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Detroit City Council approved 7-0 Wednesday a resolution sponsored by the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers to impeach President George Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.
Congressman Conyers is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would commence, and a bitter opponent of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. But he has said he does not intend to move forward with any impeachment effort -- following the lead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Councilwoman Monica Conyers was unable to vote for her own resolution because she is in Hawaii for a national pension conference. Neither the congressman nor his wife, a first term councilwoman, could be reached Wednesday evening for comment.
The resolution says Bush and Cheney conspired to defraud the United States by "intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify the war."
Detroit attorney Bill Goodman, a member of the National Lawyers Guild and a supporter of the impeachment resolution, said he met Monday with Conyers and the resolution's co-sponsor, Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. At that time, Goodman said Councilwoman Conyers told him she was "very interested in pursuing this and would share her views with her husband."
Goodman said the Detroit vote was significant not only because of the Conyers relationship, but because Detroit is the largest city to date to approve a resolution endorsing impeachment.
"This may tell us that … the Democratic leadership is closer than one may have thought to looking at the crimes of this administration."
Although widely popular among those on the left wing of the Democratic Party, party leaders generally try to avoid the subject of impeachment, fearing the public would view a long, drawn out proceeding as unnecessary and distracting from the country's urgent needs.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said before the 2006 elections in which Democrats regained control of Congress that impeachment would not be on a Democratic House agenda. A call to Pelosi's office Wednesday evening for comment was not immediately returned.
Congressman Conyers is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would commence, and a bitter opponent of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. But he has said he does not intend to move forward with any impeachment effort -- following the lead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Councilwoman Monica Conyers was unable to vote for her own resolution because she is in Hawaii for a national pension conference. Neither the congressman nor his wife, a first term councilwoman, could be reached Wednesday evening for comment.
The resolution says Bush and Cheney conspired to defraud the United States by "intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify the war."
Detroit attorney Bill Goodman, a member of the National Lawyers Guild and a supporter of the impeachment resolution, said he met Monday with Conyers and the resolution's co-sponsor, Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. At that time, Goodman said Councilwoman Conyers told him she was "very interested in pursuing this and would share her views with her husband."
Goodman said the Detroit vote was significant not only because of the Conyers relationship, but because Detroit is the largest city to date to approve a resolution endorsing impeachment.
"This may tell us that … the Democratic leadership is closer than one may have thought to looking at the crimes of this administration."
Although widely popular among those on the left wing of the Democratic Party, party leaders generally try to avoid the subject of impeachment, fearing the public would view a long, drawn out proceeding as unnecessary and distracting from the country's urgent needs.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said before the 2006 elections in which Democrats regained control of Congress that impeachment would not be on a Democratic House agenda. A call to Pelosi's office Wednesday evening for comment was not immediately returned.