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Amendment Day
posted at 2007-03-06 23:55 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
It was one of the biggest rallies in recent memory at the legislature. Whether you believe the Capitol Police estimate of 5,000 to 6,000 or organizers' claim of 12,000, the fact remains there were a whole lot of people in the backyard on Jones Street today. The "Return America" Rally was generally billed as a mobilization day for Christian conservatives, but every attendee I talked to said they came for one reason - to support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage so no "activist judge" could undercut the definition of traditional marriage as one man and one woman.
It was an immaculately executed event - complete with a string quartet, pre-printed signs, a large-scale sound system, even a row of port-a-potties in front of the Education building. A dozen Republican lawmakers made appearances, talking about the churches they go to and blessing the crowd for showing up.
You can hear my story on it here.
Why now?
National and state polling shows dwindling concern about protecting traditional marriage. There's no imminent election to mobilize voters for. There's no challenge in the courts to the state's existing "defense of marriage" law. And there's no indication that either House Speaker Joe Hackney or Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight are rethinking their opposition to a constitutional amendment on it. So why bus in six thousand youth group members and evangelicals for no discernible cause and no plausible effect?
The most obvious answer is that Senator Fred Smith is running for governor, and this may well have been his unofficial campaign kickoff. He was in top form on the podium, where he took most of the credit for an amendment that Senator Jim Forrester's been running for years. From Smith's speech, you'd have thought it was his battle from the beginning - like this quote, where Smith compares his fight against gay marriage to abolitionist William Wilberforce's battle against slavery. It was one of those rhetorical moments that makes your head spin. But the audience loved it.
WIll it make any difference? Not in the legislature, where neither Hackney nor Basnight intends to bring the marriage amendment up for a vote. But it could give Smith a leg up with conservative GOP donors.
House rules
After more than an hour of debate and six-for-six failed GOP amendments, the House finally approved Speaker Hackney's proposal for permanent rules for the '07-'08 session. Best moment: Guilford Republican John "Diogenes" Blust excoriating his fellow lawmakers for being insufficiently dedicated to meaningful reform. (His fellow lawmakers didn't buy his argument or his amendment, but hey, no one can say he didn't try.)
Let your fingers do the walking
Senator Janet Cowell (D-Wake) is introducing a bill that would let consumers opt out of receiving stacks of unsolicited phone books. Print directories have mushroomed since industry deregulation in 1996, but so has use of online directories, which adds up to more and more phone books even as consumers are using them less and less. The result - stacks of wasted paper that recycling crews, at least in Cary, refuse to take. (Maybe that's another bill.) Cowell's press release is here.
Perdue and Daschle
Lieutenant Governor and current '08 gubernatorial frontrunner Bev Perdue is one of the headliners at this year's NC Sustainable Energy conference. She'll be sharing the keynoter spotlight with former US Senate (not House, as I said earlier - sorry!) Dem Leader Tom Daschle (SD). You can see the full release here.
Comments? Drop me a line.
