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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJune 10th, 2009
New York is still in a whirl over the Republican coup in the Senate. And with Democrats locking refusing to concede and locking the doors of the chamber, uncertainty reigns. Republicans are planning on calling the Senate to order, even if they have to do so in a park.
Naturally, amidst the turmoil rumors of all sorts abound. And many of them involve the gay marriage bill.
Perhaps the most startling is the idea that Republicans may be wooing Democrats by promising to pass the marriage bill. (NY Times)
One of the senators who is believed to be considering breaking ranks with the Senate Democratic conference, Thomas K. Duane of Manhattan, would not say Tuesday where he planned to cast his political allegiance. “I am not considering anything but trying to get passed all the legislation I\’ve spent my whole life fighting for,” he said. Mr. Duane, who did not attend meetings with his Democratic colleagues on Tuesday, said he had spent all day in discussions with senators from both parties.
Mr. Duane did not attend the meeting of Democrats on Wednesday morning, and he has not been seen in the Capitol since Monday.
City Hall News takes the story further
But the scuttlebutt among several lawmakers and aides, which many of Duane’s colleagues and supporters seem to believe, is that he is hashing out a deal with the Senate Republicans to bring a bill legalizing same-sex marriage to the floor for a vote.
That would not surprise those close to Duane, who say the Manhattan Democrat is committed above all else to passing same-sex marriage legislation before the end of the session—even if it means joining the coalition majority, some of whose members “he despises,” according to one close friend and adviser. Cooperating with Republicans would offer Duane the opportunity to pass landmark civil rights legislation that could have ripple effects across the country.
They provide some history
The move would not surprise Republicans, either. GOP leaders, including then-Majority Leader Dean Skelos, courted Duane intensively as early as December of last year, according to a Republican official familiar with the conversations.
At the time, Smith was struggling to appease a group of dissident Democrats who were threatening to throw their support behind the Republicans. One, Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., tried to extract from Smith a promise not to bring the same-sex marriage bill to the floor for a vote.
As Smith mulled that deal, Republicans reached out to Duane, enticing him with the possibility of bringing gay marriage to the floor themselves and, with his support, passing the bill. Duane ultimately rebuffed those overtures after Smith rejected the terms of Diaz\’s deal.
The plan some Republicans had hatched involved letting a handful of their safer and more moderate members, such as Sen. Betty Little, vote along with most of the Democratic conference in favor of the gay marriage bill. That way, Republicans would co-opt a key plank in the Democrats\’ platform and claim that they had succeeded where the Democrats had failed.
Republicans now appear to have resurrected those plans in a political maneuver they feel would neutralize a key voting bloc and further debilitate a wounded Democratic conference.
There is even speculation that Duane is willing to change party registration.
If any of this is true, it would be perhaps one of the strangest political turns that I’ve seen.
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Bruno
June 10th, 2009
If Duane were to “cross over,” wouldn’t that piss off the majority of the Democratic senators enough to vote AGAINST marriage because of the shenanigans? What a mess over there.
Scott
June 10th, 2009
And leave them explaining to the gay donors how they turned down a chance to bring marriage equality to New York? AWESOME.
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