Reporter Mark Binker at the Greensboro News & Record has an analysis of how the votes might square on a marriage amendment in the N.C. General Assembly this September. Rumor is that such an amendment will be among several lawmakers will take up.
Binker points out an interesting disparity: some Democrats will probably vote for the amendment because they hail from conservative-ish districts, while some Republicans will be hard pressed to do so because they hail from more liberal urban districts. Most attention is focused on the House side, where Republicans don’t have a two-thirds majority.
On the Senate side, though, I found one facet interesting. Sen. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson, didn’t sign on as a co-sponsor of the Senate version this year. But during the last session of the General Assembly, he did.
Bingham, of course, is most known (in recent memory, anyway) for “walking” on a vote on the Woman’s Right to Know bill relating to abortion. His absence made it possible for the Senate to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto. Bingham had initially voted against the bill, but decided to pass rather than vote against his party to sustain Perdue’s veto.
That being the case, it’ll be interesting to see whether Bingham is uncomfortable with another hotly contested social issue like same-sex marriage — and whether his vote reflects that.
Not to be too cynical (OK, I take that back), but I’m sure some lawmakers (both Democrats and Republicans) signed on as co-sponsors of the marriage amendment in past years because there was zero chance it would pass under a Democratic majority. Now that there’s the likelihood it will pass — and their votes will be recorded — it’s a different game.
Plus, as Binker points out, co-sponsoring a bill doesn’t always mean a lawmaker will vote for it in the end.
