Zogby poll: 53% of Americans say Congress should consider impeaching Bush if he lied about why we went to war in Iraq

Question: "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment."

Adults (+/- 2.9% margin of error)
52.6% for impeachment
42.4% against impeachment

Likely voters (+/- 3% margin of error)
51.3% for impeachment
44.7% against impeachment

Independents (+/- 2.9% margin of error)
50.5% for impeachment
44.2% against impeachment

You can view all the information here.

Thank Harry

Go and thank him.

Now, I'm really sick

I'm pretty sick right now so I won't able to post as much as I want. CONNECTICUTBlog will be back up to full power in a few days but for now, I'm going back to bed.

GOP chairman resigns

Didn't know the disagreement between GOP chariman William Hamzy and Governor Rell would lead to this.

From The Hartford Courant
William A. Hamzy resigned Monday as Republican state chairman, leaving the GOP with a key vacancy to fill in the early weeks of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's campaign for governor.

Hamzy, 39, a state representative from Plymouth, said he will step down Dec. 2, less than a year after Rell installed him in the job.

The resignation comes just weeks after Hamzy and the governor's staff clashed over the GOP soliciting contributions from lobbyists and state contractors - legal sources that Rell has voluntarily placed off limits for her own campaign.

Hamzy declined Monday to talk about that disagreement, saying his resignation was motivated by a conflict over time, not policy.

"I believe this job can be done on a part-time basis," Hamzy said of being chairman, "but only if it's your second job."

It was Hamzy's third. In addition to being a legislator, Hamzy maintains a private law practice. He also is married and the father of two children, aged 3 and 5.

Judd Everhart, the governor's spokesman, said Rell appreciated Hamzy's service to the party and the difficulty of being a legislator, lawyer and state chairman.

"The governor understands this and wishes him well," he said.

No successor has been selected.

Hamzy, who came to prominence last year as a member of the House impeachment committee that investigated gifts and favors accepted by Gov. John G. Rowland, said his resignation was not sought by Rell.

The state chairman is elected by the 72-member Republican State Central Committee, but the panel nearly always defers to a sitting governor's choice.

The party organization showed some independence under Hamzy, issuing a resolution and a press release at odds with Rell on civil unions for same-sex couples.

Hamzy and the GOP state central committee urged lawmakers to define marriage as between a man and a woman - a position shared by Rell. But Hamzy in a related press release broke with the governor by equating same-sex marriage with civil unions.

"We should stop the parsing of words - this is gay marriage pure and simple," Hamzy said.

Rell later signed the civil unions bill into law.

More recently, Rell called the legislature into special session on campaign finance legislation on the very day Hamzy was hosting a golf-tournament fundraiser for the cash-strapped party.

Trucking company owner arrested

Good!

From The Hartford Courant

The owner of a Bloomfield company whose truck was blamed for a deadly chain reaction crash in Avon was arrested Wednesday on insurance fraud and other charges, the chief state's attorney said.

Just an hour earlier, a Superior Court judge had ordered the liquidation of American Crushing & Recycling, which owns the truck blamed for a July 29 crash that killed four people.

Judge John Langenbach issued the ruling following a hearing at which owner David Wilcox refused to testify.

Though Wilcox had not been charged at that point, his lawyer said Wilcox needed to assert his constitutional right not to incriminate himself.

State officials have said the dump truck that barreled out of control down Avon Mountain was not insured, but Wilcox allegedly tried to reinstate the insurance after the accident.

Wilcox also faces civil lawsuits from the families of his victims.

Will eminent domain reform become reality

Will the eminent domain moratorium ever become reality? Will Republicans and Democrats come to a compromise?

From The New London Day

State lawmakers are close to a compromise on eminent domain reform that would put on hold any takings of private property for economic development or blight until the end of the General Assembly's regular session next year.

House Minority Leader Robert Ward, R-North Branford, who has pushed for new restrictions on eminent domain in light of its use in New London's Fort Trumbull redevelopment, said he and key House Democrats tentatively agreed this week to vote on a moratorium during the current special session, and to take up a more substantive overhaul of the pertinent statutes when the legislature reconvenes next year.

