09-06-07 Responsible Pair of Impeach Votes - Marsha Rummel (contact for WNPJ Rainbow Bookstore -Madison)

Responsible Pair Of Impeach Votes

The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A8

Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Dane County Board and the Madison City Council have both cast strong votes in favor of urging our elected representatives in Congress to support the impeachment and trial of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution and the republic it protects.

Joining dozens of other towns, villages, cities and counties across the country, our local units of government have signaled that it is time for Congress to reassert the rule of law.

In this, they have done as the Founding Fathers intended. It was always the expectation of Jefferson, Madison and the other definers of our democratic experiment that guidance for the federal government would come from the bedrock of the people, via their local and state elected officials.

This newspaper has long supported the impeachment of the president and vice president as essential steps in the restoration of both the rule of law and a proper constitutional balance to a country that has been badly battered by the Bush/Cheney administration. As such, we honor the 20 Dane County Board members who cast the courageous and appropriate vote for executive accountability.

We honor the eight members of the Madison City Council who on Tuesday voted for an impeachment resolution - Tim Gruber, Julia Kerr, Brenda Konkel, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Marsha Rummel, Brian Solomon, Mike Verveer and Robbie Webber. They have upheld their oath to support the federal Constitution and the honor of a city named for the essential author of that document.

Equally, we honor the three members of the City Council who voted against the resolution: Mark Clear, Judy Compton and Thuy Pham-Remmele. Their willingness to take a stand by the president and vice president in these times is not a position we share, but they took a position, and we respect them for that.

In particular, Pham-Remmele argued sincerely and respectfully against the resolution. While we may disagree with her stance, we celebrate her willingness to embrace the debate.

We find nothing to celebrate or respect in the abstentions of eight council members: Zach Brandon, Tim Bruer, Joe Clausius, Lauren Cnare, Eli Judge, Larry Palm, Michael Schumacher and Paul Skidmore. More than 8,000 citizens asked the City Council to take up the impeachment issue - a far greater number than had expressed interest in the important transportation and redevelopment issues the council dealt with at Tuesday's long meeting. These council members owed their constituents a reasonable response.

The same goes for the decision of Ald. Jed Sanborn to excuse himself from the meeting, in another display of immaturity by an alderman who seems to see his tenure on the council as having very little to do with serving the people and very much to do with satisfying an extremely well-inflated ego.

While the County Board resolution was adopted, the abstentions and absence on the City Council deprived the measure of the 11 votes needed to be officially approved. It is certainly disappointing that, unlike the federal and state governments, the council operates under a system that rewards neglect of officials' duties.

But there should be no disappointment with regard to the actual vote. By an 8-3 margin, responsible members of the Madison City Council endorsed the responsible route of impeachment.