Tuesday evening’s Common Council meeting, with 223 agenda items, will advance a variety of important initiatives, including a plan for Allied Drive redevelopment and the creation of a Regional Transit Authority. I co-sponsored the latter resolution because I believe that a commuter rail line will lead to economic development and provide exciting new transportation options for students. After our resolution passes, the ball will be in the state legislature’s court to provide similar authorization.
One agenda item that promises to attract a lot of attention is the resolution urging the U.S. House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Let me be perfectly clear: I detest the current presidential administration and look with increasing longing toward January 20, 2009 and the hopeful inauguration of a progressive president. Further, I believe that President Bush demonstrates a cavalier disregard for the Constitution and basic civil liberties on issues ranging from domestic wiretapping to torture at Guantanamo Bay. I will not, however, support the impeachment resolution before Common Council.
My first reason is not terribly original but nonetheless deserves a few words. During the campaign, I made a promise to voters in my district that I would focus exclusively on local issues and devote my time as a Madison elected official to strengthening basic city services. The safety of our streets and sidewalks represents the most vital of these services for downtown and periphery residents alike. I do not feel that it is within my prerogative to legislate on issues of national import like impeachment of the president and vice president. I share the dismay of my sponsoring colleagues at the litany of presidential offenses listed in the resolution, but I feel that a measure urging impeachment falls squarely outside the purview of my locally-elected position.
An equally important rationale for my abstention derives from the wisdom of one of my political role models, Senator Russ Feingold. In an Aug. 19 column for the Appleton Post-Crescent, Feingold wrote:
“As I travel around Wisconsin holding listening sessions in every county, there is a common refrain when people talk about the misconduct of this administration: that the president and other administration officials must be held accountable for their wrongdoing. They have violated the trust of the American people by misleading this country into, and subsequently mismanaging, a disastrous war, and by undermining
the rule of law at home.
Some have coalesced around a call to impeach the president and the vice president for their wrongdoing. I believe that the president and the vice president may well have committed impeachable offenses.
That does not mean, however, that putting the country through two potentially lengthy impeachments in the House and trials in the Senate is required or the best thing for the country. Congress should exercise its discretion by not pursuing impeachment so that it can focus on fixing this nation's pressing problems.”
I trust Senator Feingold’s prediction that impeachment proceedings would hijack Congress’ agenda and stall meaningful work on issues of greater importance like expanding access to health care and ending the war in Iraq.
That’s it for now – expect a longer post in a few days to recap what happens at Tuesday evening’s meeting. On a closing note, my sister Casey moved to Ann Arbor last week to begin her freshman year at the University of Michigan. I sure hope she enjoyed her first college football game.
