Douglas vows to veto marriage bill
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Gov. James Douglas announces his intentions to veto legislation making same-sex marriage legal in Vermont during a news conference in Montpelier. JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR/TIMES ARGUS |
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By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau - Published: March 26, 2009
MONTPELIER – Governor James Douglas said Wednesday he will veto the same-sex marriage bill if it comes to his desk.
The four-term Republican governor has never made a veto threat before, but said he worried that speculation over what he would do has become a distraction at the Vermont Statehouse.
"For those reasons and because I believe that by removing any uncertainty about my position we can move more quickly beyond this debate, I am announcing that I intend to veto this legislation when it reaches my desk," Douglas told reporters during a hastily called press conference.
Douglas' opposition to same-sex marriage was not a surprise – but his veto threat was. His announcement ends weeks of speculation as to what he would do with the legislation, which many expect will pass the Democratically controlled Vermont House next week. The bill was easily approved in a 26-4 vote by the Vermont Senate on Monday.
But his announcement also comes at the start of the bill's legislative process in the Vermont House. That chamber's Judiciary Committee began testimony on the bill Tuesday and is expected to vote next week.
Statehouse Democrats were surprised by the governor's announcement and accused him of trying to influence the legislative process before much of the testimony in the House committee had even begun.
House Speaker Shap Smith, a Morristown Democrat, said Douglas was "subverting the legislative process."
Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said veto threat or not – same-sex marriage won't go away as an issue until it is approved by the Legislature and signed into law.
Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, a Windham County Democrat, had some of the harshest criticism of Douglas. He said the legislative hearings have been cordial – until the governor injected politics and his veto threat into the equation.
He urged supportive Vermonters to begin pressuring Douglas into allowing the bill to become law.
"You can't veto love between two people," Shumlin said. "You can't veto two people's desire to enter into a lifelong, loving marriage."
Rep. William Lippert, D-Hinesburg, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said same-sex marriage hearings in his committee would continue despite the veto threat. Civil rights for gay and lesbian Vermonters is an issue that touches the hearts of Vermonters, he said, including his own.
"We will continue our work and we will finish our work," Lippert said. "And we will bring a marriage equality bill to the floor of the House."
Douglas, who took office three years after lawmakers passed Vermont's first-in-the-nation civil union law, said Wednesday that he believes marriage is a union between one man and one woman.
He also repeated his belief that the debate is a distraction for lawmakers, who he says should be focusing on economic issues. But he acknowledged that the bill was moving along the legislative process and said lawmakers should vote their conscience.
"I have Republican friends who will vote for this bill and Democratic friends who will vote against – and regardless of their vote, they will still be my friends and have my respect when this issue is resolved," Douglas said.
The governor also said Wednesday that he believes Democrats and other same-sex marriage supporters in the Legislature have the votes to override his veto.
That's not clear, however. While the Senate would likely have the votes to override the veto, House Democrats have never overridden one of Douglas' vetoes with its loose coalition of party members, Progressives and independents.
Veto overrides require the approval of two-thirds of the legislative body. In the Senate, that's easy: Democrats hold 23 seats compared with the seven for the Republicans. In the House, Democrats hold 95 seats, the Republicans have 48, the Progressives have five and there are two independents.
Statehouse Democrats on Wednesday would not say if they have counted votes for an override. Smith said they are focusing on the committee deliberations and then a possible floor debate first.
"We haven't even actually passed the bill," he said. "We shouldn't be talking about whether we can override a veto."
Douglas' announcement surprised Beth Robinson, an attorney with the group Vermont Freedom to Marry, who successfully argued the court case leading to civil unions in the late 1990s. She said his veto will put the governor on the "wrong side of history."
"I want to avoid the game of jumping ahead," she said. "The bill is still in the committee process. I'm taking this one day at a time."
Steve Cable of Rutland, the spokesperson for the organization Vermont Renewal, which is opposed to same-sex marriage, said that when he heard Douglas' announcement Wednesday, the first thing he did was call the governor's office and thank him.
"I'm pleased that he has taken a stand on this issue," Cable said. "I'm hoping his directness on this matter will encourage people to do the right thing."
Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who supported the same-sex marriage bill, said he was "somewhat surprised" that Douglas broke tradition by issuing a veto threat.
Mullin, who had also pushed the option of a non-binding town meeting referendum on same-sex marriage, said he thinks Douglas' announcement will influence votes in the Vermont House – although he wouldn't say in which direction.
"Politically speaking, I think I understand his move," Mullin said. "I think it will influence some decisions."
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.
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