Lawmakers call for Bush impeachment, NM

By Deborah Baker / Associated Press

SANTA FE (AP) -- Two New Mexico lawmakers have introduced a measure calling on Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

State Sens. John Grubesic of Santa Fe and Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque, both Democrats, said the resolution is a serious effort to try to trigger impeachment proceedings.

New Mexico, where lawmakers are meeting until March 17, would be the first state to pass the resolution, they said.

The measure alleges that Bush and Cheney conspired with others to intentionally mislead Congress and the public about the threat posed by Iraq in order to justify the war.

It also cites the administration's warrantless wiretapping program and alleges the torture of prisoners and the denial of constitutional rights to enemy combatants.

''This is not a publicity stunt,'' Ortiz y Pino told a cheering crowd at a rally at the Capitol on Tuesday. ''This is action that we can take, and it's an opening for the citizens to act.''

Ortiz y Pino said lawmakers in their 60-day session are grappling with the effects of resources at the national level being diverted from human needs and used instead for warfare and oppression.

''We simply cannot carry out the business of the Legislature with that shadow, that pall, hanging over us,'' he said.

Grubesic told the crowd that by introducing the resolution, ''we created a ripple. Your voice is going to turn it into a tidal wave, hopefully.''

The state Democratic Party, at a meeting in March, adopted a call for Bush's impeachment as part of its platform. Party chairman John Wertheim said at the time it stemmed from ''perceived abuses of power and corruption in the Bush administration.''

Nationally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made it clear she will not entertain efforts to pursue impeachment.

A state can't mandate impeachment, but impeachment charges from a state can be forwarded to the U.S. House of Representatives and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, according to impeachment advocates.