Whether you support same sex “marriage” in our state or not, you should be appalled at the utter contempt our elected so called “representatives have for “we the people” who pay their salaries and benefits by not fulfilling their constitutional responsibility to vote up or down on the ballot initiative. The Wall st. Journal editorial board sums up the current situation and Jan 2nd vote at the Constitutional Convention (subs req):
The constitution only requires that 25% of both houses of the legislature vote to put the measure on the ballot, a bar set deliberately low to ensure that the people would have their say in all but the most extreme cases. But the legislature has so far refused to vote on the measure at all. In November, its members recessed until next Tuesday, the last day of the current legislative session, and to all appearances the politicians intend to adjourn the session without voting on the measure at all — thus letting it die.
Departing Governor Mitt Romney has threatened to withhold approval of legislators’ raises for next year unless they vote on the initiative, but this has purely symbolic value. Thanks to a voter-passed constitutional amendment from 1998, legislators are guaranteed raises every two years. Yet this is that same constitutional-amendment procedure that is now being flouted by legislators who lack the votes to defeat the measure on a straight vote.
The petitioners sued the legislature for abrogating its constitutional duty, and the state Supreme Judicial Court took the case. In its ruling this week, it agreed that the legislature’s duty to vote on the measure was “unambiguous.” But it claimed to be powerless to compel a vote. So the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, whose own arrogation of power created this mess, has suddenly discovered the limits of its power to clean it up.
All in all, this is quite the political spectacle. First judges usurp the power of the legislature to dictate their own social policy. Then the legislature uses a procedural ruse to deny voters a say on the gay-marriage issue. And these are some of the same people who say Iraqis aren’t ready for democracy.
And people wonder why residents of the Commonwealth continue to flock to other more family and business friendly states?