Sheehan Expected to Headline Vermont Impeachment Tour

by Daniel Barlow, Friday, January 26, 2007


NEWFANE — Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan will headline a 10-town, three-day tour of Vermont in early March to raise support for a series of town-meeting resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Bush and withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Sheehan, who camped outside Bush's Texas ranch in 2005 after her soldier son was killed in Iraq, will join Newfane resident Dan DeWalt on the tour starting March 2. DeWalt kicked off a movement last year in Vermont to impeach Bush.

Between 30 to 50 towns are expected to have impeachment resolutions on their town-meeting agendas this year and about 50 more could consider the question under the "other business" portion of the meeting, according to DeWalt, who said the movement has taken on a life of its own.

"When we voted to impeach Bush in Newfane last year we inspired a lot of people in Vermont," said DeWalt, referring to the March 2006 town meeting season during which more than a half dozen towns in the state passed the measure. "But this has now become a true grassroots movement in the state."

The tour, which may also feature John Nichols, author of "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism," will stop in Montpelier, Middlebury, Burlington, Hardwick, St. Johnsbury, Rutland, Springfield, Manchester, Brattleboro and possibly Bradford or White River Junction.

Locations and times are still being decided, but the tour is meant to generate support for the impeachment efforts on the town meeting agendas and to inspire other residents to bring the issue up at their meetings.

"We probably won't even know for a few days just how many towns voted on it," DeWalt said.

Towns that voted for impeachment last year will probably have resolutions calling for the federal government to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq immediately and "take good care of them when they get here," DeWalt added.

Grassroots impeachment efforts in states like Vermont and New Mexico, where the state Legislature is poised to vote on recommending impeachment to the U.S. Congress, will push the issue into the mainstream, said David Lindorff, the co-author of "The Case for Impeachment."

Lindorff, a journalist who believes that Bush and vice president Dick Cheney have committed impeachable offenses, will travel to Windham County on Feb. 3 for book signings in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls.

"Towns sometimes tend to save the big stuff for Washington," he said. "But we have the right to speak our minds on what's happening at every level."

Sheehan was scheduled to appear last summer at a large impeachment event in Brattleboro, but canceled at the last minute to travel to Jordan to meet with peace activists from Iraq, DeWalt said. He said she is dedicated to coming to Vermont now.

DeWalt first met Sheehan last year through filmmaker Michael Moore's Web site, which carries columns by the two activists. DeWalt said he e-mailed her last year about helping the Vermont effort; this year, she called him.

"Impeachment is the quickest way to end the war," DeWalt said.

Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, is sponsoring an impeachment resolution in the Vermont House, according to DeWalt. Zuckerman could not be reached for comment Thursday, but DeWalt said the bill is being reviewed by the Legislative Council.

Lindorff will be signing copies of his book Feb. 3 at the Common Ground Restaurant in Brattleboro at 1 p.m. and Village Square Books in Bellows Falls at 3:30 p.m. Times and locations for the 10-town impeachment tour will be posted on www.vtimpeach.com.