Senate Marriage Equality Press Conference

Thank you! (0.00 / 0)

NJ Senate for doing the right thing for civil rights. Onto the Assembly Thursday!

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by: Marie Corfield @ Tue Feb 14, 2012 at 03:07:55 AM UTC

Lobby Senator Kip Bateman hard for the veto-override (4.00 / 1)

After watching the Mike Schneider interview with Senator Kip Bateman on NJTV iit becomes abundantly clear that Bateman supports marriage equality but voted against it because certain forces that be (cough...Christie...cough) pressured him to vote against it today.  I definitely think that with enough pressure from Garden State Equality and the constituents of the 16th Legislative District we could get Kip Bateman to be one of the three additional Senators to vote in favor of a veto-override and bring the total number up from 24 to 27.  Back in November Bateman only won the election by 10 points (55% for Bateman and 45% for Democrat Maureen Vella) which was the closest election he's ever run in, in one of the few competitive districts in NJ.  If the people in the 16th District lobby him hard for equality (that means especially in places like South Brunswick, Princeton, Montgomery, and Hillsborough) then I could see him voting for marriage equality.  Marie-since you ran and live in the 16th District do you think it would be possible to get enough constituents there to lobby Sen. Bateman and get him to vote for an override of Christie's veto? Here is the link to the NJTV interview with Senator Bateman: http://www.njtvonline.org/njto...

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by: zi985 @ Tue Feb 14, 2012 at 03:15:59 AM UTC

Bateman is a wimp! (0.00 / 0)

He is for marriage equality, but doesn't want to vote for what he wants because he fears Christie more than his constituents and his own conscience! Say what?

He deserves a full court press!

"Discrimination caused by ignorance and fear is a tax on human progress" - Barbra Casbar Siperstein

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by: Babs NJSD @ Tue Feb 14, 2012 at 03:32:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Getting to 27 (4.00 / 1)

I looked on the State Senate website and it did not show the roll call vote.

I was wondering who the 5 most likely switches might be and if Blue Jersey could list them.  I'd write to each one of those 5.

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by: SGlennW @ Tue Feb 14, 2012 at 15:11:03 PM UTC

Here's the Vote (0.00 / 0)

Yes:
Allen
Beach
Beck
Buono
Codey
Cunningham
Gill
Gordon
Greenstein
Lesniak
Madden
Norcross
Pou
Ruiz
Sacco
Sarlo
Scutari
Smith
Stack
Sweeney
Turner
Vitale
Weinberg
Whelan

No:
Addiego
Bateman
Bucco
Cardinale
Connors
Doherty
Holzapfel
Kean, T
Kyrillos
Oroho
O'Toole
Pennacchio
Rice
Singer
Thompson
Van Drew

Blog: http://www.deciminyan.org

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by: deciminyan @ Tue Feb 14, 2012 at 15:40:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Van Drew maybe (0.00 / 0)

I think the key to flipping his vote (as conservative as his district is) is to point out the economic impact of marriage equality.  

With his district including tourist traps like Wildwood and Cape May, I could see it as a real wedding destination.  I think the way to get to him is to approach business owners in his district of anything that will benefit from a wedding (DJs, caterers, bakeries, florists, hotels, etc) and have them send in letters of support about how marriage equality will bring money to the district.

http://outspokenliberal.blogsp...

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by: tabbycat31 @ Tue Feb 14, 2012 at 20:13:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Van Drew = Good Person (0.00 / 0)

Unlike Rice,I think Van Drew has a true conviction.That said,I believe that if the Assembly has enough votes to override and the Senate gets to 26 ......

He is a good person...

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by: firstamend07 @ Wed Feb 15, 2012 at 11:11:08 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

George Washington (0.00 / 0)

George Washington was a "good person", too. But he was a slaveowner. That does not make slavery right. And Van Drew's support of marriage discrimination does not make him a bad person. But he's wrong on this issue and if he doesn't vote to override, he will be remembered as being on the wrong side of history.

Blog: http://www.deciminyan.org

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by: deciminyan @ Wed Feb 15, 2012 at 13:55:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]