Emotions flare as legislators discuss Bush impeachment

OLYMPIA – Protesters in the galleries erupted in cries of “Impeach! Impeach!” and “Do your jobs!” Thursday after the state Senate opted not to vote on a resolution urging a congressional impeachment investigation of President Bush.

“We must end this war. The commander in chief must be impeached,” said Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, who’s been pushing for the resolution for months.

Despite considering several versions, Democrats said they couldn’t agree on one. Instead, Oemig and Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, simply stood and spoke against the war.

“I’m sad about the war, and I’m sad about the conflict in our country and the implications of it,” Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said afterward. “But I’m pleased that we honored the freedom we have in the country to speak about these things.”

Republicans, who had considered walking out in protest, instead said that it’s not the state Legislature’s job to weigh in on foreign policy. Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, defended the war.

“I’ve been in combat, and I’ve seen the eyes of the people that I was there to help. You can’t turn away. Their faces stay with you,” he said. “We all want peace, but peace at the price of freedom is failure.”

Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said it’s a mistake for state lawmakers to try to weigh in on “what goes on in the other Washington.” Even if Oemig’s resolution had passed, it wouldn’t have been binding.

Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, said she was glad to see the war discussed.

“It is the issue that made the Democratic majority here the size that it is,” she said, “and anyone who doesn’t see that isn’t paying attention.”

It was a tense morning. Republican senators planted American flags on all their desks shortly before the debate, prompting some Democrats to send a staffer to a crafts store for slightly larger flags. Brown quickly removed the flag from her desk.

“I think it’s a personal choice about when you wave a flag and when you pray publicly,” she said afterward. “I like to make that choice myself, not have it made for me.”

The Senate galleries filled with demonstrators, including several dressed in orange jumpsuits like Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

The Senate fell silent as Oemig rose.

“We cannot restore the lives lost in Iraq or the lost limbs or the lives shattered,” he said, “but we can act. Our commander in chief can be relieved of duty. The truth has surfaced. He abused our proud traditions and brought us torture while telling us we don’t torture. He violated our proud traditions and spied on American citizens while telling us we don’t spy.”

Swecker rose to respond.

“The debate on this issue should not be occurring in the state Legislature,” he said. “It should … and is occurring in Congress.”

State lawmakers, he said, should focus on local issues like education, budgets and health care.

The final speaker was Kline, who said the nation is expending its money, young lives and national dignity “on something that had no real interest to the United States.”

Kline said the war in Afghanistan was “a very legitimate response” to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. But he said he was dismayed by the nation’s involvement in Iraq.

“It is our fault for tolerating so much and saying so little,” Kline said.

The discussion over, the Senate then broke for lunch, angering the standing-room-only crowds in the galleries. Seven people unzipped their jackets to reveal white T-shirts painted with the letters “I-M-P-E-A-C-H.”

“Cowards!” one woman yelled down at the senators.

“Your children will know this!” a man shouted.

“Vote on it!” yelled another.

Afterward, Oemig met with dozens of the demonstrators in the Senate gallery. He told them he was disappointed that more lawmakers hadn’t spoken but said he was glad the discussion was dignified.

“Take this as an important milestone,” Oemig told them. “It is not the end.”