I hope Dems everywhere are paying attention.
Chicago Sun Times:
SPRINGFIELD -- Leave it to the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to find an obscure way to attempt to oust President Bush.
State Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) has sponsored a resolution calling on the General Assembly to submit charges to the U.S. House so its lawmakers could begin impeachment proceedings. It would be the first state legislature to pass such a resolution, though the measure faces a dim future in a Republican-controlled Congress.
"This is absolutely ridiculous," said John McGovern, a spokesman for U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Only the U.S. House can formally initiate impeachment proceedings.
Yarbrough is hoping to get the U.S. House's attention through her grass-roots effort. She already has picked up two co-sponsors to her legislation, Democratic state Representatives Eddie Washington (Waukegan) and Sara Feigenholtz (Chicago).
According to the resolution, Bush has "willfully violated his oath of office" by manipulating intelligence to start the war in Iraq, leaking classified national secrets and authorizing illegal spying on American citizens.
"This president has acted like an emperor," Yarbrough said.
To support her legislation, Yarbrough is relying on a provision from Jefferson's Manual, a procedural handbook written by Thomas Jefferson as a supplement to U.S. House rules.
....Vermont Democrats agreed earlier this month to urge lawmakers to approve it at the state level.
UPDATE: California and Pennsylvania too!
Joining Illinois, California has become the second state in which a proposal to impeach President Bush has been introduced in the state legislature. And this one includes Cheney as well.
California Assemblyman Paul Koretz of Los Angeles (where the LA Times has now called for Cheney's resignation) has submitted amendments to Assembly Joint Resolution No. 39, calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney. The amendments reference Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature.
Bush Republicans Democrats Bushgate Impeach Bush Illinois Vermont California Pennsylvania
