A huge majority of Colorado voters support a bill to allow same-sex civil unions. With at least six Colorado House Republicans and the House Democratic caucus reportedly all backing the legislation — it enjoys clear majority support. Three House committees have endorsed the measure. The Senate has already passed it multiple times and Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) has promised to sign it.
But one man stands in the way of the bill’s passage: Romney-endorser and ALEC member Speaker Frank McNulty (R). After employing filibuster tactics last week to run out the clock on the bill without letting it have a floor vote, McNulty lamented reaching “an impasse” that required him sacrificing dozens of other bills. Incredibly, he blamed Senate Democrats for not getting the bill to the House early enough in the process — though that delay had come at the behest of a House Republican supporter. Gov. Hickenlooper called McNulty’s bluff last week, ordering a special session to give full consideration to civil unions and several other bills killed by McNulty’s parliamentary games.
McNulty announced he wanted the special session — which began today — to last just three days. Even though the bill has already cleared three committees, McNulty declared this afternoon that he would send civil unions to yet a fourth committee — the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, which has no jurisdiction over the matter. McNulty chose this committee as the apparent burial ground for the bill; none of the members of the Republican majority on the committee are supporters.
Even worse, he released a statement blasting Gov. Hickenlooper’s decision to allow the House the time McNulty had earlier lamented it needed to consider civil unions and other bills.
Make no mistake about it. Gov. Hickenlooper has called this Legislature into an expensive special session for the sole purpose of dividing Coloradans. Instead of using his authority and his bully pulpit to unify Coloradans behind a pro-growth agenda of economic recovery and job creation, he is using his authority to tear Colorado apart. Again. That’s where his priority is.
What had been a regular legislative session defined by remarkable bipartisan progress turned bitter and cold when Democrats brought the work of the state House of Representatives to a grinding halt by demanding that a bill creating same sex marriage [sic] in Colorado be prioritized and forced to the front of the line. It is unfortunate it happened, but it did.
Gov. Hickenlooper’s special session will not result in one more job being created, or making gasoline any cheaper.
Unlike President Obama, Gov. Hickenlooper and their campaign operatives, Colorado families aren’t preoccupied with promoting a divisive social agenda — because they have more pressing concerns.
After obstructing civil unions and other legislature, McNulty shows considerable gall, blaming others for his obstruction, and considerable ignorance, suggesting voters do not care about expanding civil rights for all Coloradans.
The House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee meets later today — seemingly to kill the civil unions bill. The voters of Colorado meet in November and observers expect they will likely respond by killing his one-seat GOP House majority and ending his reign as Speaker.