Monday, June 26, 2006

Impeach PAC Endorses Bill Durston (CA-03)

ImpeachPAC Endorses Bill Durston (CA-03)

ImpeachPAC, a federal PAC funding pro-impeachment candidates for Congress, endorsed Dr. Bill Durston in his race for California's 3rd Congressional District against rightwing Republican Dan Lungren.

Dr. Durston served in Vietnam with the Marines 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company, and he received the Navy Commendation medal for bravery under combat. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine and has practiced in Sacramento for over 20 years. He was President of the Sacramento chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility from 2003 until this year.

ImpeachPAC has previously endorsed three candidates for the House of Representatives, Michigan's Tony Trupiano, New York's Chris Owens, and California's Jeeni Criscenzo, and two for the Senate, Maine's Jean Hay Bright, and Rhode Island's Carl Sheeler. ImpeachPAC is contributing $5,000, the maximum allowed by law, to each of these campaigns.

Durston's campaign website makes clear his understanding of the importance of impeachment and his determination not to be scared away from it. "Under the U.S. Constitution," he writes, "the House of Representatives has the power to impeach the President and other federal officials. Although the term 'impeachment' is widely misunderstood to mean removal from office, the word 'impeach' really means to bring charges against someone. Once impeached by the House, the President would have to be found guilty of 'treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors' by 2/3 of the Senate before he is actually removed from office. Impeachment is not a radical or extreme measure. The impeachment process is part of the checks and balances built into the U.S. Constitution by the founders of our country. It is a carefully thought out mechanism to provide for the peaceful removal from office of a President who has violated the public trust."

"I believe, Durston continues, "that there is more than sufficient evidence to call for the impeachment of George W. Bush. I believe that he has violated federal law in authorizing domestic spying; that he has violated the U.S. Constitution in denying prisoners the right of habeas corpus and in condoning cruel and unusual punishment; and that he has knowingly misled Congress and the American people into an unnecessary and unjust war. As a U.S. Representative, I will support the impeachment of George W. Bush, including introducing articles of impeachment myself if they are not introduced by another member of the House. "

For more on Durston's positions, visit:
http://www.durstonforcongress.org/issues/issues.html

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got a personal note back from Jeeni Crescenzo, who I hope to talk to on Wednesday at Brad Friedman's Bilbray/Busby townhall meeting thanking me for noting to her that she can more comfortably be advocating impeachment. I noted that if Issa (her opponent) should bring up how it will "divide" America by making it an issue, that he was the instrument of dividing California in the same way with his paying for the recall movement of Gray Davis a few years ago and she could ask how was it justified then and not now. What had Gray Davis done then that's so much worse than what Bush has done now that warrants his removal and at the same time would continue to "excuse" Bush for this scrutiny.

Also, Thom Hartmann on his morning show has lately been noting that the Republican talking points have very noticeably dropped back from making an issue of saying that "voting in Democrats will be a vote to impeach Bush". He figures their pullback on this is that they now realize that them noting this might actually cause them to lose more votes than they'd gain because more people in America are starting to favor impeachment now. Now if the Dems would just discover that this being a losing issue for them really translates to it being a winning issue for the Democrats this fall!

lukery said...

cheers c/p - great catch. that certainly was an odd set of circumstances, huh.

Anonymous said...

It's peach season, most places.

Anonymous said...

. . . now to find a really good recipe for impeach pie . . . or maybe a cobbler would be good. I'm inspired now, after seeing the other one for pizza!