All eyes will be on Albany for the next couple days as the legislative session winds to an end. And, there are indications that the marriage bill may move in the New York State Senate. The Governor, Andrew Cuomo, is fired up and ready to go. And, when Cuomo gets fired up, he delivers. From the WSJ:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is signaling to state Senate Republicans that additional Democrats are lining up behind gay marriage, raising expectation that the administration will press ahead for a vote on a bill this week, according to lawmakers and strategists involved in the issue.This article contains a line we rarely see when it comes to politicians and their actual engagement with LGBT legislation:
Entering into the final sprint of the legislative session, which ends on June 20, behind-the-scenes maneuvering and speculation over the fate of same-sex marriage legislation have taken on a new intensity in Albany.
Lawmakers and others say privately that Mr. Cuomo is assuring Republicans that at least 28 of the 30 Democrats in the Senate are prepared to vote for a bill. And advocates for gay marriage say they have fresh indication from the Cuomo administration that the governor intends to advance a bill in coming days.
A first-term Democrat, Mr. Cuomo has invested heavily in the issue.Every indication I've gotten -- and continue to get -- is that Cuomo has invested heavily in the marriage debate. And, as I've said many times, Cuomo plays to win. He's setting a new standard.
We'll be monitoring this very closely. The next couple days could be historic.
The NYT has more on the Senate's "Undecided Eight." I think should listen to his mother:
State Senator Greg Ball worries that if he votes to legalize same-sex marriage, his father may never speak to him again.Don't be afraid. Do it. Get on the right side of history.
Senator James S. Alesi is agonized by a constituent’s simple plea: He wants someday to dance at his daughter’s wedding — but cannot, because she is gay.
And Senator Andrew Lanza keeps thinking about the words of his recently deceased mother, who urged him, despite his reservations, to back same-sex weddings.
“Be a leader,” she insisted. “Don’t be afraid. Do it.”
Conflicted and uneasy, they are members of a closely watched, endlessly lobbied and emotionally frazzled club in the State Senate these days: the Undecided Eight, whose votes will determine whether New York this year becomes the largest state in the nation to allow gay couples to wed.
