According to the Capital Confidential, a marriage equality bill will be introduced into the New York Senate today:
Cuomo's aides are planning to introduce the bill tonight, confident there are two more undeclared votes in the Senate.
This action was precipitated by the announcement earlier today that three on-the-fence Democratic Senators, Joseph Addabbo, Shirley Hunter, and Carl Kruger, would all vote for marriage equality, followed hours later by Republican Senator Jim Alesi announcing his support:
Sen. Jim Alesi, emerging from a meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy, said he will vote for same-sex marriage.
"It was very liberating," Alesi said, describing how anguishing it was to vote against the bill in 2009. "If you live in America, and you expect equality and freedom for yourself, you have to extend it to others."
Alesi is, at the moment, the sole Republican in the New York State Senate to support marriage equality. With Alesi's vote and all but one Democrat behind the bill, two more Republicans are needed to get to the 32 votes required for passage.
Governor Cuomo, weeks ago, had said that the bill would not be introduced unless the votes were there.
So does this mean 'game over, we won' ? Not so fast.
The New York State Senate is controlled by Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican who is not in favor of marriage equality. Months ago Skelos stated that he would allow a conscience vote on the matter. Since then he has backpedalled at least twice that I've noted. His latest finesse is to claim that he has to discuss the vote with his caucus:
It's still unclear if the bill will be brought to the floor; Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said members will discuss potential floor action on Tuesday.
Until a vote is actually held, there is no good reason I can think of to believe that Skelos will allow one, unless and until he has signed his name in blood to some kind of deal with Governor Cuomo (perhaps for a property tax cap bill that is under consideration, or some kind of redistricting agreement?)
And no one can discount the opposition at this point:
Rev. Jason McGuire, the executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, who oversees a loosely organized interfaith effort to oppose same-sex marriage, dismisses the notion that there has been any consequential movement among Republicans as "a puff piece for the media."
The strategy for McGuire at this late hour is to simply "run out the clock" --emphasize that other items on the governor's agenda, like an ethics overhaul and property tax relief, are more important to New Yorkers than same-sex marriage.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has purchased at least a half million dollars worth of television ads... and pledges to spend $1.5 million to defeat legislators who vote for the bill.
If the bill does pass the Senate despite the expected counterattacks, we are assured that it will also pass the Assembly and be signed by Governor Cuomo. (Of course, we all remember what happened in Maryland, where passage was also all-but-assured in the lower house once it passed the Senate...)
So the situation remains in limbo, but at least it is a limbo that, unlike the Hotel California, looks more like this could heaven, not this could be hell.
If and if the bill passes
-- New York will have become the fourth state to have enacted marriage equality legislatively (Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine being the others, although Maine's law was overridden by a people's veto referendum).
-- New York will also become the seventh state to have marriage equality in effect at some point (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and California being the others, along with the District of Columbia).
-- With the addition of New York, representing more than 6% of the nation's population, more than 11% of the country would be living in jurisdictions with marriage equality.
Passage in New York would likely help efforts in other states:
-- providing a fresh impetus in the Maryland House for early 2012, which failed to take a vote some months ago.
-- giving a boost to those in California and Oregon who hope to put a ballot initiative legalizing same-sex marriage on the ballot in 2012.
-- giving psychological support to those in Minnesota who are organizing to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
-- giving hope to those in Washington State, Delaware, Illinois, and Hawaii who want to see their states convert civil unions into full marriage equality.
What you can do:
Here is a list of seven potential Republican aye votes for marriage equality, as reported by Prop 8 Trial Tracker:
Name |
SD |
Location |
Phone |
Greg Ball |
40 |
Putnam County |
(518) 455-3111 |
Joe Griffo |
47 |
Utica |
(518) 455-3334 |
Mark Grisanti |
60 |
Buffalo, Niagara Falls |
(518) 455-3240 |
Andrew Lanza |
24 |
Staten Island |
(518) 455-3215 |
Betty Little |
45 |
North Country |
(518) 455-2811 |
Jack Martins |
7 |
Nassau County/Garden City |
518-455-3265 |
Roy McDonald |
43 |
Troy, Saratoga Springs |
(518) 455-2381 |
You can also use
this tool, courtesy of US Senator Gillibrand, to locate and call your NY State Senator if you live anywhere in New York.
4:41 PM PT:
The senate was due back in session Monday night. Given the prescribed waiting period for legislation sent under ordinary, non-emergency circumstances, if the governor were to send a bill by midnight Monday, the earliest it would be likely to receive a vote is Thursday, said sources familiar with the process.
http://www.advocate.com/...
5:02 PM PT: You can also send a thank you note to Alesi:
James Alesi (55, Rochester suburbs) (518) 455-2015