Congressman Robert Wexler says he hopes the House Judiciary Committee will hold a sober investigation and let the facts determine the outcome.
(SALEM, Ore.) - New legislators are jumping on the bandwagon to toss Vice President Dick Cheney from the nation's lame duck Presidential administration. The move has received substantial resistance from Democrats, with some cautioning that removing anyone from office could come back in the form of new grief, but that may be changing.
Representative Robert Wexler sent a letter to the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, calling for the removal of Cheney through impeachment proceedings. Now new members of Congress added their names to the letter to Chairman Conyers. Congressman Wexler is one legislator urging support for Cheney Impeachment Hearings.
Wexler says Americans are dealing with an administration "that has run roughshod over our constitution, that operates with no limits on executive branch authority and one that has repeatedly flouted the investigations and oversight the 110th Congress has tried to provide over the past year."
In his letter to Conyers, he says impeachment hearings pertaining to Vice President Cheney are the best way to move forward.
"Impeachment hearings will allow for the exact kind of oversight that you and the Democratic leadership have provided regarding the actions of the Administration but without the opportunity for the Bush Administration to ignore lawful requests for information, refuse subpoenas and effectively limit its own oversight."
Wexler says impeachment hearings can provide the opportunity to cut through the executive privilege defenses and force this Administration to answer a Congress it has clearly chosen to ignore. He suggest in the letter, that Conyers would agree that as Members of Congress, they can not allow legitimate oversight to be thwarted or such a dangerous precedent to stand.
Wexler said, "The charges against the Vice President relate to the core actions of this Administration, its unlawful behavior and its abuse of power. We are concerned with alleged crimes that are central to his duties of Vice President, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. As you know, the charges against Vice President Cheney include providing Congress and the American people false intelligence leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens."
Wexler says he hopes the House Judiciary Committee will hold a sober investigation and let the facts determine the outcome.
"We sincerely believe that impeachment hearings are the appropriate and necessary next step given what we have seen of this Administration. Chairman Conyers, we are respectfully asking you join us and concerned citizens around the country in supporting impeachment hearings."
The following members of Congress have joined as signatories to my letter to Chairman Conyers in support of Cheney Impeachment Hearings:
(*= member of the Judiciary Committee) Baldwin, Tammy, WI, 2nd * Capuano, Michael E., MA, 8th Clarke, Yvette D., NY, 11th Clay, Wm. Lacy, MO, 1st Cohen, Steve, TN, 9th * Farr, Sam, CA, 17th Grijalva, Raúl M., AZ, 7th Gutierrez, Luis V., IL, 4th * Kucinich, Dennis J., OH, 10th Lee, Barbara, CA, 9th Moore, Gwen, WI, 4th Moran, James P., VA, 8th Thompson, Mike, CA, 1st Towns, Edolphus, NY, 10th Woolsey, Lynn, CA, 6th Wexler, Robert, FL, 19th * Wynn, Albert Russell, MD, 4th
Could This be Dick Cheney's Final Act?Salem-News.com