Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Coup in New York legislature endangers same-sex marriage vote
by Larry Geller
The New York state legislature was poised to vote on same-sex marriage legislation. It was supposed to be decided any day now.
But on Monday, two conservative Democratic senators from New York City voted with the 30 Republicans to reorganize the Senate, and in doing so switched the GOP to the majority. The excuse was legislative reform, but that’s hard to swallow, especially since in the 40 years the Republicans were in power, they didn’t often acknowledge the need for reform.
No, as far as I can tell from all the way out in the Pacific Ocean, it may have been an attempt to kill the same-sex marriage vote.
Sen. Espada, one of the two defectors, was made Senate president, second in line to the governor, as a reward. He has said he would like same-sex marriage to come up for a vote, but we’ll see. Now the Republicans control what comes and goes from committee and what will come up for a vote.
The New York State legislature is considered by many to be the country’s most dysfunctional. A Brennen Center for Justice study confirmed this.
It’s not over in New York. There may be a challenge. If you’re curious, google for recent articles. Read about how the Dems actually turned the lights out so that the Republicans couldn’t take over. Yes, dysfunctional is the word for it.
Maybe we have a pretty good bunch of lawmakers here in Hawaii. Reading about New York makes me appreciate them more. Seriously.
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