Former congresswoman Holtzman argues for president's impeachment

Middletown — A crowd of local residents came to Middletown’s Mulberry House Senior Center on May 23 to hear Elizabeth Holtzman, a former four-term congresswoman who served on the judiciary panel when Nixon was impeached, talk about the Constitution and what constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors”. The audience was a mix of people including teachers, lawyers and area activists talking about Vice President Cheney’s at the time upcoming visit to West Point. The atmosphere before the talk was one of a socializer, as people enjoyed the refreshments, while others bought copies of “The Impeachment of George W. Bush,” a book by Elizabeth Holtzman with Cynthia L. Cooper, being sold by Borders Books. Holtzman was introduced by Jerry Kleiner, a Middletown alderman who explained that he had taken his oath of office on a copy of the Constitution, which he now considered to be at grave risk, given the abuse of power by the current president, who has put himself above the rule of law. Holtzman made her case that President George W. Bush had committed high crimes and misdemeanors by listing his impeachable offenses, including using lies and deceptions to drive the country into a war of aggression in Iraq; deliberately and repeatedly violating the Foreign Intelligence Act on wiretapping in the United States; violating the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996; and the current Department of Justice scandal with Alberto Gonzalez. She drew parallels between the illegal wire tapping in 1973, when impeachment was not “on the table,” as President Nixon’s cover-up became exposed and reminded the listeners that the Democrats also controlled both the House and Senate then, but when the American people learned of the cover-up they were outraged and demanded that Congress put impeachment on the table. She emphasized that failure to impeach Bush would be tantamount to condoning his actions and if we allowed him to continue violating laws without fear of punishment he could keep the Iraq war going on the basis of more lies. Holtzman added that if Congress fails to act, Bush might be emboldened to believe he can start another war, this time against Iran, which could then be based on continued lies, deceptions and exaggerations. Holtzman spoke about our country’s founders and why they specifically provided the mechanism of impeachment to prevent excessive concentration of power in the executive, and the subversion of the Constitution that follows. She warned that if we do not act against Bush, we send a terrible message of impunity to him and to future Presidents which would allow future abuses of power, stressing that it is up to us to protect our democracy. When the floor opened to questions they ranged from “what can we do now” to concerns voiced by a college professor, who talked about freshmen only being able to read on a grade school level, with seemingly no ability for critical thought. She wondered what will happen to our democracy when that generation takes the helm. Others had petitions to sign and spoke of actions to take. Holtzman commented about the public anger towards Bush and the national grassroots movements, which have sprung up as people have gotten resolutions urging impeachment passed from local town boards to county legislatures to the Vermont Senate. She added that Congressional investigations must start and public pressure must continue to build to make the House act.