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No-impeachment campaign attracts local supporters By PAUL FATTIG Enough already. Phoenix resident John Cooper has had it up to here with the continuing congressional debate over President Clinton's scandal. "OK, so the President screwed up," said Cooper, 57, a retired museum and parks and recreation director. "Let's censure him and move on. Congress needs to pay attention to other pressing issues facing our country." Cooper has jumped with both feet into Move On, a nonpartisan national Internet campaign calling for Congress to immediately censure Clinton and get on with the nation's business. He became a volunteer for Move On after discovering it while surfing the Net before the general election. Given the election results, he figures others have also had enough. "I'm just an average person who has been wildly frustrated by what Congress has been doing," Cooper said. "You don't have to be a mental giant to see what this party (GOP) has been doing to Clinton from the very moment he took office. It's tearing us apart." Launched by two San Francisco Bay Area residents, Move On, at www.moveon.org , calls for an immediate end to the impeachment proceedings. But Dennis Richardson, a Central Point lawyer who favors moving on with the impeachment proceedings, disagrees with its goals. "It's clear that the president of the United States should not be above the law," Richardson said. "If a president is accused of a crime that would result in circumstances in which other citizens would be indicted, then he should be subject to an impeachment proceeding. "The impeachment should go forward because of the evidence that the president has committed crimes, including perjury," he concluded. Although Richardson is the Republican Party chairman of the 2nd Congressional District, he said his political views are not the point. "This isn't a political issue," he said. "It's an issue of integrity, one that sends a message to the world about what the United States stands for. Character should matter in America." Richardson also expressed concern that anything less than an impeachment proceeding would send the wrong message to American youth. "The youth of our nation are watching what is taking place in Washington, D.C.," he said. "Right now, the message is that the president may be above the law. Another is that morality is not important. The third is that honesty is not important. All of these messages are contrary to what our nation stands for." Cooper, who is among Rogue Valley residents volunteering to get out Move On's message, counters that there is a groundswell of people across the nation who believe differently. Nearly 300,000 have signed on to Move On's petition, he observed. "This is outside party dogma," he said. "Average people are finally being heard." Cooper, who became a Democrat last year after being registered as an independent for 30 years, predicts that Move On will help move the congressional debate. "If there are enough like-minded people in this country, we can make a difference," he said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA