Towns to face impeachment, war questions
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By DANIEL BARLOW Staff Writer - Published: February 11, 2007
NEWFANE – Twenty-three Vermont communities have placed town meeting questions calling for President Bush's impeachment on the agenda this year and just as many towns will also be voting on whether the United States should withdraw its troops from Iraq.
The total falls short of the 30-50 towns that organizers of the grassroots impeachment effort in Vermont were hoping for, but many believe the total tally of towns will be bumped up after residents raise the topic under the "other business" portion of the meetings.
The town meeting votes will be preceded by a tour March 2-4 of nine Vermont towns by impeachment activists and anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan, who made national headlines two years ago when she camped outside Bush's Texas ranch after her son was killed in Iraq.
"Last year we have the impeachment issue on one town meeting agenda and six others also passed it," said Dan DeWalt, a member of the Newfane Select Board who inspired the Vermont impeachment movement after placing the issue on his town's agenda in 2006. "We may not get the same ratio this year, but if we can get two to one, I'll be satisfied."
The grassroots Vermont impeachment movement sprung out of the 2006 town meeting season when Newfane, along with six other towns that tackled the issue under "other business," voted to impeach Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
DeWalt said the reasons to impeach Bush are numerous, including his use of executive signing statements to alter laws passed by the U.S. Congress and the allegation, buoyed by the release of a Pentagon report last week, that the administration manipulated evidence to make its case for the Iraq war.
"Impeachment has more support this year than it did last year," he said. "The situation has taken a nightmarish turn for the worse since we first raised the question in Newfane."
Steve Jeffrey, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, said the group has not been closely following the impeachment movement in the state, but noted that the format of government is no stranger to tackling issues outside of town's borders."Over the years we have seen resolutions regarding nuclear power, alternative energy, the war in Iraq and other national issues," he said.
But a recent Vermont Supreme Court ruling upholding South Burlington's decision last year not to place a town meeting question on abortion on the warning makes it clear that final decision on these issues rests with the local select boards, Jeffrey said.
"Even if residents gather enough signatures for a resolution, the select board still has final authority," he said.
At least three Vermont towns, Dover, Grafton and Londonderry, rejected the impeachment question this year, according to DeWalt. Signature gathering efforts were unsuccessful in other towns for various reasons, such as Windham, where organizers did not bring the petition into the town clerk's office before deadline.
The small Bennington County community of Stamford, population 813, was a surprising last-minute add to the list of towns voting on presidential impeachment.
Resident Joseph Tracy, inspired by the impeachment vote in Newfane last year, gathered the 30 signatures necessary to place the impeachment and troops home now resolutions on the agenda this year.
Tracy, a glass artisan who moved to Stamford eights years ago, said his motivation for raising the questions at town meeting included his belief that Bush misled the country into war with Iraq, the administration's justification of tough interrogation techniques – which many believe constitutes torture – and the waving of legal rights for detainees.
Still, Tracy is not sure how his fellow residents will react to the questions at town meeting, which typically draws 60-100 people each year.
"Lots of people wanted to sign the end-the-war-now petition," Tracy recalled of when he and others were gathering signatures. "But some people said they were reluctant to sign the impeachment resolution, even though they supported the effort."
Meanwhile, the impeachment question is expected to be raised in the Vermont House again this year. Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, and Rep. Daryl Pillsbury, I-Brattleboro, are set to introduce impeachment legislation on Feb. 15.
"They have at least 20 co-sponsors right now," DeWalt said.
Towns that have the impeachment question on the town meeting warning are: Moretown, Warren, Guilford, Marlboro, Craftsbury, Jamaica, Calais, Roxbury, Walden, Albany, Greensboro, Marshfield, Westminster, Wells, Brookline, Jericho, Middlesex, Rochester, Stamford, Pawlett, Bethel, Plymouth and Rupert.
Sheehan's tour of Vermont will begin on March 2 with testimony before a Senate committee and an 11:15 a.m. press conference in Montpelier and later that day make stops in Middlebury and Burlington. The following day she will appear in Hardwick, St. Johnsbury, Bradford and Castleton. The tour will conclude on March 4 with stops in Rutland, Dorset, Springfield and Brattleboro.
For more information, visit www.vtimpeach.com.
Contact Daniel Barlow at daniel.barlow@rutlandherald.com.
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