QUOTE
Sanders supports Bush impeachment probe
By Evan Lehmann, Transcript Washington Bureau
Thursday, March 16
WASHINGTON — Congressman Bernard Sanders quietly reversed course last week and signed onto a bill that would launch an investigation into whether President Bush should be impeached.
Sanders' move came one week after his chief of staff, Jeff Weaver, told the Banner that Sanders would not cosponsor the bill, introduced in December by Michigan Democrat John Conyers.
Sanders did place his name on the bill last Thursday, days after the passage of various town and county resolutions in Vermont calling for impeachment.
"We felt it appropriate based on what Vermonters were telling us," Weaver said Wednesday. "This is really an example of grassroots democracy in action."
Urged by constituents
Sanders' Burlington office received about two-dozen phone calls and e-mails encouraging the congressman to support various resolutions calling for impeachment passed in five towns last week.
But Sanders resisted taking up the cause, saying a more meaningful goal was ousting Republicans in the midterm elections to give Democrats control of the House and Senate.
Responding to Newfane's impeachment resolution, Sanders said the effort was "impractical."
Weaver told the Banner two weeks ago that the House impeachment resolution was premature, and sought to create a redundant investigative body rather than relying on existing congressional committees to hold hearings.
Dan DeWalt, a Newfane Select Board member who introduced a local resolution, was disappointed with Sanders' response to the passage of the local measure.
Maverick flair questioned
Disappointment turned to confusion when he learned Sanders signed the House bill, but didn't publicly acknowledge it in newspaper editorials last weekend. DeWalt's worried Sanders may have lost some of his maverick flair as he runs for the Senate.
"I can't make hide nor hair about what he's doing," DeWalt said. "My biggest fear is that he's taking John Kerry's tried and true (strategy) and moving to the middle — and losing.
"I don't know if there's some disease that happens if you move to the Senate," he added. "It seems to me that if Bernie wanted to get elected, he'd do what he's always done, and stand up for what he believes."
Jennifer Duffy, editor of The Cook Political Report, said in a phone interview before Sanders signed onto the House bill that the move could provide ammunition for his political opponents.
"I can't see what the impetus is to get on board," she said, forecasting that the bill will never be voted on. "It just raises an issue for (Richard) Tarrant."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in the Capitol Wednesday that Congress should begin hearings on Bush's prewar planning and his warrantless surveillance program, which Leahy says is illegal. But the House impeachment resolution faces an impossible climb, he said.
"If they won't answer questions about what (Bush) has done so far," Leahy said, referring to Republican leaders, "do you think they're going to raise ... impeachment?"
Sanders declined to comment to the Banner when approached outside his office Wednesday. But Weaver said Sanders was not influenced by concerns about his opponent using the bill against him, or by national Democrats, who may see the impeachment issue as hurting their chances in the midterm elections.
Weaver also distanced Sanders from the scepter of impeachment, saying his support of the House bill was intended to promote an investigation of Bush's handling of the war, not impeachment.
County commission backing
"We view this change as an intensifying of our call for an investigation," Weaver said.
Jim Sullivan, chairman of the Bennington County Democratic Committee, supports Sanders' approach to the issue. The county committee passed a resolution this week calling for Bush's impeachment.
The House resolution calls for the creation of a select committee, with an equal number of seats for Democrats and Republicans, to investigate whether Bush had preconceived intentions to invade Iraq, misused intelligence to strengthen its drive toward war and encouraged the torture of detainees.
Finally, the select committee would "make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment."
Sanders' move aroused instant criticism by the Republican Party.
"He ought to be standing up and saying this legislation is totally off the wall and that we ought not be impeaching the president of the United States based on left-wing conspiracy theories," said Jim Barnett, chairman of the Vermont GOP.
By Evan Lehmann, Transcript Washington Bureau
Thursday, March 16
WASHINGTON — Congressman Bernard Sanders quietly reversed course last week and signed onto a bill that would launch an investigation into whether President Bush should be impeached.
Sanders' move came one week after his chief of staff, Jeff Weaver, told the Banner that Sanders would not cosponsor the bill, introduced in December by Michigan Democrat John Conyers.
Sanders did place his name on the bill last Thursday, days after the passage of various town and county resolutions in Vermont calling for impeachment.
"We felt it appropriate based on what Vermonters were telling us," Weaver said Wednesday. "This is really an example of grassroots democracy in action."
Urged by constituents
Sanders' Burlington office received about two-dozen phone calls and e-mails encouraging the congressman to support various resolutions calling for impeachment passed in five towns last week.
But Sanders resisted taking up the cause, saying a more meaningful goal was ousting Republicans in the midterm elections to give Democrats control of the House and Senate.
Responding to Newfane's impeachment resolution, Sanders said the effort was "impractical."
Weaver told the Banner two weeks ago that the House impeachment resolution was premature, and sought to create a redundant investigative body rather than relying on existing congressional committees to hold hearings.
Dan DeWalt, a Newfane Select Board member who introduced a local resolution, was disappointed with Sanders' response to the passage of the local measure.
Maverick flair questioned
Disappointment turned to confusion when he learned Sanders signed the House bill, but didn't publicly acknowledge it in newspaper editorials last weekend. DeWalt's worried Sanders may have lost some of his maverick flair as he runs for the Senate.
"I can't make hide nor hair about what he's doing," DeWalt said. "My biggest fear is that he's taking John Kerry's tried and true (strategy) and moving to the middle — and losing.
"I don't know if there's some disease that happens if you move to the Senate," he added. "It seems to me that if Bernie wanted to get elected, he'd do what he's always done, and stand up for what he believes."
Jennifer Duffy, editor of The Cook Political Report, said in a phone interview before Sanders signed onto the House bill that the move could provide ammunition for his political opponents.
"I can't see what the impetus is to get on board," she said, forecasting that the bill will never be voted on. "It just raises an issue for (Richard) Tarrant."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in the Capitol Wednesday that Congress should begin hearings on Bush's prewar planning and his warrantless surveillance program, which Leahy says is illegal. But the House impeachment resolution faces an impossible climb, he said.
"If they won't answer questions about what (Bush) has done so far," Leahy said, referring to Republican leaders, "do you think they're going to raise ... impeachment?"
Sanders declined to comment to the Banner when approached outside his office Wednesday. But Weaver said Sanders was not influenced by concerns about his opponent using the bill against him, or by national Democrats, who may see the impeachment issue as hurting their chances in the midterm elections.
Weaver also distanced Sanders from the scepter of impeachment, saying his support of the House bill was intended to promote an investigation of Bush's handling of the war, not impeachment.
County commission backing
"We view this change as an intensifying of our call for an investigation," Weaver said.
Jim Sullivan, chairman of the Bennington County Democratic Committee, supports Sanders' approach to the issue. The county committee passed a resolution this week calling for Bush's impeachment.
The House resolution calls for the creation of a select committee, with an equal number of seats for Democrats and Republicans, to investigate whether Bush had preconceived intentions to invade Iraq, misused intelligence to strengthen its drive toward war and encouraged the torture of detainees.
Finally, the select committee would "make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment."
Sanders' move aroused instant criticism by the Republican Party.
"He ought to be standing up and saying this legislation is totally off the wall and that we ought not be impeaching the president of the United States based on left-wing conspiracy theories," said Jim Barnett, chairman of the Vermont GOP.