Brookline Residents Want The Town To Call For Trump Impeachment

BROOKLINE, MA —Some 200 Brookline residents think there's enough evidence to impeach President Donald Trump. And they want the Town of Brookline to call on Congress to start the impeachment process. So two residents are taking up the effort and bringing a resolution before the May Town Meeting. The goal? They hope Brookline's legislative branch will vote to take that stand as Cambridge, Richmond, VA, and Alameda, CA, have before them.

The movement to impeach the 45th president of the United States is gaining momentum, they argue. And resolutions such as the one they are bringing before Town Meeting next month can help build public support for impeachment and help the House of Representatives understand that their constituents favor starting the impeachment process, according to the proposal's explanation.

"Honestly, I don't understand why more people aren't outraged by this," said Lisa Kolarik, one of the petitioners of the warrant who along with Alexandra Borns-Weil secured the 200 signatures the town required to bring the resolution to a vote for Town Meeting on May 23. Selectmen supported the effort this week, voting in favor of supporting the move.

The resolution cites violations of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution as one of the impeachable offenses.

"It is our duty as citizens to make sure that the Constitution is enforced," reads part of the petitioner's explanation.

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This is the first time Kolarik has gotten involved in town politics, she said. After the 2016 election something changed in her, she said. Then, feeling she needed to do something, she got involved in Indivisible Movement, an activist resistance to the Trump agenda, she said. She started her own local Indivisible group in January.

"I do feel like I had been somewhat provoked to action. I'd never felt before like threatened the way I did. Nobody knew what to think at first. Is he an authoritarian? What does Steve Bannon mean? " she said. To her it just felt like it was time for citizens to get active and counter act it.

It was during this time she went to an "Impeach Trump Now" event, where she heard attorneys Ben Clements and Ron Fein of Free Speech For People, a nonpartisan nonprofit, which is behind the nationwide campaign.

She was convinced. "I left thinking there's plenty of evidence to impeach him right now. Some people feel Pence isn't much better, but ... it's not about who's the replacement, it's about protecting our fundamental documents. We can't just turn a blind eye," she said.

Congress has initiated impeachment proceedings against several presidents, however only Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton have been impeached by the House of Representatives, and both were later acquitted by the Senate. Richard Nixon resigned his office before the vote of the full House for impeachment.

In the November 2016 Presidential election only 28,922 Brookline voters showed up at the polls, but of those only about 3,134 voted for Trump. The population of Brookline hovers around 60,000.

On May 17 the People for Free Speech will speak in Brookline to answer any questions at the Pierce School. Then the Special May Town Meeting begins May 23, at 8 p.m. in the Brookline High School auditorium. Although only Town Meeting Members can vote, it's a public meeting open to all.

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Photo of the Brookline Town Hall by Jenna Fisher/ Brookline Patch Staff