New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney (D) said that Gov. Chris Christie (R) was “1000 percent wrong” in vetoing legislation expanding marriage to gay and lesbian couples on Friday and vowed to keep the question off of the ballot. “We got elected to make decisions. When the governor cut funding for sexually abused children, that didn’t go on the ballot. When he cut funding for visually impaired children, that didn’t go on the ballot. We get elected to make decisions and this is a decision we have to make,” Sweeney explained during an appearance on CNN this Sunday.
He also predicted that if Republicans could “vote their conscience,” the legislature would have the votes to override Christie’s veto. Last week, the Assembly passed marriage equality in a vote of 42-33, falling 12 votes shy of a two-thirds majority. The Senate was three votes short in its vote. The legislature has until 2014 to build a majority for same-sex marriage. Watch Sweeney’s remarks:
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