02/14/07: Stoughton to vote on troops, impeachment
Stoughton to vote on troops, impeachment
by Karyn Saemann
Correspondent for The Capital Times
STOUGHTON - Stoughton voters will be asked April 3 whether U.S. troops should be immediately withdrawn from Iraq and whether George Bush and Dick Cheney should be impeached.
The Stoughton City Council voted 7-2 Tuesday night, with three abstentions, to indefinitely table a request by citizens to put the two questions on the ballot.
Under the state's direction legislation law, if the council fails to vote up or down on the request by Feb. 20, it automatically goes on the April 3 ballot. The decision to table it Tuesday night, at the last regular council meeting before Feb. 20, amounted to putting the question on the ballot.
The troop withdrawal petition had the signatures of 986 Stoughton citizens, and an impeachment petition had 855 signatures. The two issues will be listed on the ballot as separate questions.
City Council President Ron Christianson said there was no discussion prior to the vote. Christianson said he didn't believe such a discussion was appropriate at the council level.
The end result, however, is that the right of petitioners has been recognized and "it allows voters their privacy. They can vote their opinion in the voting booth," Christianson said.
"And we can go on from here," Christianson said. "Hopefully, things like this won't come to us again in the future."
Speaking for the statewide Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition, Stoughton resident Buzz Davis said that "we're real pleased" with the council's move. "The most important thing is that they are on the ballot."
Davis said a series of town hall-style meetings will be scheduled between now and April to give citizens a chance to learn about the questions. He said upfront that the meetings will be one-sided, with opponents not expected to be invited to participate in panel discussions and other activities.
"I will let them do their own meetings," Davis said.
Ald. Gary Locke, one of the two dissenters Tuesday night, said he would have preferred that the council directly adopt a troop withdrawal resolution that would have been passed on to the state's congressional delegation. That way, he said, there would have been an opportunity to include a cover letter expressing support for troops currently in Iraq, and a wish that they return safely.
"None of that is included, and I think that is a very important part of the process," Locke said.
The one line that will appear on the ballot, "The United States should begin an immediate withdrawal of all military personnel from Iraq," had to remain exactly the way it appeared on the petition, Locke said.
"I'm afraid the language isn't adequate enough for my taste," Locke said. "The one line doesn't really express the way I feel personally about how it should be handled."
Ald. Patrick Schneider also voted no to tabling the issue.
Davis said this is the first community in Wisconsin to put both questions together on a ballot. And, it is only the third Wisconsin community to ask voters about impeachment.
Wisconsin Rapids and Pittsville had impeachment questions on the November 2006 ballot. In both places the questions were defeated, with about one-third of voters supportive.
In November 2006, nine communities and Ozaukee County had troop withdrawal questions on the ballot. All of them passed.
In April 2006, 32 Wisconsin communities had troop withdrawal questions on the ballot; in 24 places, the referendum was successful.