Cheney's office, what many considered a symbolic jab
at the unpopular Cheney.

Still, 207 Democrats and two Republicans (Reps. Walter Jones of North
Carolina and Ron Paul of Texas) voted to strip Cheney of his funding.
But two dozen Democrats opposed the Emanuel amendment, providing the
margin to beat back Emanuel and giving a slight reprieve to the
embattled Cheney.

Of those 24 Democrats, the majority were moderate-to-conservative
Democrats, many members of the Blue Dog caucus and a handful of the
freshmen Democrats. McDermott, however, is the one member of the House
who voted in favor of funding the vice president's office while ALSO
signing on as a co-sponsor to impeach Cheney. Upon reflection, there's
some logic to it: McDermott believes the vice president clearly is a
part of the executive branch, he just no longer believes that Cheney
himself should be allowed his spot in that branch of government.

Here's a look at the other co-sponsors, along with the date they
signed on with Kucinich:

Lacy Clay (Mo.) - May 1: Son of former Rep. Bill Clay (D-Mo.), this
St. Louis lawmaker is a member of the Out of Iraq Caucus.

Janice D. Schakowsky (Ill.) - May 1: Joined Clay in being the first
co-sponsors with Kucinich to the articles of impeachment.

Albert R. Wynn (Md.) - May 10: Wynn, who narrowly survived a primary
challenger from his left in 2006, is facing a rematch early next year
with Donna Edwards, who criticized his vote in 2002 in support of the
Iraq war.

Yvette D. Clarke (N.Y.) - June 6: One of three freshmen to co-sponsor
Cheney's impeachment.

Barbara Lee (Calif.) - June 7: One of the House's most anti-war
members, Lee's most famous vote was the lone 'nay' vote against the
2001 resolution giving President Bush authority to wage war in
Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Lynn C. Woolsey (Calif.) - June 7: In her 8th term, Woolsey is the
second-longest-serving member to back impeachment. (Waters, in her 9th
term, is the veteran of the group.)

Maxine Waters (Calif.) - June 12: One of 7 members of the
Congressional Black Caucus supporting impeachment, Waters is the
co-founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus.

Keith Ellison (Minn.) - June 28: A stir developed when freshman
Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress, announced he would be sworn in
with a copy of the Koran. He eventually used a copy once owned by
Thomas Jefferson.

Hank Johnson (Ga.) - June 28: One of three members of the House
Judiciary Committee to officially back impeachment, Johnson is a
former judge. (Waters and Ellison are the other members of Judiciary,
the committee that has jurisdiction over Kucinich's bill.)

Jim McDermott (Wash.) - June 28: Here's link to McDermott's floor
speech and video from his floor speech announcing his support of
Cheney's impeachment. McDermott's co-sponsorship is so new that it
does not yet register on Thomas, the official web site of the Library
of Congress.


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