Impeachment: Why It Mattered

The Madison City Council voted, 8-3, at their September 4th, 2007 meeting to recommend that we initiate impeachment hearings against President Bush. Sadly, the resolution still failed because 11 votes are needed and impeachment only received 8. Eight alders abstained and one left early.

I have been called a communist, an idiot, and a Bush-hater. I have been told that this debate was needless, counter-productive, and a waste of time. I have been castigated for taking up an issue that is not appropriate for the City Council.

First, I do not hate President Bush. Second, it is never needless to advance a cause that matters to our country, our community, and our constituents. Thirdly, I can't fathom how this issue is inappropriate for the City Council. Another alder, on her own time, took the effort to prepare this resolution and bring it before us. It was wholly legal, ethical, and appropriate for her to do so. Once it was in front of us, it was our obligation to act on it just like we would any other resolution.

We didn't waste any time on this except our own. It was the last item on the agenda; we didn't get to it until 3:00 in the morning. If this hadn't been on the agenda, we would have gone home and gotten a (much needed) extra hour of sleep.

70 of our constituents showed up for a rally before our meeting. 60 of them came to testify. 15 of them stayed nine hours, until 4:00 in the morning, to participate in the debate. We received dozens of phone calls, hundreds of emails, and a petition signed by over 8,000 Madisonians. There is simply no way to deny it. It mattered.

Why I voted yes: I believe it's possible that President Bush didn't tell the truth about why we went into the war with Iraq. I also believe it's possible that executive privilege was misappropriated regarding how long we remained in the war, the use of our US DOJ, the Patriot Act, wiretapping, and other issues. Impeachment doesn't mean someone is guilty. It means there is evidence to suggest the possibility of guilt. I believe that possibility exists and am therefore supportive of an investigation to learn the truth. Some issues are important enough that we (as American citizens) need to know the truth. I am fully appreciative of the fact that the investigation may have turned up nothing. I would be thrilled if that were the case and would feel somewhat better about the course that this administration has taken.

Either way, for me, this is not about Bush hating or wasting time. It's about us, as elected officials who are closer to our constituents than any other level of government, responding to what we are hearing. And thousands of our constituents said this mattered.