Posted on 09/09/2005 10:20:39 AM PDT by SmithL
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vow to veto a landmark same-sex marriage proposal this week -- saying it violated the will of the people -- has prompted the bill's authors to delay delivering the bill to the governor to give gay-rights advocates two weeks to bombard him with calls, e-mails and protests in a last-ditch effort to win support.
"The governor has said he supports the will of the people," said Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, one of the Legislature's six openly gay members. "Well, let the people call him, let the people e-mail him, let the people be heard. Then he can say he's following the will of the people."
The question of how Schwarzenegger, who for years had given mixed signals on his beliefs about same-sex marriage, declared so quickly he would veto the bill dominated the Capitol on Thursday.
After it was approved late Tuesday night, the bill, AB 849, was still being processed Wednesday and had not even been printed when Schwarzenegger's press secretary issued a statement that the governor would veto it. Schwarzenegger press secretary Margita Thompson said the late-day revelation should have come as no surprise because the governor has consistently said he believed voters had spoken when they approved Proposition 22 in 2000 that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Schwarzenegger, she said, had come to truly believe that approving same-sex marriage went against voters' desires.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who authored the bill, dismissed that explanation. Stunned by the announcement, Leno on Thursday blasted Schwarzenegger's decision as a shrewd political move to protect right-wing support for his Nov. 8 special election initiatives.
"It's transparent as can be," Leno said. "He is politically pandering to the very far right of this state. ... We would have appreciated the respect of having an opportunity to have him talk to our families and children so he could hear from their mouths the suffering they experience because of the current law."
Leno lobbied lawmakers Thursday to support a rare parliamentary procedure to hold the gay marriage bill from going to the governor's desk until next year. That effort appeared destined for failure late Thursday, but lawmakers did say they were prepared to delay the bill going to Schwarzenegger until Sept. 23, which could be done without any further action by the Assembly.
Among others, Leno said, Benjamin Lopez, Sacramento lobbyist for the Traditional Values Coalition, tipped the governor to act against the bill. "They threw a public tantrum and the governor jumped," Leno said.
Indeed, Lopez on Wednesday had threatened that if Schwarzenegger signed the bill many conservatives would stay home in protest and not vote on Nov. 8.
"It's an honor to be singled out," Lopez said, referring sarcastically to Leno's comment, "but it's not me who is out of the mainstream, it's Mark Leno and his fellow same-sex marriage advocates."
Lopez, who said he last spoke with the governor's office on Tuesday about the bill and at that time had no idea which way the governor would vote, had his own theory why the governor's office came out against gay marriage so quickly.
"I've been told the governor's phone lines literally shut down because they could not take the volume of calls coming into his office from both sides," Lopez said. The governor's office said it was unaware of any interruption in phone service and declined to say how many phone calls the office received, citing the calls as privileged communication with the governor.
Eddie Gutierrez, spokesman for Equality California, the state's largest gay-rights lobbying group, said Thursday the group is planning protests in Los Angeles and San Diego this weekend.
"One man cannot terminate the civil rights movement," Gutierrez said. "He will go down in history as the 'discriminator.'"
While speculation swirled about why the governor's office acted so quickly, the long-term political impact on a group of three Assembly Democrats who cast the deciding votes for gay marriage came sharply into focus Thursday.
Assemblyman Simon Salinas, D-Salinas, who along with Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, and Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, faced mounting criticism from conservative and religious groups in their districts.
The Monterey County Republican Party issued a statement saying Salinas' vote violated the will of his constituents, who overwhelmingly supported Prop. 22.
Salinas is termed out of the Assembly next year and planning to challenge Republican Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced. A Denham campaign consultant said Thursday he has no doubt Salinas' vote will become a campaign issue.
Salinas didn't either.
"I don't have any illusion that the opposition will certainly use this as a wedge issue to say that I'm too far out there," Salinas said. "But this is part of the job. ... People will have to look at who I am and what I stood for."
Freepers better counter the cries to support with calls and emails to veto!
Zelda... is that you?
Nothing is more vicious or more devious than an angry homosexual.
Rush was saying yesterday that the backers were saying that the bill was really only symbolic.
I hope Arnold stands firm.
It ain't over until it's over.
BG: Still got those contact numbers handy?
It looks like more phone calls, emails, and faxes are in order.
Someone please remind us...what was the vote tally for Prop 22?
Done!
4,579,386 / 61.2% Yes votes
2,897,689 / 38.8% No votes
Contact the Governor
Governor's Office
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov
To help us keep track of correspondence and to ensure that we are able to respond to California residents, please be sure to include your name and address when you communicate with the Governor's Office. We do not accept e-mail attachments.
District Offices
Fresno Office
2550 Mariposa Mall #3013
Fresno, CA 93721
Phone: 559-445-5295
Fax: 559-445-5328
Los Angeles Office
300 South Spring Street
Suite 16701
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone: 213-897-0322
Fax: 213-897-0319
Riverside Office
3737 Main Street #201
Riverside, CA 92501
Phone: 951-680-6860
Fax: 951-680-6863
San Diego Office
1350 Front Street
Suite 6054
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 619-525-4641
Fax: 619-525-4640
San Francisco Office
455 Golden Gate Avenue
Suite 14000
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415-703-2218
Fax: 415-703-2803
Washington D.C. Office
134 Hall of the States
444 North Capitol Street NW
Washington D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-624-5270
Fax: 202-624-5280
That's a laugh. The Rats are reactionaries who yearn for the days before the revolution of "We The People". The last thing Rat leaders want is to be ruled by the people. This bill is a case in point.
done ";^)
Me too! I guess there aren't too many supporters calling as I got a human on the phone after 2 rings.
veto email sent
CA bump!!!
Yeah, right. As in "POWER TO THE PEOPLE!"
"Stunned by the announcement, Leno . . ."
I call BS. I heard Leno the morning after the vote interviewed on the Armstrong & Getty show. He said there was a 50-50 chance that Arnold would sign the bill. Why would he then be "stunned" that he didn't?
Could he be a liar?
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