Once again, Republicans decide to vote against a bill, seemingly because Democrats are for it. It happened with the stimulus bill, it’s happening with health care, and it just happened with the vote to allow gay marriage in New York State, which was defeated 38-24.
What confounds me is that the Assembly voted for it three times since June of 2007. This last vote didn’t even warrant much debate. Governor Patterson said he would sign it into law, and he even encouraged the Senate to bring the bill to the floor (which in itself was apparently a major victory.) And the majority of New Yorkers (not just residents of New York City, but of New York State) support gay marriage (Daily News, April 20, 2009). Of course, that vote is split by political party.
Maybe that’s the problem. Even though polls consistently show that a majority of Americans are in favor of thus-and-such, it’s mainly Democrats that are in favor, and their senators/assemblymen/congressmen vote likewise. All the Republicans are honoring their constituents who are opposed, and without full Democratic support (which is bound to happen,) bills that should be obviously voted into law end up rejected.
And I’m proud to say that both my Assemblyman and my Senator voted in favor of gay marriage. I just wish the rest of them would get with the program. I mean, if I can marry another woman in Iowa, how come I can’t in New York?
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
The NY Senate is a mess. But I’m blaming Hiram Monserrate for this one. What an odious man! Scuttlebutt around the situation (and I don’t know how accurate it is) is that the bill’s sponsors secured enough votes in a semi-bipartisan fashion. But at the end, enough Democrats flipped their vote to no that there weren’t enough Republicans in favor for the bill to pass it. And when that happened the Republicans in favor didn’t want to risk their seats for a failed bill. As much as I wish they had some courage for my rights, I can’t really blame them to much. And if all of that is true, it re-highlights the thorough fucked-up-ness of the Senate, which is, well, thoroughly fucked up.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Don’t get me started on Monserrate. He and Pedro Espada, Jr. shouldn’t be in the senate at all, after that “look at me!” ploy they started in June. Not that anyone else was blameless in that coup. And you are correct in the fact that there were senators who said they would support it and ultimately opposed it.
One of the senators was quoted on NPR saying that the fact that a bill (not this particular bill, any bill) was brought to the floor was excellent. Of course, I can’t find the exact quote, but it just shows (yet again) how utterly useless the NY Senate is.