The proposed moratorium — which would make mandatory the voluntary prohibition of eminent domain seizures that legislative leaders declared in July — would forbid the city and the New London Development Corp. from forcing the remaining occupants at Fort Trumbull to surrender their properties.

But the deal faces angry opposition from New London's representatives, who see it as a clumsy intrusion into the city's legal battle with the remaining holdouts.

And Senate Democrats have yet to sign off on the moratorium plan, which the co-chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee said would stop short a host of development projects across the state that are unencumbered by the political and legal obstacles of the New London case.

“We are trying to determine whether there is common ground between the House and the Senate on the scope of a potential moratorium,” said the chairman, Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford. “But we have not yet found that common ground.”

A primary sticking point is the breadth of the proposed deal, which would prevent not only economic development takings like those at Fort Trumbull, but also the more traditional use of eminent domain to raze and redevelop blighted neighborhoods.

Chris Dodd and Democratic leaders criticize Bush and Cheney over CIA leak

I'm still in a state of shock over the positive comments President Bush had towrds "Scooter" Libby Friday. Here's a person who was just indicted on five counts and the President says that he was a "patriot" and doesn't criticize him over his involvment in the leak.

Well, the Democrats were in full force on the Sunday shows ripping into Bush and Cheney and demanding that the Vice President come clean about his role in the matter.

From The Hartford Courant

The Senate Democratic leader said Sunday that presidential adviser Karl Rove should resign because of his role in exposing an undercover CIA officer, and a veteran Republican senator said President Bush needs "new blood" in his White House.

Rove has not been charged, but he continues to be investigated in the CIA leaks case that brought the indictment and resignation Friday of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, an adviser to Bush and the top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he is disappointed that Bush and Cheney responded to the indictment by lauding Libby and suggested they should apologize for the leak that revealed the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame.

"First of all, the vice president issues this very terse statement praising Libby for all the great things he's done," Reid said. "Then we have the president come on camera a few minutes later calling him Scooter and what a great patriot he is. There has not been an apology to the American people for this obvious problem in the White House," Reid, D-Nev., told ABC's "This Week."

Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said Cheney should "come clean" about his involvement and why he discussed Plame with Libby before Libby spoke to reporters about her.

"What did the vice president know? What were his intentions?" Dodd asked on "Fox News Sunday."

"Now, there's no suggestion the vice president is guilty of any crime here whatsoever. But if our standard is just criminality, then we're never going to get to the bottom of this," Dodd said.

Democrats appearing on Sunday talk shows portrayed Libby's indictment as one of many serious problems surrounding the White House and one of several allegations raising questions about Republican ethics. Republicans repeatedly said the charges have been made against only one individual and that Libby should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Public opinion appears to be running against Bush. Almost half the public, 46 percent, say the level of ethics and honesty in the federal government has fallen with Bush as president, according to an ABC News-Washington Post poll. That's three times the number who say ethics and honesty have risen during that time.

[...]

A grand jury charged Libby on Friday with five felonies alleging obstruction of justice, perjury to a grand jury and making false statements to FBI agents. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines.

Libby was not charged with the crime that the grand jury was created to investigate -- specifically, who leaked the name of Plame to reporters in 2003. Libby and Rove were named by reporters brought before the grand jury, but it was unclear whether they knew that she was a covert agent.

Reid said Rove should resign or be fired for even discussing Plame. He recalled that Bush once said he would fire anyone involved in the leak, although Bush later amended that standard to say he would fire anyone convicted of a crime.

"If he's a man of his word, Rove should be history," Reid said on CNN's "Late Edition."

[...]

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged an internal investigation and that Bush, "if need be, take the vice president to the wood shed."

"The real question for President Bush is going to be: is he going to be like Nixon -- hunker down, get into the bunker, admit no mistakes," Schumer said, "or like Reagan, who actually admitted mistakes, did a midcourse correction and brought in new people, bipartisan people, people above ethical reproach, into the White House."

You can see the video here (via crooks and liars)