DimAsi to be honored by MGLPC

Sal Dimasi to be Honored by State's Most Important Homosexual Group Tomorrow Night
               Sal DiMasi will be attending the annual fundraiser of the most important homosexual group in the state, the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, tomorrow night.
              Harry Collings in Boston's Back Bay is hosting the party at his home, which, according to the invitation, is to “celebrate our override victories and thank Sal for his outstanding leadership on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual issues.”
               The group is also asking for donations to help their political caucus. The invitation is signed by Arline Isaacson & Gary Daffin, Co-Chairs of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus.
               Last week, the group spearheaded override votes of the Governor’s vetoes of hundreds of thousands of dollars for gay programs in the public schools.
               Last Wednesday night, the House initially sustained the Governor's veto of a new “Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth” because DiMasi was unable to obtain 2/3 vote in order to overturn the veto, gay activists wanted the new Commission to be ndependent of normal government oversite and pleaded for DiMasi's help. At that point, DiMasi called for a 15-minute recess. He strong-armed several members to change their votes and was able to overturn the veto.
              When the second vote was finally taken, Democrat Reps. Callahan, Kennedy, Koczera, Spiliotis, Tobin and Welch had switched their votes from “No” to “Yes”. Pedone and Deleo who abstained on the first vote, weighed in this time with a “Yes”. Rep. O’Flaherty, who had voted “No” in the initial vote, was convinced by DiMasi to sit this one out. The Speaker had his override with the final count being 104-44. No one knows exactly what the Speaker did to get the reps to change their votes.

Click Here to See the Roll Call of the First Vote
Click Here to See the Roll Call for the Second Vote