NM Impeachment Resolution Gets Hearing, 2/16/2007

To Santa Fe County Democrats,

State Senator John Grubesic of Santa Fe joined Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque in sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 5, Impeach President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. The resolution is in line with the Democratic Party Platform as established at the platform convention in March of 2006 where impeachment was put on the platform with thunderous applause by more than 95% of the 1200 delegates present.

We hope you will voice your support for the resolution by calling President Pro Tem of the Senate Ben Altamirano and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez to urge their support for the resolution. Their support is necessary for passage. Call any legislator at the switchboard: 986-4300. We also need Senators Rainaldi, Papen, Ulibarri and Martinez of the Public Affairs and Judiciary Committees.

The resolution will probably come before the Rules Committee this Friday, February 16th around 9:00 AM in Rm 321 at the Roundhouse. It will be officially posted on the Rules Committee schedule at http://legis.state.nm.us on Wednesday, Feb. 14th. We hope you will make time to attend the hearing and voice your support for the resolution.

As the President ignores the American people and Congress on the subject of Iraq and prepares for war with Iran, it becomes more and more obvious that the duty of citizens is to impeach. The resolution itself lists four charges, which under Jefferson's Rules of the House can be transmitted by a State Legislature triggering Federal proceedings:

1. Lying to Congress to provoke war.
2. Ordering warrantless wiretapping.
3. Ordering torture.
4. Ordering illegal detentions.

Any one of these charges is grounds for impeachment. In the case of ACLU vs. NSA, federal judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the President had "indisputably violated" not only the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, but also statutory law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

How long can we allow the Executive Branch to put itself above the law before our cherished Democratic Republic is destroyed, taking the world with it? Now is the time to act. Please attend the Rules Committee Hearing this Friday morning around 9 AM and call Senator Ben Altamirano and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez asking them to support the Democratic Party platform and the welfare of the American people and the world.

Sincerely,

Connie Salazar, Chair Santa Fe County Resolutions Committee and Member of the NM Democratic Party Resolutions Committee