Where’s Jerry?

Recently, Congressman Dennis Kunicich (D-OH), introduced H. Res. 333
calling for Cheney’s impeachment under these very grounds. Because of
the blackout in the corporate media, however, few Americans are aware
of Kucinich’s resolution which has now attracted 14 likely co-sponsors.
Recently, the House Judiciary Committee took a big step by sending HR
333 to the Constitution Subcommittee led by Representative Jerrold
Nadler (D-NY).

For the past few years, I have felt largely powerless to stop the
Bush White House from carrying out its nefarious foreign policy agenda.
But Nadler, a pivotal figure in the unfolding impeachment drama, is a
liberal legislator whose office is located on Varick Street in Lower
Manhattan. Though I currently reside in Park Slope, Brooklyn, I grew up
a scant few blocks from Nadler’s office.

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from my cousin, a
tireless and dedicated activist working with World Can’t Wait, which
has been pressing hard for town hall impeachment meetings across the
country. The group, my cousin said, was organizing a trip to Nadler’s
office to get him to support HR 333.

Yesterday morning, I caught the #1 train to the Houston Street
station. Gathered outside a Latin music club was a group of some
twenty, mostly elderly New York activists. Some had come to Lower
Manhattan with the intention of conducting a sit-in at Nadler’s office.
The city has been in the midst of an uncomfortable heat wave, and while
activists conferred I quickly ducked into a store to get some iced tea.

My cousin explained that the purpose of the visit was to get Nadler
to sign on to the bill, press for a hearing on the bill in
subcommittee, and hold a vote to pass the resolution. In addition, she
wanted Nadler to press for adoption of the bill in the Judiciary
Committee and to move the bill out to the House of Representatives.
Lastly, my cousin sought to press Nadler to encourage his colleagues to
sign on to the bill, and bring it to the attention of the Democratic
Caucus for support.

Unfortunately, Nadler had hardly been responsive to activists’ on
the issue of Cheney impeachment and put folks through a go-around.
World Can’t Wait tried to make an appointment with the Congressman
through his Varick Street office, but was told that he had already met
with constituents on the issue.

When the group was told that it might get Nadler’s position by
phoning his Washington, D.C. office, activists called but were unable
to get through because of the July 4th vacation week. At long last,
World Can’t Wait left phone and e-mail messages alerting Nadler’s
Manhattan office that activists would stop by on Monday since it was an
urgent matter.

As the heat burnt through the pavement, my cousin described our
strategy: rather than go into Nadler’s office on the sixth floor in a
group, we would go up in twos and threes. Such elaborate tomfoolery had
become necessary, she said, because the authorities were unlikely to
let the entire delegation proceed together. At long last, my turn
arrived. Together with another gentleman, I walked into the Federal
Building across the street from the Latin music club.

Inside the lobby were two big portraits of George Bush and Dick
Cheney. I did not see some of the earlier members of our party, leading
me to think that indeed some activists had succeeded in getting up to
Nadler’s office. But when I arrived at the security check, my hopes
plummeted.

“Are you going to Nadler’s office?” asked a guard, suspiciously.

“No officer,” we replied innocently, “We’re just headed to the Peace Corps office.”

Judging from the security guards’ expressions, they were unconvinced
by our alibi. After we passed our spare change, keys and cell phones
through the detector one of the guards escorted us up in the elevator,
just to make sure we went to the tenth floor and not to the sixth floor.

“For Christ’s sake, this is ridiculous,” I remarked hotly to my
colleague. “I understand that the White House and certain government
offices are very difficult to get access to. But this is our local
Congressman!”

While we picked up an application to join the Peace Corps inside, our guardian waited outside for us to exit the office.

“What can we do?” I asked my colleague, feeling frustrated and trapped.

“Not much,” he replied. “It looks like we’re just going to have to return to the lobby.”

Right on cue our guardian rejoined us in the hallway and rode down
with us in the elevator, just to make sure that we would not visit the
Congressman’s office. I wondered what would happen if we simply opted
to get off at the sixth floor.

I put the question to our group’s legal advisor outside.

“Under what law could he have stopped us?” I asked. “Going to a Congressman’s office in a public building?”

He chuckled and remarked, “They are the law. They have the guns.”

As I stood outside on Varick Street, I spoke with several other
activists who were similarly outraged by the Orwellian treatment they
had received at the hands of the guards. Some had been turned back at
the security check and told they could not proceed at all.

In aggravation, I rode back to Brooklyn on the subway. Later, I got
an e-mail from my cousin. Some activists had indeed managed to get into
Nadler’s office, to the “chagrin” of his staff. An unhappy Robert
Gottheim, Nadler’s District Director, was called in to deal with the
activists. When my cousin and others requested to speak with Nadler
either in person or by speaker phone or conference call, Gottheim said
no: Nadler was unavailable.

When activists asked Gottheim to tell Security to allow the rest of
the delegation to come upstairs the Nadler handler refused. Hardly a
hospitable host, Gottheim similarly refused to invite the activists
into the office. Activists were told they could sit down in one of four
seats in the entranceway.

The activists then eloquently presented their case. Gottheim, aptly
demonstrating his stonewalling abilities and penchant to be a party
hack, repeatedly stated that impeachment was a distraction from other
things the Democrats sought to accomplish. Trotting out familiar Inside
the Beltway group think, Gottheim claimed impeachment was not practical
because the Democrats could not muster two thirds of Congress to vote
for such a measure.

At that, Gottheim ended the discussion. When activists said they
wanted to wait to speak to Nadler, Gottheim got hot under the collar.
Putting on his suit jacket, he declared that the activists were in a
Federal Building and should leave. Organizers stayed for about another
hour or so, but finally opted to leave when it became clear Nadler was
a clear No Show.

What is the significance of yesterday’s events? In a report on the
action, World Can’t Wait expressed mild surprise at Gottheim’s surly
treatment “since the Congressman has always been gracious to anti-war
and peace proponents.”

Indeed, the liberal Nadler seems to be gearing up for a rather
uncharacteristic fight with his constituents over the impeachment
issue. No doubt he is feeling the heat from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
who has stated that impeachment should be “off the table.”

What will Nadler do, continue to shrug off his constituents by
having guards shadow activists up and down the Federal Building? With
the public infuriated over Cheney’s conduct, such a position would
appear to be politically untenable. The Congressman, however, seems
determined to declare “case closed” on the impeachment issue and to
insulate himself from contrary views.

It’s time for New Yorkers to gird up for an intense struggle with
Nadler over the coming weeks. If the Congressman can’t bring himself to
exercise his duties as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the House Judiciary
Committee, then we ought to provide him with a civics lesson concerning
the proper functioning of the Legislative Branch.

Nikolas Kozloff is the author of Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).