Congressman Norm Dicks (Tacoma) on impeachment

[chknltl]

I write my reps regularly, sometimes they send me a a nice prewritten form letter back. I rarely post 'em in the DU but this one from my own Congressman caught my eye. Not sure if it's worthy of posting in GD but surely here in the Wa. State forum.

"Dear Mr.(chknltl):



I appreciated the time you took to contact me regarding the proposals to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney, and I would like to take this opportunity to provide my perspective in response.



For six years, the Republican-led Congress provided very little oversight of the Bush Administration. Countless questionable decisions made by various Executive Branch officials have gone largely unchallenged by the Legislative Branch, which is structured under our Constitution to provide an essential balance of power within our government.



With the election of a Democratic Congress in 2006, this period of lax congressional oversight has ended. During the first several months of this session of Congress, numerous congressional hearings have been conducted into irregularities and potentially illegal actions of members of the Bush Administration, exposing elements of corruption, improper secrecy, poor management and misuses of power. We have sought information from the Administration about its efforts to purge United States Attorneys for political reasons and to compel American telecommunications firms to break privacy laws, conducting espionage against U.S. citizens. In these and other inquiries, the Bush Administration has attempted to obstruct the process of providing information to congressional committees, resulting in contempt of Congress citations issued by committees in the House and Senate.



I do not consider this to be a partisan issue: the elected Representatives in Congress have a legitimate and essential oversight role in our system of government, and we have taken this responsibility very seriously. As the Chairman of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, I am proud that my subcommittee conducted substantially more oversight hearings this year than at any time in the last decade. A number of serious issues were explored at these hearings regarding the actions of the Environmental Protection Agency, the leadership at the Smithsonian Institution, improper levels of Forest Service funding and deficiencies in our National Parks. My subcommittee's most recent legislative initiative included steps to provide enhanced internal controls at these agencies and for more stringent reporting requirements. Other Democratic leaders have taken similar action on issues under their jurisdiction.



As you know, in 1998 the House of Representative impeached President Bill Clinton on two charges. Prior to consideration on the House floor of the articles of impeachment, no meaningful hearings were conducted, nor was the President allowed the opportunity offer evidence in his defense. I objected strongly to this process.



Recently, a privileged resolution was submitted to the House that would have immediately impeached President George W. Bush, sending several articles to the Senate to consider. If approved by that body, the articles would have led to the President's removal from office. As bad as the process was in 1998, this would have been worse. There would have been no House Committee consideration whatsoever, no evidence or testimony offered by either side, and no opportunity for the President to directly respond to any of these charges. For these reasons, I voted in favor of referring the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee so that there will be an opportunity for this very serious matter to proceed.



I appreciate the concerns you have raised. Please be assured that I will closely follow the progress of the impeachment resolution. And I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to assert the proper level of legislative branch oversight and direction of an Administration that has clearly gone awry."

(edited to add the word '(Tacoma)' in title just in case readers wanted to know who Norm Dicks works for)