It got more than the minimum 25% (50 of 200) to go onto the 2007 ConCon for a similar vote. If it passes again, it will appear on the 2008 general election ballot. The vote was 132 against the amendment and 62 in favor. Thanks to the Fray for running the roll call.
Check BayWindows' live blogging for details on events leading up to the ConCon startup. I empathize for anyone else trying to follow on the State House's stream. It was intermittent and otherwise God awful.
P.M. Update
Go off with the family and what happens? The Globe reports that the ConCon reconsidered the amendment, which passed the second time with an extra vote 62 for and 134 against. It also notes:- This was a boost for the leaving governor, Willard Mitt Romney. It lets him put some additional distance and ups his right-wing cred.
- This ensures more agita and wasted time, money and effort this year and possibly next.
It did not note that the legislators who voted for the amendment to continue likely miscalculated. They have bought this bill of political goods high and are likely to sell at a loss. They will forever be associated with trying strip citizens of civil rights and trying to add discrimination into the commonwealth constitution. That plays well in Texas, but as voters increasingly favor marriage equality here, many of these bozos have put themselves in indefensible positions.
The new kid in town, incoming Governor Deval Patrick now faces this distraction and diversion. As the recap put it:
"I am disappointed by today's vote in the Constitutional Convention," Patrick said in a statement. "We have never used the initiative petition to limit individual freedoms and personal privacy, but today’s vote was a regrettable step in that direction.It's a disgrace, not irreversible, but dumb even for legislators.
"We have work to do over the next year to turn this around," Patrick continued. "I am heartened by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the members of the Legislature – a margin of over 2 to 1 -- voted to move on. I pledge to do what I can to build on that momentum, so that our Constitution will continue to stand for liberty and freedom, and not discrimination."
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, amendment, same sex marriage, ConCon
3 comments:
i felt like i was a teenager using my 14.4 dial up modem again!
I am holding off until the dust settles tomorrow. The next remark on my neglected patch will either be sweetness and light, or it may make some readers wish I had continued to shut my mouth. Film at 11...actually, after midnight.
All this talk by Romney and others about an oath bound duty of the legis to vote was proven to be pure bullshit today. Sure, they voted on teh marriage amendment, but they dodged a vote on the HC amendment. Yet NPR et al. regurgitate Romney's press statement that this was some huge victory for constitutional integrety. Make me puke. We can't let this fact die in the dust.
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