Representative Chris Chocola
100 Suite East Wayne Street
South Bend, IN 46601

Dear Congressman:

Did you hear about the member of Congress who was attacked last week?

?My conscience got me,? reported Senator George Voinovich.

The Republican from Ohio gave that account at a meeting last Tuesday of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was explaining why he wasn?t ready to vote on a recommendation for President Bush?s nominee to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton.

The committee?s vote was expected to run straight down party lines. Voinovich would join nine other loyal Republicans in recommending Bolton, making the objections of the committee?s eight Democrats irrelevant. Instead he shocked everyone by saying he was troubled by the mounting evidence of Bolton?s ill temperament and bad behavior as undersecretary of state. Apparently the undersecretary routinely bullies anyone who presents him with evidence that runs counter to his preconceived views. He?s also a curious choice to become the United States? ambassador to United Nations, considering he is on record as hating the U.N.

Every week we send to you a list showing the names and faces of the past week?s U.S. fatalities in Iraq. You might be wondering why we keep doing this. One reason is that we hope you will succumb, as Senator Voinovich did, to the power of conscience.

You cannot go back and change your vote that authorized this unnecessary war, but new opportunities to redeem yourself arise on almost a weekly basis. Last week, for example, the Senate, following the lead of the House, overwhelmingly approved another $80 billion to spend on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This brings the total to more than $300 billion. As we have pointed out in the past, there is no end in sight.

Let?s suppose that you had put aside party loyalties, quid pro quos, focus-group positioning and whatever other factors you feel constrain your actions. What if you had stood up and said, ?No way am I voting to give this administration another $80 billion until certain conditions are met.?

And what could those conditions have been?

How about a rejection of the discredited, immoral Doctrine of Preemptive War? How about an apology for misleading the public about the level of threat represented by Iraq? How about appropriating serious money and manpower to combat the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. According to a statistical analysis released last week, close to 400,000 people have now died in Darfur since the conflict began over two years ago.

If people asked why you were holding up an appropriations bill this way, you could tell them you were only listening to your conscience. (Feel free to credit Michiana Peace & Justice as well.) Judging by the attention Senator Voinovich received, voting one?s conscience in Congress is big news these days, especially when it involves going against one?s own party or the political consensus. You could be famous.

My advice is act now, before anyone else beats you to the spotlight.

Writing on behalf of
Michiana Peace & Justice Coalition, I am,

Ed Cohen