Silver City Votes for Peace    
Written by Bruce Daniels

Alburquerque Journal
Thursday, 25 May 2006

Town Council calls for creation of Cabinet department.

We can understand Santa Fe having its own foreign policy, but Silver City? Be that as it may, the Silver City Town Council voted 3-1 Tuesday night to create a U.S. Department of Peace -- a key plank in Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich's ill-fated run for the presidency in 2004. Kucinich may only be ranked No. 335 in a list of congressional power players in the U.S. House released this week by Congress.org (behind New Mexico Reps. Steve Pearce at 145 and Heather Wilson at 147, but ahead of Rep. Tom Udall at No. 384).

But his influence appears to linger among some Silver City-area residents, about a dozen of whom attended Tuesday night's council meeting to voice support for a measure, currently before Congress, calling for the new Cabinet department, according to the Silver City Sun-News.

During the discussion, some of the councilors said they thought a U.S. Department of Peace could bring new ideas to the table to improve national and foreign politics, the Sun-News reported on its Web site.

"What can it hurt?" Councilor Steve May asked, according to the Sun-News.

In the end, three councilors voted for the measure and only Councilor Tom Nupp, who was not quoted in the article, voted against it.

Though Kucinich's presidential campaign came to an end, his advocacy of a Cabinet Department of Peace continues (see Kucinich's argument on his Web site), and there's an active push to get behind House Resolution 3760 and Senate Bill 1756, according to thepeacealliance.org Web site.

The council also, by the way, voted to honor more than a dozen local police officers, giving them certificates of recognition for their work in solving local crimes.

The Associated Press story includes the text of the Peace Department resolution, which was to be sent to Sens. Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Steve Pearce.