Muscatine, Iowa Journal urges recall of Iowa GOP reps who tried to impeach Supreme Court justices

On Thursday, five Iowa representatives filed resolutions to impeach the remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices who were not dumped following last fall's judicial retention vote, on which NOM, Bob Vanderplaats and the Iowa Family Leader and others spent a small fortune.

According to the Des Moines Register, the resolutions were quashed Friday by Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, who said:

“While I agree with much of the reasoning behind the impeachment resolutions, I disagree with this remedy,” Paulsen, R-Hiawatha,  said in a statement. “I do not expect it to be debated on the floor of the House, and if it is, I will vote no.”
     ...Paulsen, a lawyer,  said the resolutions won’t be debated because they have been sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which is not scheduled to meet the rest of the 2011 legislative session.

 The Muscatine Journal opined:

From top Left: Reps Dwayne Alons of Hull,Tom Shaw of Laurens,
Betty De Boef of What Cheer, Glen Massie of Des Moines
and Kim Pearson of Pleasant Hill.

Someone should start petitions to remove from the Iowa Legislature Republican representatives Kim Pearson of Pleasant Hill, Tom Shaw of Laurens, Betty De Boef of What Cheer, Dwayne Alons of Hull and Glen Massie of Des Moines. They filed resolutions Thursday to impeach the remaining four justices on the state Supreme Court who decided a case in 2009 that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. Voters ousted the other three justices last November.

These legislators can't see what the state's biggest challenges are if they really think Chief Justice Mark Cady and justices David Wiggins, Daryl Hecht and Brent Appel pose such a threat that they must be removed from office.

When did Iowa become so intolerant and nearsighted?

- Chris Steinbach of the Muscatine Journal

Addendum: The Iowa Independent reported on the swift negative reaction to this political stunt.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines, a member of Democratic leadership, immediately challenged House Speaker Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) and Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer (R-Garner) to speak against the actions taken by their caucus members.
     “I issue the following challenge to Speaker Paulsen and Majority Leader Upmeyer on the proposed impeachment of the remaining Supreme Court Justices … either publicly condemn your own Republican members as well as members of the Republican Party for offering this outrageous, extremist proposal … or allow a full and open impeachment proceeding for all Iowans to consider knowing House Democrats will use every available procedural tool to shut down the Iowa House and defeat this right-wing effort,” said McCarthy.
     “I suspect, however that the House Republican Leadership will do neither and instead remain cowardly silent. If that is true, then let it be clear to all Republicans where the House Republican Leadership truly stands on this issue.”
     The articles of impeachment drafted and filed by the five legislators were also immediately attacked by Justice Not Politics, a nonpartisan group that formed in advance of the 2010 retention election in hopes of bolstering support for the three justices on the November ballot and to stress the non-political nature of the Iowa Judicial Branch.
     “The threat by five legislators to impeach the State Supreme Court Justices is only a sad attempt to misuse the impeachment process for political gain, but completely out of touch with Iowans,” read the Justice Not Politics statement. “Thousands of Iowans signed on to Justice Not Politics’ letter against impeachment, and two polls released this year found an overwhelming majority of Iowans oppose impeachment.
     “We are confident legislators and Iowans will reject this ridiculous effort by a small, but loud minority to placate their extreme agenda to inject politics and discrimination into our court system.”