Congressman plans new impeachment articles against Gonzales

[G_j]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Congressman_plans_new_impeachment_articles_against_0807.html

Congressman plans new impeachment articles against Gonzales
Michael Roston
Published: Tuesday August 7, 2007

A freshman Democratic Congressmember from Tennessee is working with a former Reagan-era Justice Department lawyer to introduce Articles of Impeachment against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, according to a report in Monday's Commercial Appeal.

"In a telephone interview from Memphis on Monday, Cohen said he and his staff are working with former Reagan Justice Department lawyer Bruce Fein to draw up articles of impeachment against Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales," wrote the paper's Bartholomew Sullivan.

Rep. Cohen, who was elected to his first term last November, did not say what 'high crimes and misdemeanors' his articles would accuse Gonzales of committing. But he did criticize Gonzales for approaching then-Attorney General John Ashcroft when he served as White House Counsel to overturn his deputy's ruling that a government spying program was not legal.

"It's a major part of our country's civil liberties, and principles, that we don't spy on our people," Sullivan reports Cohen saying.
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http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_5661695,00.html

Cohen calls for Cheney's removal

Bills seek to impeach him, censure president
By Bartholomew Sullivan
[email protected]
August 7, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Before returning to Memphis on Sunday after a weekend House session, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., signed on as a co-sponsor of bills to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney and to censure both Cheney and President Bush.

The impeachment resolution was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, in April and has 18 mostly liberal Democratic co-sponsors, including the four it picked up in the last week. No other Mid-South representative has signed on to the measure.


In a telephone interview from Memphis on Monday, Cohen said he and his staff are working with former Reagan Justice Department lawyer Bruce Fein to draw up articles of impeachment against Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales. The conservative Fein has advocated impeaching Cheney for, he said, initiating kidnappings and secret detentions and advocating the ongoing domestic warrantless wiretapping program.

"I just think that with what I've seen in these first seven months is that there's been so much disregard for the Constitution by the administration," said Cohen. "I've seen it firsthand on the Judiciary Committee with General Gonzales."
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http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1649013,00.html?xid=rss-nation


Why Bush Won't Ax Gonzales
Thursday, Aug. 02, 2007 By MASSIMO CALABRESI

<snip>
1. Gonzales is all that stands between the White House and special prosecutors
<snip>
2. A post-Gonzales DOJ would be in the hands of a nonpartisan, tough prosecutor, not a political hand.
<snip>
3. If Gonzales goes, the White House fears that other losses will follow.
<snip>
4. Nobody at the White House wants the legal bills and headaches that come with being a target of investigations. In backing Gonzales, Bush is influenced by advisers whose future depends on the survival of their political bodyguard. Gonzales remains the last line of defense protecting Bush, Rove and other top White House officials from the personal consequences of litigation. A high-profile probe would hobble the White House politically, and could mean sky-high legal bills and turmoil for Bush's closest aides.

Keeping Gonzales isn't cost-free. But for now, Bush seems to have decided that the importance of running out the clock on investigations by keeping his loyal Attorney General in place is worth any amount of criticism.

[G_j]

1. Gonzales is Bush's protection

he must go

[G_j]

2. Six Judiciary Committee Members for Impeachment

Six Judiciary Committee Members for Impeachment
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/25437
By David Swanson
Forty-five Congress Members now stand in one manner or another for impeachment.

Congressman Steve Cohen from Tennessee, and Congresswoman Shiela Jackson-Lee of Texas have signed onto H. Res. 333. That makes six Judiciary Committee members ready to impeach the Vice President. The other four are Hank Johnson of Georgia, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Maxine Waters of California. Four of these six are African American. A fifth, Cohen, is white but represents a majority black district and attempted unsuccessfully to join the Congressional Black Caucus. All six represent urban districts, three from the South, two from the Midwest, and one from Southern California. All six are Democrats. None of the six chairs a subcomittee. Three of them are freshmen.

There are 23 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, and 17 Republicans.

All told, 19 congress members have signed on as cosponsors of H. Res. 333, a bill proposing articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. H Res 333 cosponsors include, Dennis Kucinich, Jan Schakowsky, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Keith Ellison, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, Albert Wynn, William Lacy Clay, Yvette Clarke, Jim McDermott, Jim Moran, Bob Filner, Sam Farr, Robert Brady, Tammy Baldwin, Donald Payne, Steve Cohen, Sheila Jackson-Lee. Nine are African-American, 10 are white. All 19 are from urban or suburban areas, three from the South, five from the Midwest, five from the East, and six from the West. One, Jan Schakowsky, is Chief Deputy Democratic Whip. Let's hope she starts whipping!

Twenty-eight congress members have signed onto H Res. 589, a bill proposing the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The cosponsors are Jay Inslee, Xavier Becerra, Michael Arcuri, Ben Chandler, Dennis Moore, Bruce Braley, Tom Udall, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Hank Johnson, Steve Cohen, Keith Ellison, David Wu, Yvette Clarke, Darlene Hooley, Betty McCollum, Timothy Bishop, Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney, Ed Perlmutter, Tammy Baldwin, Shelley Berkley, Raul Grijalva, Ed Pastor, Ellen Tauscher, Rush Holt, Jim McGovern, Gary Ackerman.

Only Johnson, Ellison, Clarke, Baldwin, and Cohen have signed onto both bills (four of them Judiciary Committee Members, four of them freshmen). (19 + 28 - 5 = 42)

Congressmen Jesse Jackson Jr. and Maurice Hinchey have recently said that they support the impeachment of Cheney and Bush, but have not yet signed onto any bills. (42 + 2 = 44)

Other Congress Members have said privately that they favor impeachment but not these bills, even that they would only support impeachment if it included Bush. The lack of cross-over support between the two existing bills is an indication of the importance of petty personal politics within Congress, and the extent to which Congress Members will sign onto a bill based on who the sponsor and cosponsors are and who asks them, and whether anyone asks them, to sign on.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has opposed impeachment since May 2006, but this week said that if she were not the Speaker she would probably be backing impeachment, and that impeachment of Gonzales is clearly merited. (44 + 1 = 45)

DO SOMETHING: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/cheney

[G_j]

3. -

[Hubert Flottz]

4. K&R...The dems can reclaim some badly needed respect here...