13 State Democratic Parties Demand Impeachment

By David Swanson

Thirteen state Democratic parties have now passed resolutions demanding impeachment, nine of them since Nancy Pelosi ordered the Democratic Party away from impeachment.

In May 2004, the Nevada Democratic Party led the way, passing a resolution demanding Bush's impeachment. On June 12, 2005, the Wisconsin Democratic Party passed a resolution demanding the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. On January 28, 2006, the North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Committee called for the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, and Gonzales, a call echoed by the full state party in June with the focus on Bush alone. On March 21, 2006, the New Mexico Democratic Party backed impeaching Bush and removing him from office. In April 2006, the Vermont Democratic Party resolved that Bush should face impeachment immediately.

Not a bad start: Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Vermont. Of course, Rumsfeld's gone (though not yet prosecuted), and we all know where Gonzales is.

At this point in our story, a year ago now, the Republican National Committee made its baseless claim that talk of impeachment would benefit Republicans in the November 2006 elections, and Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi immediately announced that impeachment was off the table.

But it wasn't. On May 20, 2006, The Colorado Democratic Party included in its platform a call for Bush and Cheney to be "investigated, censured or if appropriate, impeached." On May 21, 2006, the Alaska Democratic Party passed a resolution "calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney; and … the recall of Paul Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank and the dismissal of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense." In June 2006, the Hawaii Democratic Party voted to call for the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Gonzales and their prosecution for war crimes. Also in June, Maine called for Bush and Cheney to be impeached, New Hampshire asked for Bush to be impeached, and the full North Carolina Party, as noted above, called for Bush's impeachment.

Now we're rolling. Look at this list: Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Mexico, Vermont, Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and New Hampshire. That's 10 state Democratic Parties demanding impeachment by June of last year, and seven of them after Pelosi ordered impeachment off the table, and before the elections. Predictably, these states did very well for the Democrats in the elections, as Nevada did in 2004 as well. And, of course, Wolfowitz is on his way out (though not yet prosecuted).

In September 2006, still pre-elections, Washington State's Democratic Party called for Bush and Cheney to be impeached. In March 2007, the Oregon Democratic Party did the same. In April 2007, California called for "appropriate remedies and punishment, including impeachment," for Bush and Cheney.

And now Massachusetts has joined the list. On May 19, 2007, the Massachusetts Democratic Party passed a resolution calling on "the U.S. House of Representatives to investigate these charges and if the investigation supports the charges, vote to impeach George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney." The charges were as follows:

"Whereas George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have:
• Deliberately misled the nation about the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war;
• Condoned the torture of prisoners in violation of the Geneva Convention & US law;
• Approved illegal electronic surveillance of American citizens without a warrant."

The majority of these resolutions have never been reported in the media. Therefore, this list is almost certainly incomplete. So are the following tallies:

* Cities and towns that have backed impeachment by resolution, public vote, or both: 79.
* Largest cities: Detroit, home of the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and San Francisco, home of the Speaker of the House.
* Earliest and most frequent city: Santa Cruz beginning in 2003.
* States where impeachment has been introduced into the legislature at least once: 10 (California, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont).
* State legislative bodies that have voted on impeachment: 3 (Vermont Senate, Vermont House, New Mexico Senate).
* State legislative bodies that have passed impeachment resolutions: 1 (Vermont Senate).
* National political parties backing impeachment: 1 (Green).
* Non-Democratic state political parties backing impeachment: 2 (Vermont Progressives, California Greens).
* Democrats Abroad Chapters backing impeachment: 1.
* Local political party organizations that have backed impeachment: 32.
* Labor unions backing impeachment: 1.
* Page listing all these resolutions: