[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]In a laborious meeting that lasted until nearly 4 a.m. Wednesday, Madison City Council members failed to garner enough votes to support the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Despite having only three votes against the impeachment resolution, eight council members abstained from voting. This left the affirmative vote total at eight, three short of the 11 needed to pass the resolution. One council member left before the resolution was voted on.

Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 9, said he abstained from voting because he was elected by his district to do city business.

"My personal opinion is that Bush and Cheney committed high crimes that qualify them for impeachment," Skidmore said. "However, we as representatives were elected to run the city, and this is an issue that is not in the purview of the city."

According to Skidmore, the council members who abstained from voting came under fire from members who believed the resolution was indeed a Madison issue.

"I feel you can stretch anything the federal government does and make it a City of Madison issue," Skidmore said. "I deal with things such as streets and parks — things I can have an impact on."

According to one resolution co-sponsor, Ald. Tim Gruber, District 11, the issue of presidential impeachment has relevance at all levels of government.

"The issues of war and lies to the American people and Congress are reason for impeachment," Gruber said. "The cost of lives, suffering and the enormous loss of money affects all of us at some level."

Gruber went on to say that although the issue may be dead in the City Council, the people of Madison will continue to support impeachment, as was evident in a rally outside of the City-County Building Tuesday night.

Despite the difference of opinion on the impeachment resolution, council members managed to vote 18-2 in favor of forming a Regional Transportation Authority.

The RTA enables the expansion of multi-modal public transit in the Madison metropolitan area, which would move to the state level and could lead to the formation of a series of Regional Transportation Authorities in Wisconsin.

According to Skidmore, amendments added to the RTA proposal made the council members more comfortable casting an affirmative vote.

"Originally, we were going to simply raise the sales tax to pay for the RTA," Skidmore said. "We decided on an amendment in which sales taxes will be raised, while property taxes will be lowered — more of an even trade-off."

The passing of the RTA will, in the long run, lead to better transit options for UW students as well as residents of greater Madison, Skidmore said.

"More buses and possibly a light rail will provide additional options for getting around the city," Skidmore said. "It will ultimately be easier to move around campus and downtown Madison."