Think the impeachment movement is dead?

On Tuesday, May 27, seven pro-impeachment candidates for the US House of Representatives held a press conference in front of the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle. The seven candidates are members of the California Impeachment Slate (http://calimpeachmentslate.com/impeachnow/), whose members come from twenty of California's 53 congressional districts.

"Not a single incumbent representative has lifted her or his voice above a whisper," said Brad Newsham, who is running against Representative Barbara Lee in the East Bay. "I've had a running three-year conversation with Barbara Lee's office, and I have sadly and slowly been forced to conclude that she is not really in favor of impeachment. If you ask her, she will say that yes of course she favors impeachment, but if you go to her website you will find her positions on nearly every single issue under the sun, but you won't find a mention of impeachment. And she can write legislation as fast as I can drink a cup of coffee, but she has written no legislation on impeachment. And there's not another incumbent who is any better, who speaks any louder, on the topic."

Members of the Impeachment Slate say that the incumbents have knuckled under to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who issued an "Impeachment is off the table" edict six months before the Democrats won a majority in Congress via the 2006 election. In late 2007 it was reported that Pelosi was one of four members of Congress who, in 2002, were informed of the CIA's waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation" practices, and who reportedly approved.

"If Pelosi were to now press the administration on any of the number of impeachable offenses with which they have been charged," says Newsham, "the administration would -- quite fairly, it seems to me -- be able to accuse her of complicity in at least the torture allegations. So even though she's the Speaker of the House, she's effectively muzzled. And now she's muzzled everyone around her, too, hoping that the Democrats win the election and all the pesky people who want accountability from their government will just go away. It's a lousy way to run a country, and the members of our slate want the voters to know that in at least 20 districts statewide they have the option of voting for a pro-impeachment candidate."

In San Francisco, both Shirley Golub and Cindy Sheehan are challenging Pelosi for her seat. For a detailed list of pro-impeachment candidates in the state, visit http://calimpeachmentslate.com/impeachnow/.