Birmingham Lost Governorship Due To Illegal Vote

MN Staff
October 2002 Print Edition

Sen. Birmingham lost his bid to be Governor and finished third in the primary because of his illegal actions against the Protection of Marriage Amendment, most pundits agree.

But you will never read that in the Boston Globe because they do not want to admit it is true.

Birmingham does not disagree with this analysis and told Bay Windows before the primary, "I'm a big boy. I took a stand fully knowing what the reaction of the other side would be and would have to be completely removed from the process not to know. I got all the e-mails and everything else beforehand, so this reaction doesn't surprise me. It doesn't faze me either."

His negative ratings rose sharply after his failure to call a vote on the Amendment as required under the state Constitution. After he postponed the vote on June 19 and then adjourned the Constitutional Convention on July 17 without a vote on the Amendment, he began to slip in the polls and his negative ratings rose. He never recovered.

He says he is a "leader" as a result of breaking the law. "There's no point in having a position of leadership if you're not going to exercise that leadership in a way that's consistent with your values."

The newspaper which reported his statement, Bay Windows, put it this way. "In fact, Birmingham said he never doubted his actions on the amendment proposal. 'I really didn't because of two things. One is, I, as president of the Senate, I'm presiding officer of the convention,' he explained. 'There's no point in having a position of leadership if you're not going to exercise that leadership in a way that's consistent with your values. I don't want that to sound arrogant - I don't have a monopoly on all the right ideas but I had no question about what was the right way to dispose of this mean-spirited attempt to amend our constitution. So what's the point of being in a position like mine if you can't do what you think is the right thing when the opportunity arises?

"'Secondly,' he continued, 'and as corny as this sounds, I think the best way to advance yourself politically is to do the best you can in the position you're in. I did what I thought was right in the position I'm in.'"

Birmingham's conduct is especially troublesome when it wasn't his values that were driving him - but the desire to keep his union bosses happy. Everyone knows that Birmingham did what he did because he was being pressured by the unions and other extreme liberal groups, which have both money and power.

But observers say it doesn't faze him because he knows the unions will continue to take care of him They wonder what kind of message that sends to law-abiding citizens who try to follow the rules.

He got a small part of his reward when some gay groups gave him $13,000 at a ceremony last month. The large homosexual group, Human Rights Campaign, obtained $275,000 in Boston last fall towards its $8 million budget after a banquet here. How much of that goes back to Massachusetts politicians is unknown, but most agree it is considerable.

It Has Hurt Him

Bay Windows said, "Birmingham, who has consistently polled third behind O'Brien and Reich, acknowledged that he has 'taken some hits' because of his stance against the ballot initiative-negative e-mails, hate mail, jeers along the campaign trail - but he's long since given up on pleasing everyone. 'This is one of those issues that if people choose to reject my candidacy over it, I'll sleep at night knowing I did what I thought was right in my heart. What I couldn't bear to do would be to take a poll or to put my finger to the wind and behave accordingly and then find out I had the wrong pollster or the wind changed. If you do what you believe is right - and I want to win this election - but this is what I thought was right, if people want to reject me because of that, I can live with that. I'll sleep at night."

Lawsuit Another Bother

As for the lawsuit which has been filed against Birmingham in the Supreme Judicial Court by Mass. Citizens for Marriage to clarify his responsibilities when the Referendum comes before him again this year, Bay Windows reported this:

"And now he's been slapped with a lawsuit by the Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage, the sponsors of the initiative, both personally and in his capacity as Senate president. The MCM has asked the Supreme Judicial Court to clarify whether Birmingham acted illegally in adjourning the convention. The candidate, however, is unmoved by the legal action. 'I'm being sued not only institutionally but personally, which I interpret as an effort to intimidate me and try to pressure me to change my position - it's not going to happen,' he asserted. 'It's not going to happen. And I think to the extent that I'm named personally it's frivolous. But you know it's certainly not going to have the desired effect. And so we'll deal with that and get that disposed of, I'm quite confident.

Sen. Chandler's Committee Chosen as Most Partisan

The Amendment was sent by Birmingham to Harriet Chandler's "Public Service Committee" because it was "the one most likely to give it an unfavorable review," according to Bay Windows. Sen. Chandler (D-Worcester) was named by him as Chair because she is a "strong opponent of the proposal."

The paper reported that Birmingham was the one who "engineered" the vote to adjourn the July Constitutional Convention without a debate or vote on the Amendment.