Next City to Impeach Bush: Arcata (CA)

Impeachment is back

Update: Copies of Impeachment Letter are going to Feinstein and Boxer (10/20)
Update: Arcata wants Congress to investigate president
Last night council's five members unanimously approved sending a letter for immediate Impeachment (10/16 AP)

Times Standard -Monday, October 13, 2003

ARCATA -- Impeachment is on the agenda again this week.

City Councilman Dave Meserve will ask the council at Wednesday's meeting to approve his resolution calling for the immediate impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.

The vote in Arcata on Wednesday is likely to attract some national attention.

Last month the Santa Cruz City Council voted to send a letter asking the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the Bush administration.

Meserve's resolution, which he is sponsoring on behalf of Veterans for Peace, is somewhat stronger.

As written when presented at an Aug. 20 meeting, the resolution reads, "The City Council of the city of Arcata calls upon the United States House of Representatives to immediately impeach George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney."

Advertisement

The case for impeachment outlined in the resolution focuses on the war in Iraq and statements the president made in his State of the Union address that turned out to be false.

The City Council declined to take action at the Aug. 20 meeting, although Mayor Bob Ornelas said he would vote for the resolution.

To gauge support for the resolution, in early September Meserve and the Veterans for Peace held a town meeting, which was dominated by those who want to impeach the president.

Meserve said the resolution on Wednesday's agenda is identical to the one that came before the council in August.

He needs just one more vote to get it passed.

However, Meserve said on Friday he is willing to compromise if he can't get the third vote.

He said he would accept a letter similar to the one the Santa Cruz City Council sent last month.

...The City Council meets in open session at 7 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 736 F St.

The resolution comes under Old Business and is item No. 7 on the agenda.

Arcata wants Congress to investigate president

AP/BayAera -October 16

Arcata - The Arcata City Council is stepping into national politics with a letter asking Congress to investigate the president.

Late last night, the council's five members unanimously approved sending a letter that asks Congress to investigate the Bush administration's conduct during the war in Iraq.

Councilman Dave Meserve's original resolution demanded the immediate impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, but only Meserve and Mayor Bob Ornelas supported it.

The letter was rewritten at last night's meeting to gain support from all five council members.

It will be sent to the House Judiciary Committee as well as U.S. Rep.Mike Thompson and California's two U.S. senators.

City Council compromises on Bush-Cheney impeachment

Arcata Eye -Feature Stories – Week of October 20, 2003

The third go-round of a resolution to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney came at the Wednesday, Oct. 15 City Council meeting. After a contentious hearing in the Aug. 20 council meeting and an independent Town Hall meeting on Sept. 2, the resolution - and, rumor had it, an alternative - reemerged on the Council’s agenda for more scrutiny. By the end of the over three-hour discussion, a seemingly impossible feat had been accomplished: unanimity among the City Council on an item using the word "impeachment."

The resolution, written by Veterans for Peace (VFP) Chapter 56, was sponsored by Councilmember Dave Meserve. It alleges that Bush and Cheney are guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors in lying to the American people to justify waging war in Iraq and calls for their immediate impeachment.

At the Aug. 20 Council meeting, Councilmembers Elizabeth Conner and Michael Machi opted not to endorse the resolution on the basis of incomplete community representation. Councilmember Stewart also objected to the form of the resolution, arguing that a letter would be more appropriate. Meserve and VFP privately funded a Town Hall meeting in response, in an attempt to gather a fuller representation of community opinions. Both meetings garnered overwhelmingly positive and vocal public support, though some alleged that the atmosphere was not welcoming to those opposed to the resolution, thus limiting these opinions being voiced. ..

...With the resolution finally laid to rest, the council turned to the letter and found themselves, surprisingly, more or less in agreement. Meserve clarified that his intention was not to change the upcoming presidential election, but to start a conversation. Stewart added that directing the letter to the Judiciary Committee Chair further defined this intent. With this clarification, Conner declared herself willing to support the letter.

Ornelas referred to the letter as "activism lite," saying that it was nowhere near strong enough for him. "I’m fed up with it, folks," he said, demanding impeachment and jail sentences for a number of people in the current administration. His promise, "I’m not going to shut up," was greeted with sustained applause and enthusiastic cheers from the audience.

Meserve was obviously in sympathy with Ornelas’ feelings, describing the letter as very difficult for him because of the amount of compromise it involved.

Several minor changes in the letter’s wording, including using only the specific term "Arcata residents" and distinctly acknowledging those in opposition to the impeachment investigation, mollified Machi, and a unanimous vote to approve the letter passed the City Council.

Diamond expressed her satisfaction that the council had successfully addressed her concerns. "They clearly dealt with the resolution," she later explained. "People who spoke [in the public comment period] clearly had come to respond to the resolution, but council introduced alternates clearly and so people were able to modify and discuss those." She described her advice as "based on a conservative reading of the Brown Act," which governs public access to and involvement in meetings. Special delivery

Meserve, who was flying to a conference on the Patriot Act in Washington, D.C. early Thursday morning, quickly pulled together copies of the approved letter with Mayor Ornelas’ signature and triumphantly carried them to the nation’s capital to hand deliver. Copies of the letter are going to Representative Mike Thompson, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and members of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Meserve’s trip is not being paid for by the City.

Though still a firm believer in the allegations of the more strongly worded resolution, Meserve declared himself pleased with the letter. "From the point of view of consensus building, the fact that we were able to get unanimous support for the letter sends a stronger message," he noted. "Consensus leaves a better feeling among all the citizens of Arcata."

<  9/11 Books Dominate Debate at Frankfurt Book Fair | Bush Nazi Link Confirmed  >