July 18, 2007
Mr. Lawrence Heagle
4896 Hobbs Road
Fall Creek, Wisconsin 54742-9349
Dear Mr. Heagle:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me with your
views on the current administration. I appreciate hearing from you
and would like to take this opportunity to respond to you.
I understand your frustration regarding President Bush and
his administration. Our democracy is not perfect, and it does not
always produce the results we want with the speed and
effectiveness we would desire. But our government does
successfully balance the many interests and concerns of our
diverse nation in a manner that is representative and fair. The
process works because there are public servants - both elected and
unelected - dedicated to the ideas of democracy, the good of their
home states, and the good of the nation. In my years in the Senate,
I have worked hard to be that sort of public servant.
As a means of checks and balances, the Constitution
permits Congress to remove Executive Branch officials from office
if they are found to have committed "treason, bribery, or other high
crimes and misdemeanors." This critical power allows the
Legislative Branch to protect the nation from the abuse of
executive power.
Although no action has yet been taken in the House of
Representatives to impeach President Bush, Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(D-OH) introduced H.Res. 333, three articles of impeachment
relating to Vice President Cheney, on April 24, 2007. The
resolution seeks to remove the Vice President from office on the
grounds that he intentionally deceived Congress and the American
public during the events that led to the March 2003 invasion of
Iraq.
The U.S. House possesses the sole power of impeachment.
H.Res. 333 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Should the Committee determine that there are grounds for
impeachment, the resolution will be considered by the full House.
A simple majority is required to impeach. In order for an official
to be involuntarily removed from office, impeachment by the
House must be followed by conviction in the Senate; this required
a two-thirds majority. I will be certain to keep your thoughts in
mind should this matter come before the Senate.
Again, thank you for contacting me about this very serious
matter. I appreciate having the benefit of your views.
Sincerely,
Herb Kohl
U.S. Senator
Please do not reply to this message; to make further comments or to find additional information, please
visit my web site at http://kohl.senate.gov/.
No comments:
Post a Comment