Video coverage of the unanimous passage of the Impeachment Resolution through the New Mexico Senate Rules Committee and Moving Citizen Testimony. Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino begins: "...Senate Joint Resolution 5 will not impeach the president and the vice president. It is not an impeachment action. We have no presumption that the New Mexico State Legislature has that authority. What it is is a call to the Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings. If it were to pass, it would be a statement from the New Mexico Legislature that serious breaches of our constitutional protections have occured under this administration's watch. And we have to do something about it or we become implicated in it. If we just sit there and watch it and say, 'Gee, that's really bad. It's terrible what's going on and we don't do everything we can to stop it then we are part of the problem.
So, what Senate Joint Resolution is, is a demand that this administration and every administration that comes after, just as every administration that came before should have been, be held accountable for what they do to the voters. And through their elected representatives in the Congress that if they violate that trust they be called to task for it and removed from office. This is not 'wild-eyed' stuff. This is what the constitution includes within it's covers as protection for the American people. We think, and they are detailed in the resolution, that there are serious breaches of that truth that have occurred and we would like the Congress to start acting upon it.
The Manual of Congressional Procedures written by Thomas Jefferson over two hundred years ago..., I section 602 of Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice outlines five ways in which impeachment proceedings can be initiated. Number 4 of those is by charges transmitted by a state legislature or by a grand jury. If this state legislature, one of the fifty, decides that there are sufficient grounds to ask congress to initiate impeachment proceedings, it happens. It doesn't then get taken off the table because it might be inconvenient or it might be too controversial or it might be a distraction from other business. They have to at least debate the issue. It's the way this government was set up. It's not an overthrow of the government. It's a reinforcement of the government."
Senators Ortiz y Pino and Grubesic
Senator John Grubesic said, "...We need to have a investigation into the concerns of, I believe, the majority of American citizens. The resolution is a very simple measure requesting that the Congress look into the fact that we think there is a basis for impeachment proceedings to begin. The first concern being that the administration has ordered the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct electronic surveillance of American citizens without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Service or court of review which is duly constituted by Congress. The other concern was that President Bush and Vice President Cheney conspired to commit torture of prisoners in violation of Title 18 United State Code, Chapter 113c, the United Nations Convention Against Torture or Other Cruel and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, and the Geneva Convention.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney acted to strip Americans of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention without access to legal counsel, without charge and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention. These are very serious allegations. Allegations that need to be looked into. That's all this resolution does is ask that these allegations be fully investigated, that is the spirit of open government we have that the American public has access to the information that our national decision-makers utilized in making some of these decisions. It's a very simple resolution. We would ask the committee for their support this morning."
3/6/2007
from Leland Lehrman
publisher, the
Sun News
We won 5-1 in a resounding smashing overwhelming victory with citizen
speeches at an all time high for excellence and are into the tight race
to win the Senate floor. All hands on deck, most important votes we
consider hard to get:
John Arthur Smith
Shannon Robinson
Tim Jennings
Phil Griego
Thanks to Carlos Cisneros from Questa for signing the bill, and calls
in to Phil Griego, Senator from Taos and other counties. Phil has been
skeptical from the beginning and we need help. Call any Legislator
through the Capitol Switchboard at 986-4300. Pass it on.
Sen. John Grubesic, Rules Committee Vice Chair: (505)
986-4265,
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If you live in New Mexico, please send
state Senators a message something like this (change and expand as you
like):
I'd like to encourage you to please cosponsor, along with Senators
Ortiz y Pino and Grubesic, the resolution to petition the U.S. House of
Representatives to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. If
we go into the next presidency having established that a president can
lie us into war, spy on us in violation of the law, detain without
charge, and torture, we will be throwing away the democracy we've
struggled to keep and expand for over 200 years. We all have a solemn
duty to work for the impeachment of men who have made our executive
branch of government into a monarchy. You are in a position to play a
key role in making this happen. Please do the right thing. Make the
choice you would want your great grandchildren to be proud of.
This campaign will not succeed without financial assistance.
You can send money via paypal to
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or by check to:
Leland Lehrman
163 Old Lamy Trail
Lamy, NM 87540
Leland is leading this effort. He is the editor of the Sun News and
publisher of Mother Media.
Leland Lehrman can be reached at (505) 982-3609.
You can also contact Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino's aide Desi
Brown: (505)256-0668,
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