The House Judiciary Committee’s hearing analyzing Congressional response to alleged actions of the Bush administration wrapped up after more than six hours of testimony and questioning. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) said the Bush administration told aides to ignore subpoenas, an action Wexler said is in direct violation of the Congressional oversight based in the Constitution. Bruce Fein, deputy attorney general under Reagan, said the Founding Fathers established oversight so that citizens would be aware of the decisions of their leaders, adding that refusing to appear before Congress is similar to contempt and grounds for impeachment.

Fein continued, saying that Congress has voluntarily relinquished its right to checks and balances to the White House by being unresponsive to the White House’s numerous actions that warrant investigation. He also said that Congress has accepted the notion that a President can declare war without the approval of Congress, an action prohibited by the Constitution. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) suggested that Congress form a bipartisan legal oversight committee that would investigate executive encroachments on the Constitution and the legislature. Schiff said the committee should begin functioning immediately, be bipartisan, and examine historical precedents that led to increased presidential power.

Comparisons were made between allegations against the Bush administration and the impeachment proceedings of President Nixon. Rocky Anderson, founder and president of High Roads for Human Rights, said Americans viewed Nixon’s impeachment as being based in a violation of executive trust, not necessarily violations of law. Former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D-N.Y.), who served on the Judiciary Committee during the Nixon era, said bipartisan investigations were successful during Nixon hearings because the Judiciary Committee went to great lengths educating members of Congress and citizens on the Constitution and the compiled evidence.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) the only Republican who stayed for the entire hearing, made a closing statement in which he emphasized the difference between a “misstatement” and an “intentional misstatement.” He said it is easy to make allegations but that hindsight is not enough to assume decisions made by the White House were intentionally misleading.

The National Press Club Newsmaker Program held a news conference to discuss the recent rescue of FARC-held hostages in Colombia, and how the Colombian government is regaining control of its national territory. Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos explained that on July 2, 2008, fifteen total hostages were rescued, including three Americans, in an unprecedented operation — it was a clean and pure operation where not a single shot was fired and not a single drop of blood was shed. (more…)

At the House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations,” Bruce Fein, Deputy Attorney General under President Reagan, said that many high crimes and misdemeanors were committed under the Bush Administration. He said that the executive branch “destroyed the Constitution” and the order of checks and balances that it supported. Fein explained that a claim of fighting terrorism can be used to arrest anyone without question and flout any restriction on gathering foreign intelligence. This means that the president can kidnap or detain anyone he thinks necessary, and open mail and burglarize homes if he thinks it necessary — a very “frightening power” according to Fein. Fein also said that “short of impeachment,” there is nothing Congress can do to punish the Bush Administration. (more…)

Wind energy could increase to 20 percent of the total electricity supply by 2030, according to a report conducted by the Department of Energy (DOE), which would create 500,000 jobs. A panel of energy experts in conjunction with the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus held a briefing on the finds of the report. (more…)

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a discussion with former Iraqi prime minister and current Parliament member of Iraq, Ayad Allawi. Allawi said the American military surge caused some successes, but the situation in Iraq is still very fragile. He said the Iraqi government needs to capitalize on whatever fleeting stability the surge may have caused to make progress towards peace and trust.

He said the current sectarian government will not be able to uphold the nation. He said the prevalent sectarianism in the Iraq only encourages the spread of terrorism and extremism. He hopes Iraqis will one day be seen as just Iraqis, and not by their ethnicities. He said activation of the UN and other regional organizations could encourage the international community to be involved in promoting stability. His most emphatic point was that stability must be established first, before bureaucratic details can be considered.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) says that the war in Iraq was totally unnecessary, unprovoked and unjustified. (0:32)

 

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Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) says that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is responsible for the escape of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. (1:01)

 

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Republicans told the House Judiciary Committee that political disagreements, no matter how large, are not grounds for impeachment proceedings at a hearing discussing appropriate Congressional responses to Bush abuses of power. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said the hearing served no purpose other than anger management, stating that no evidence exists which supports grounds for impeachment and that the hearing’s lack of bipartisanship affected Congress’s already low credibility.

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) said the Bush White House is unprecedented in its distortion of executive privilege, noting Bush’s alleged falsification of pre-Iraq war intelligence and approval of certain interrogation techniques. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) stated that the committee was attempting to solve an institutional problem,acting in a deliberative manner, not an accusatory manner. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) earlier had called Bush “the worst President our country has ever seen.”

In his testimony before the committee, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said pre-war justifications provided to Congress were untrue and that Congress had relied on the White House’s false statements while authorizing the Iraq war. Kucinich also said that Iraq posed no security threat to the United States and, since Iraq lacked a weapons program, Saddam Hussein was unable to harm the United States or arm terrorists. Congress’s decision now, Kucinich said, is whether it should defend the Constitution and prevent abuses of power in the Executive and Judiciary Branches.

Rep Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) said the White House has been dominated by corruption and incompetence, stating that the Bush administration ignored numerous warnings prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. He said the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s decision to scale back troop levels in Afghanistan aided Osama bin Laden’s escape into the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. Hinchey suggested that it would have been more difficult to justify an attack against Iraq if bin Laden had been apprehended by the US military. Recognizing that impeachment had been referenced by many, Hinchey said the Bush administration, through the ways it violated the law, is “probably the most impeachable administration in the history of America.”

The Washington Bureau will cover a full committee hearing on the “Imperial Presidency of George Bush” for possible Bush administration misconduct or abuses. A briefing on wind energy and changing America’s electricity supply will be covered by TRNS. The Washington Bureau will cover a discussion with former Iraqi Prime Minister and current member of Parliament Ayad Allawi on the political situation in Iraq. In light of the recent rescue of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)-held hostages, TRNS will cover a news conference on how the Colombian government is regaining control of its national territory. Conference calls highlighting Senator John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) position on the Community Choice Act and disability rights as well as Republican Representative Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan’s comments on Senator Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) European expedition will be covered.

An effective model of performance measurement used in Baltimore, Md. that reduced violent crimes and murders, increased revenue, and revived citizens’ faith in the city could be applied to other cities and states nationwide. Gov. Martin O’Malley testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about this model, which he championed in the city.

The model, known as “CitiStat” when O’Malley was mayor of Baltimore and “StateStat” when he became governor and raised it to the state level, has had a positive outcome. During implementation of CitiStat, violent crime dropped 40 percent, population reversed steadily from loss to growth, and added $350 million to the City’s budget.

CitiStat was based off a plan designed by Jack Maple, a designer of city crime fighting strategies, during former Mayor Rudy Guilliani’s tenure in New York City.
What works about this type of performance evaluation is the measurements are taken daily instead of annually, O’Malley said. But measurement is not enough.

“You’re not going to improve the weight of the pig just by weighing it,” said O’Malley.

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) put the plan into perspective: With many governors up for re-election this November, performance measurement like StateStat should be taught in governor training to help the new administrations. O’Malley noted that new governors tend to implement the plan rather than incumbents.

Executives who have also used similar plans include Democrats Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington State and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.