MD House Recesses Rather Than Vote On Gay Marriage Amendment

I have often heard of arguments that the Republicans in Congress and the White House routinely use majoritarian devices to block action on unpopular legislation, or legislation that would hurt them politically. If true, the GOP does not have a stranglehold on such tactics.

Yesterday, the Speaker of Maryland's House of Delegates, Michael Busch (D-Anne Arundel) abruptly recessed the chamber in order to avoid a vote on a "gay marriage" bill that would turn into a referendum to be presented to the Voters in November. What was Busch's motivation? Probably because putting such a referendum on the ballot would energize conservatives in teh state, at a time when Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich is on the ballot and his Lt. Governor, Michael Steele is running for the Senate.

Nobody can accuse Busch of being stupid, but this may be over the top:

Democratic lawmakers in Maryland, determined to avoid a vote on homosexual "marriage" in an election year, closed the House yesterday to quash a constitutional amendment endorsing traditional marriage.

In a move unprecedented in the modern history of the General Assembly, House Speaker Michael E. Busch abruptly recessed the chamber to block a vote on a proposed amendment that would define marriage as a union only of one man and one woman.

The Democratic speaker's action allowed the House Judiciary Committee to kill the proposal later yesterday, likely preventing it from being voted on by the full House this session.

"It's game-playing," said Delegate Anthony J. O'Donnell, Southern Maryland Republican and minority whip. "It is one more example of unchecked power by a [Democratic] majority that has been in control of the House for 180 years."

[Snip]

Mr. Busch also said the amendment would be debated today on the House floor.

But tensions escalated when Judiciary Committee Democrats changed the amendment's bill to include civil unions as an equivalent to "marriage" for same-sex couples.

The change passed 11-10, and three Democrats -- Delegates Kevin Kelly of Allegany County, Darryl A. Kelley of Prince George's County and Theodore Sophocleus of Anne Arundel County -- joined Republicans in opposition to it.

The committee then sent the rewritten bill to the full House with a unanimous, unfavorable report. Such a report renders a House bill dead, notwithstanding a complicated parliamentary move to resurrect it.

"[Democrats] went through great political gyrations to get around what should have been a straightforward process," said Delegate Michael D. Smigiel Sr., Eastern Shore Republican and committee member. "They were more interested in protecting their political party than in letting Marylanders vote on this important issue."

There are two problems Busch and the Democrats face with this move.

First, such a move is seen, even by members of his own party to be some what anti-democratic. To put a constitutional amendment on the ballot would require a 3/5 vote of both the House of Delegates and the State Senate, a tough bar when Democrats have very solid majorities in both chambers. By making this move, it signals that Busch either doesn't have the votes or doesn't want to put the more socially conservative members of his caucus in a position to have to vote for or against the bill. The result could be a large number of socially conservative Democrats in Maryland voting Republican because they feel as though they have been robbed of an opportunity to make decisions for themselves.

Second, the Washington Times cites a Rasmussen poll that notes 54% of Marlyanders approve of a ban on same-sex marriage. In a state that is about 65% Democratic, that is a big number. Again, the electoral politics of the issue are clear, Democrats cannot win on this issue without a solid majority opposed to same-sex marriage, and such support is not apparent.

The truly interesting issue is going to be how the 30% of blacks in Maryland feel about the parliamentary move. Aside from Mississippi, no state has a higher percentage of blacks than Maryland. Yet, blacks tend to be pretty conservative on this issue. The large black churches in Maryland, particularly in Prince George's County, tend to be socially conservative on issues of gay marriage and abortion. This issue, if allowed to go onto the ballot, could be a killer for the Democrats statewide, and certainly a boost for Michael Steele, a conservative black Republican.

Granted, most people are not going to understand the parliamentary manuever, but if the GOP plays its cards properly, which they appear to have done by getting the bill this far, they can still galvanize support among the conservative community and the swing voters who trend socially conservative, and ride this wave to victory.