18 | OCTOBER 3 • 2019
S
peaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi formally announced
Sept. 24 that Congress
would be opening an impeach-
ment inquiry into the actions of
President Donald Trump.
“The president must be held
accountable,” Pelosi told vari-
ous national media outlets. “No
one is above the law.”
Pelosi, who’
s been reluctant
to call for impeachment, said
that allegations the president
used his political office to pres-
sure a foreign government to
investigate his political rival,
Democratic presidential can-
didate Joe Biden, and his son,
Hunter, and allegedly exerted
pressure on the Ukrainian gov-
ernment by withholding $250
million in funding for military
aid were a threat to national
security and the Constitution.
The momentum for
the announcement came
throughout the day as several
prominent Democrats such
as Georgia’
s John Lewis and
freshmen Democrats running
in competitive
districts came
out in support
of impeach-
ment — includ-
ing Michigan
Democrats Elissa
Slotkin and Haley
Stevens, who, until
last week, had not
publicly supported
impeachment pro-
ceedings against
the president. Both
of their districts were previous-
ly held by Republicans.
In a statement, Stevens
wrote: “Over the last sever-
al days, I have been deeply
alarmed by reports of serious
abuse of power by President
Trump … If investigations
confirm recent reports, these
actions represent impeach-
able offences that threaten to
undermine the integrity of our
elections and jeopardize the
balance of power within the
federal government.”
In an op-ed published
Sept. 23, Slotkin wrote, “If
these allegations are true, or
if the White House refuses to
clear up these allegations, the
Congress has no choice but
to consider all congressional
authorities available to us,
including the power of inher-
ent contempt and impeach-
ment hearings, to protect our
national security. We must
make exceptionally clear that
this behavior cannot stand.”
The following day, in an
interview with NPR’
s Morning
Edition, Slotkin acknowl-
edged the potential political
risk but said, “It doesn’
t
matter,” despite voters in her
district being divided on
impeachment.
“I get pulled over in the
supermarket by people
talking about it and saying go
ahead and do it,” said Slotkin,
who sometimes attends ser-
vices at Temple Israel, “
and
I’
ve been pulled over by just
as many people saying please
don’
t do it.”
But, she told NPR, “no
matter whether you’
re a
Democrat or an independent
or a Republican, the idea
that a sitting president would
attempt to leverage dirt on
a political opponent from a
foreign leader is just beyond
the pale. It’
s a game-changer.
It’
s something different and
we have to acknowledge it as
thus.”
U.S. GOVT.
U.S. GOVT.
‘No One Is Above the Law’
Once-reluctant Michigan representatives
now call for impeachment.
JN STAFF
Slotkin
Stevens
O
n Sept. 21, David
Holden, president
of Temple Jacob in
Hancock, Mich., received a
call from the Hancock Police
Department.
“I immediately thought
something happened to the
synagogue,” Holden said. “
And
sure enough, I was right.”
Police Chief Wayne Butler
informed Holden that he
received a call from a man
who spotted two swastikas and
two SS logos spray-painted on
Temple Jacob.
The symbols appeared on
the back door, on the side of
the sandstone foundation,
on the front door and on the
building’
s façade.
“I can’
t say that I was
shocked because I know this
has happened all around the
country,” Holden said. “I was
just disappointed that it finally
happened here — this is not
the character of this commu-
nity.”
Recently, the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
reported two synagogues in
Wisconsin and Boston were
also vandalized.
This is the first time Holden
has dealt with this issue during
his four years at Temple Jacob,
but he recalls a past incident of
a Nazi banner hung up on its
railing and stolen mezuzot.
After receiving the initial call
from police, Holden rushed
over to the synagogue and
began scrubbing the sandstone
on the sides of the building.
“The next thing I know,
there are pickup trucks coming
up the driveway, waving at
me,” Holden said. “One of the
folks was a person who was at
Sherwin Williams and over-
heard a conversation going on.
The guy got mad, went home
to grab his power washer and
came out to power wash the
building.”
Locals passing by and
several other groups rallied
together to help remove the
graffiti and repaint.
“I wasn’
t scrubbing any-
more,” Holden said. “I was try-
ing to find work for everybody
who wanted to help out. That
is what this community is all
about.”
Leaders from the area,
including Pastor Bucky Beach
from Good Shepard Lutheran
Church in Houghton and
the president of Michigan
Technological University,
Richard Koubek, have been
outspoken about the issue.
The Hancock Police
Department shared with
Holden that an investigation is
under way.
“I spoke with Chief Butler
and he told me they were
examining our neighbors’
video cameras that might
have caught the activity,”
Holden said. “They are
reaching out to the FBI for
additional resources and
have been speaking with the
Houghton Police Department,
since our two communities
work closely together.”
Nazi Symbols
Hancock community rallies together
after synagogue was vandalized.
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
Jews in the D