A large majority of the citizens
want Jane Swift to call the Legislature back for a
vote on the Protection of Marriage Amendment as required
under state law, according to a poll of 500 likely
voters conducted by The Tarrance Group on October
6-8 and commissioned by MassNews.
Some 64% of the voters favor a recall with only 14%
opposing and 22% unsure.
Only a small number of voters, 23%, had seen, read
or heard about the conduct of Senate President Tom
Birmingham, who ended the Constitutional Convention
without allowing a vote on the Amendment as he was
required to do under the state Constitution.
"This is going to be explosive when more people
start hearing about this," said J. Edward Pawlick,
Publisher of MassNews. "The number of people
who are outraged is going to increase dramatically."
He said that MassNews is helping to increase this
knowledge with a special issue which was just mailed
to a quarter-million activists across the state. In
addition, Mass. Citizens for Marriage is stepping
up its radio advertising across the state.
The surprising part about the support for a special
session was that it reached across the entire spectrum
with even a majority of Democrats (65%) and self-described
liberals (60%) supporting a special session. Some
61% of men favored the recall, while 67% of women
did.
In fact, a majority of likely
voters in every major demographic group supports a
special session to vote on the Protection of Marriage
Amendment.
Those who knew about Birmingham's illegal actions
favored a recall by 69% while those who had to be
told were only at 63%, which means that as more and
more people learn what happened, it is likely that
even more voters are going to favor a recall by the
Governor.
Only 19% agreed with Birmingham's decision not to
hold a vote.
Sidebar:
Difficult to Understand Republicans Romney and Swift
MassNews Staff
October 17, 2002
It's difficult to understand why
the Republicans are not pouncing on the illegal actions
of Sen. Birmingham and the Democratic Party, say the
pundits.
The survey shows that a resounding majority of likely
voters want Jane Swift to call the Legislature back
for a vote. In addition, the Attorney General's office
has said that the Governor is required under the Constitution
to do so. (It made that statement in its brief in
the suit against Birmingham by the President of Mass.
Citizens for Marriage, Sarah McVay Pawlick. The Governor.
is aware of the A.G.'s statement.)
She is causing embarrassment for her capable attorneys,
Steven Pierce and Jed Nosal, when she says that she
doesn't know what the law is.
So why is she not doing the lawful thing?
Most observers find this difficult to understand.
It is clear, they say, that Sen. Birmingham slipped
badly in the polls after he violated the law. His
negatives rose sharply and he came in a distant third
in the primary for Governor. Why would Jane Swift
want to risk the same fate?
The pundits also wonder why Republican Mitt Romney
is failing to take advantage of this serious mistake
by the Democrats. And why, when Shannon O'Brien made
a serious blunder on Tuesday and said she favors gay
marriage, did Romney only retort that she had changed
her mind again. Why didn't he embarrass her by asking
her position on finally taking a vote in the Legislature
on the Marriage Amendment as required under the law?
The voters are the ones to make this decision, not
Shannon O'Brien.
As more and more people learn about this serious violation
of our law, there will be many more outraged citizens.
They want to end the days of illegal, smoke-filled
rooms. The Republicans could ride this to victory
if they were smart, but that doesn't appear to be
the case, the experts are saying.
