The Maine Sunday Telegram’s coverage of the Maine Democratic Party’s Convention led off with: “Maine Democrats take aim at Bush” and went on to talk about our Resolution of Impeachment.
Now, I won’t deny that virtually every speech contained a list of the Bush Administration’s failures. But, when we talked about the I-word, we were really concerned about defending the United States Constitution.
Enacting impeachment resolutions makes it very clear that we, the citizens of the United States, expect our President and Vice President to obey the laws just as we must. Though some moderates in our party feel it’s not a wise move before the election, a majority of the delegates want to see justice.
As delegate from the town of Standish I was delighted to find this convention far from a sleepy mid-term cheering exercise. The debate was long and loud until this uncommon result evolved. We thought we were debating the proposed amendments to the platform. However, one of the amendments was, in essence, the Resolution Calling for Impeachment adopted by the South Portland Democratic Committee. And another amendment sought further expansion of the charges. So the delegates adopted a resolution separate from the more philosophical language of the actual platform.
With the amendments, the conclusion of this resolution in essence says: “We call upon the Maine State Legislature and Maine’s U.S. Representatives to call for an investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives concerning allegations of high crimes and misdemeanors committed by President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney and to initiate impeachment proceedings against them.”
The Maine Democratic Party is leading the way. See news of other states issuing impeachment resolutions: www.impeachpac.org/resolutions-list.
Notice there that Maine’s Jean Hay Bright, candidate for United States Senate, is prominently endorsed by ImpeachPAC. I endorse Hay Bright in the primary. She is dedicated, persistent, smart and a savvy politician. As the first female opponent Snowe has faced, she will be able to unseat Snowe. Despite Snowe’s reputation as a moderate, she has effectively backed the Administration’s agenda 100 percent and it’s time we start getting rid of all of them.
Please also pay attention to the message brought by gubernatorial candidate Christopher Miller of Gray. His presentation at the convention was powerful and the delegates were quiet and attentive. Miller is serious about the urgent energy crisis we are beginning to face.
Daily, we deal with high gasoline and home heating energy prices and that is just the beginning. I wish I could say it all to you here, but you really need to hear it from Miller. Maine Can’t Wait. Go to his Web site at www.mainecommonwealth.com to get the full impact. I will be voting for him in the Primary on June 13th to help get the attention of Governor John Baldacci.
The governor must understand that it is imperative he lead Maine with bold and courageous initiatives to get Maine free of fossil fuels by 2020, as Miller calls for. I don’t expect Miller to win, but if we get 15 to 30 percent of the Democratic vote showing their serious concern about the situation, Baldacci will have to notice! Then we will back him whole-heartedly in November.
And I do hope Tom Allen paid attention to the thunderous applause of the delegates whenever anyone at the Convention offered a plan to get the U.S. troops out of Iraq soon. His position is improving, but he’s still enabling this endless war. We want him to provide leadership in getting our sons and daughters, our Maine National Guard, out of harm’s way and stopping the endless drain on our collective budgets.
Vote on Tuesday!
Send questions/comments to the editors.
