Town meeting ends with call for impeachment

Author: Andrea Glaessner

When Middlebury citizens filed into the local municipal building for their annual town meeting last Monday, there was nothing extraordinary seeming about the forum that was to take place.

The townspeople first thanked their snow removal crews for their upstanding work during the historic Valentine's Day blizzard. The group then debated a new bridge proposal that has been on the table for years. There was some crossfire over a police department budget that was dubbed "deluxe" and funding for the local teen center was approved.

But then the leaders and citizens of Middlebury turned their attention to something bigger: the Iraq War and the executive administration behind it.

For those 100 or so dedicated citizens who held out until the 11:30 p.m. conclusion of the 2007 annual town meeting, there was a final debate that raised fascinating questions and provoked some heated emotions. By the end of the night, Middlebury residents had approved a call for immediate troop withdrawal and the impeachment of President George W. Bush.

The grassroots gestures were part of a statewide effort to pass non-binding, symbolic resolutions calling on Vermont's federal representatives to impeach President George W. Bush and withdraw troops from Iraq. Newfane Selectman Dan DeWalt, who spoke on a panel alongside national war critic Cindy Sheehan and others at the College last Friday, was one of the leaders who coordinated the idea as a statewide affair.

Well in advance of Monday's meeting, 300 Middlebury voters had signed a petition asking the Middlebury Board of Selectmen who organize the meeting agenda to place the following resolution on the town meeting warning for a vote by Australian ballot: "Shall the voters of the town of Middlebury advise the President, Congress and Vermont's state and federal office holders that Middlebury and its citizens strongly support the men and women serving in all branches of the United States Armed Forces in Iraq and believe that the best way to support them is to bring each and every one of them home now and take good care of them when they get home?"

Before last week's town meetings, 23 Vermont towns had placed impeachment resolutions on their respective town meeting warnings, according to a flyer issued at the panel. Dozens more towns featured "bring the troops home now" resolutions similar to the one proposed by the Middlebury petition.

But some town boards, including Middlebury's Select Board, chose not to include the resolution on the warning. In order for an issue to be voted upon, it must appear on the town meeting warning issued prior to the to give voters a preview of the articles to be discussed at the meeting.

The issue of how to decide what ends up on the warning was recently called into question when a South Burlington pro-life advocacy group succeeded in getting a symbolic anti-abortion resolution on their town meeting's warning.

According to Professor of Political Science David Rosenberg, the South Burlington town board allowed the resolution because they knew it was non-binding and did not see any harm in allowing it. But the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that a Select Board has the authority to decide if issues are "germane to town business." If an issue is considered to fall outside the realm of this distinction, it should not be included on the warning.

Leveraging the ruling, the Middlebury Select Board decided that a non-binding resolution to bring the troops home was "not germane to town business."

The omission of the resolution from the warning, however, did not stop citizens from having their voices heard. At around 11 p.m., after all the articles on the warning had been deliberated, moderator and Vermont Governor Jim Douglas '72 mentioned the final article to discuss "other business to come before the town."

Upon this announcement, Middlebury resident Ann Hoover rose to the podium to appeal for support of a resolution calling on the federal government to withdraw troops from Iraq. Hoover acknowledged that the Select Board had been "unable to put it on the warning" but was aware that the issue could be raised under the "other town business" article. Information distributed through local media and from Cindy Sheehan's Peace Bus tour, had advised citizens of this "Plan B" to get the resolution on the table.

Following Hoover, Middlebury resident and Professor of Mathematics Mike Olinick shared his support and was applauded for his sentiments. But when a speaker raised a motion to vote on the resolution, the debate became tense.

Responding to the motion, Douglas, began to waver about the legitimacy of a vote on a resolution that was "expressly rejected" by the Board of Selectmen. Noting the importance of respect for the authority of the board, Douglas said it would be "awkward" to vote on the issue.

The people of Middlebury, those still present, were visibly frustrated.

Douglas' comment ushered in a wave of criticism from the audience. Dana Yeaton, a Middlebury resident and Visiting Professor of Theatre, argued that the Iraq issue should have been included on the agenda.

"It does affect us. Within our community we are divided and nervous to talk about this issue," said Yeaton. He continued with a request that the Board explain their decision to reject the resolution.

Selectman Victor Nuovo offered an unexpected response. He explained first that the Governor had misinterpreted his intentions, and that "it was not my intention nor the intention of anyone else on this board, if I may speak for them, that this resolution would not be voted on tonight."

Nuovo added, "We shouldn't be facing you, we should be sitting with you."

In response to Yeaton's comment about the relevance of the resolution to the members of the community, Nuovo said, "Other business means that if the town wishes to raise an issue like this that is non-binding, the freedom of the town is unlimited [in this regard]."

So why did Nuovo and the Selectmen reject the proposal to get the resolution on the warning?

According to Assistant Professor of Political Science Bert Johnson, "the Select Board completely misinterpreted the law. We were all blindsided by [Douglas' declaration] that we shouldn't be able to vote."

Ultimately, despite Douglas' initial hesitation, the governor conceded to "the strong will of the people in the room" and allowed the citizens present at the meeting to vote on a non-binding symbolic resolution to bring home the troops.

The vote to bring the troops home received unanimous approval, and emboldened citizens went on to approve a non-binding, symbolic resolution to impeach Bush, though that vote was divided.

And just before midnight, the tired citizens of Middlebury filed out of the gymnasium as unassumingly as they had entered four and a half hours earlier.

[CORRECTION: This article has been corrected. The print edition identifies Vermont Governor Jim Douglas as class of 1975. Douglas graduated in 1972. The Campus regrets this error.]