3 Presidents' Day Proposals

In honor of Presidents’ Day, I would like Congress to please consider these three things with regard to the current administration’s abuse of powers.

First, I would like you to explore impeachment of the President and Vice President for the following reasons:
1. Incompetence with regard to fighting Al Qu'aida and the Taliban, allowing the leaders to continue operating.
2. Lying to Congress (during the State of the Union 2003) and the American people about the link of Iraq to Al Quaida and WMD.
3. Violating classification and national security by outing CIA WMD expert Plame for political and revenge purposes.
4. Abusing intelligence agencies NSA and DIA to spy on Americans and peaceful anti-war groups.

Second, I am alarmed that the President has sealed access to previous administrations’ records, especially the Bush41 administration. Several principals from this administration play rolls in the current administration, so these records, which are public property, are relevant to both political scientists and historians. This abuse of secrecy makes the Executive Branch less accountable. We need legislation to make Presidential papers quickly accessible to the public, and we need the Freedom of Information Act strengthened.

Finally, I would like to see legislation that limits the Presidential Pardon, especially for current and former administration officials. We have seen how after more than five years and millions of dollars spent, Independent Counsel Walsh’ responsible work uncovering the Iran-Contra abuses were swept away by a Bush41 pardon in the final days of his administration. Justice was thwarted, accountability was avoided, and the public’s right to know about this scandal was ignored. I fear that this is going to happen with regard to the current Plame/Fitzgerald Prosecutions of Libby, Rove, and Cheney. The result of a Bush43 pardon of the Plame Affair players would be that national security is abused without recourse or accountability and that millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money will again be wasted without justice being served.