9 Dems Help Put Anti-Gay Proposition on AZ Ballot

Nine of the ten AZ senators who didn't show up for the vote to put a new anti-gay AZ constitutional amendment plan on the ballot were Democrats. They are:

Amanda Aguirre (D-24)
Marsha Arzberger (D-25)
Albert Hale (D-2)
Leah Landrum Taylor (D-16)
Debbie McCune Davis (D-14)
Richard Miranda (D-16)
Charlene Pesquiera (D-26)
Rebecca Rios (D-23)
Victor Soltero (D-29)

At least one of them opposes the measure to reserve the secular benefit of marriage to one man and one woman. She told me so, in person.

Yes, responsibility for this dangerous demagoguery belongs chiefly to AZ Republicans, who never miss a chance to demostrate their moral superiority by lying about and placing their feet on the necks of Arizonans (and others) they don't like.

But if we fail to hold these craven Democratic no-shows accountable for the assistance they provided by their absense, we do ourselves a disservice. If even six had voted "nay," this measure would have failed. After all, two similar measures failed: A more stringent version was defeated by AZ voters in 2006, and just days ago, a previous vote on SCR 1042 failed in this same chamber.

This time, however, Senate Republicans, bowing to the lowest common denominator--the un-American, pro-bigotry Center for Arizona Policy, led by "extremist fundamentalist" Cathi Herrod--maneuvered illegally to ram the measure through.

Even Republican Senate President Tim Bee (Tucson), "who had been trying to keep the proposed amendment off the calendar, lambasted the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), the right-wing lobbying group behind the marriage amendment, for what he described as their divisive tactics, hostility, coercion and threats," before "he publicly buckled under the pressure and became the constitutionally-mandated sixteenth vote to place the measure on the ballot."

Significantly, Bee's district defeated the 2006 measure. Bee is opposed this year by Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.

The measure came to a second vote thanks to cheating by "Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor (R-Gilbert) and Majority Whip John Huppenthal (R-Chandler), among others. [They] devised a scheme with committee chairman Jack Harper (R- rural District 4) to violate the rules of the Senate and the rights of [lesbian and gay] Senators [Paula] Aboud and [Ken] Cheuvront" during the pre-vote debate.

This Republican exercise in contempt for the voters ultimately allowed Republicans to ramrod the vote through the Senate before the session adjourned sine die.

Veteran political observers say the measure is being backed by Republicans as bait to attract lethargic GOP voters to the polls this November. They hope to drum up more votes for Bush clone Senator John McCain.