Well, now it appears that Tom Duane, among other Dems, may be jumping ship and accepting the new Republican leadership.
This from the 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 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 is the sponsor of legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in New York. He has been working to garner the 32 votes necessary to pass the bill, and said he would continue to do so.
Republicans are probably dangling the same-sex marriage vote in front of Duane in an attempt to influence him.
Basically, the Republicans have played the Democrats like a fiddle or the suckers they seem to be at this point.
7 comments:
After this display of pandering to one group at the expense of others, I hope Mr. Duane doesn't expect to get re-elected. I don't think that there will be enough gay couples to carry him through the election without anybody else voting for him!
I feel Duane's pain. He would love to go down in the history books as having been one of the important people to get passage of the same-sex marriage law, and it obviously means much to him, and many of his constituents, personally.
This is where the Republicans have him by the short hairs, and where such tactics pit people on the same side against each other, because of individual interests.
I'm sorry, but what's more important - a million plus RS households losing their homes, or gay marriage?
If I'm not mistaken NYS already recognizes same-sex civil unions, so the whole marriage issue is merely symbolic, no?
I'm not saying that Duane should choose a same-sex marriage law over tenants rights, but, if a choice had to be made by him, it's understandable why he'd make it for the former rather than the latter. Yes, tenant rights are more imperative, and the tenants rights issue has a greater umbrella than a same-sex marriage law. But a lot these days revolves around identity politics, unfortunately.
If this guy sells us out for the sake of his own special interest gay marriage agenda, he had better hope that there are enough gay marrieds to re-elect him. I doubt there will be, but there will be a hell of a lot of renters who will be lining up to vote him OUT! He will really find out what OUT means come the next election!
I understand Duane's personal interest in gay marriage and if he was a private citizen -more power to him.
But he is our State Senator who for years has whined to us that if only the Dems could gain a majority in the State Senate then we would have true RS reform.
He is a public servant first and if he decides to put his personal interests first, then he should resign as State Senator and become a lobbyist for gay marriage. And if he sides with the Republicans, we should have a meeting to find an opponent to run against him next year. I , for one, will campaign vigorously against him
Mr. Duane may very well end up doing more harm than good to his campaign for gay marriage, not to mention his own career as a politician. He is shooting himself in the foot, as it were.
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