Weinberg to Sweeney: honor your committment on marriage equality

By Matt Friedman | November 18th, 2009 - 5:39pm
| More

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) wants Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) to “honor the commitment he made to me” on the marriage equality bill she sponsors.  

Weinberg issued a statement this evening in response to Sweeney’s comment at the League of Municipalities today that “the main issue right now is the economy” and the senate should consider the gay marriage bill at an unspecified later time.

“As the prime sponsor of the Marriage Equality Act, I am urging our current Majority Leader to honor the commitment he made to me to move this important civil rights bill forward. We have the ability in the legislature to talk about this bill and address the economic crisis at the same time,” said Weinberg. “I received commitments from the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as from Majority Leader Sweeney that they would allow this bill to move forward. It will be a disappointment to so many in the grassroots of our party as well as to me personally if this commitment is not honored.”

Update, 9:42pm -- Citing a miscommunication with Sweeney, Weinberg offered this revised statement:

“I think there has been a miscommunication between Steve Sweeney and myself.  I look forward to talking to him personally.  It really is up to Senate President Dick Codey to make a decision about pushing this bill forward, and the Judiciary Committee Chair [state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) has informed me that he will post the bill.”

 

Isn't Codey still Senate President...

till the end of the year? Shouldn't Loretta be harranguing Codey instead of Sweeney to post the bill? The senate dems are a mess of confusion and infighting.

Get used to it

I guess poor Loretta Weinberg just got a taste of what life is going to be like under the totalitarian Norcross regime. Poor woman...one more misstatement like this and she might be banished to Siberia.

Today's poll

NJ residents? Not likely voters or even registered voters?

Why is it

that those against changing our long established laws need to fight this issue? We are not proposing changes, yet it seems we are the ones that need to pursue Constitutional Amendments just to maintain what has always existed.

In America’s history, when an aggrieved group believes our laws are unjust, it is that group that convinces the rest of society of their plight and circumstance. Then they take the necessary steps to get the matter resolved by passing a Constitutional Amendment. This how women were given the right to vote (19th Amendment) and the voting age was reduced to eighteen years of age (26th Amendment).

Women were not given the right to vote because some judge or legislative body decided that the definition of man should be changed to include women. 18, 19, and 20 year olds were not permitted to vote because some judge decided they were as mature as a 21 year old and therefore should be able to vote. I also want to point out that not one woman voted to pass the 19th Amendment, not one person under the age of twenty-one voted to pass the 26th Amendment. These Amendments passed because society, as a whole, agreed that these changes were justified.

It should not be up to defenders of marriage to pass amendments to secure the long established concept of marriage. Homosexuals and their supporters should be the ones required to pass an amendment to effect the change they seek. They also have a significant advantage that neither blacks, nor women, nor those under twenty-one enjoyed when they sought to make changes to our laws. They will not be denied from voting for the amendment.

Wake-Up Call

Morning News Digest: March 10, 2010

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie: 'I was wrong' about state worker contracts  Governor Christie said Tuesday that he is bound to follow a controversial deal giving unionized state workers a 7 percent pay raise in the upcoming fiscal year, and barring him from ordering layoffs before January 2011.
 
Christie said...

Wally Edge

Even though Democrats have occupied the White House for nearly fourteen months, U.S. Marshal James Plousis, a Republican who served as Cape May County Sheriff before George W. Bush appointed him in 2002, remains in office because New Jersey’s two...
Belmar Mayor Kenneth Pringle will not seek re-election to a sixth term.  Democrats say the leading candidate to replace him is Council President Matthew Doherty, the husband of Democratic strategist Maggie Moran.  Doherty was narrowly re-...
Gloucester County Republicans have not won a Freeholder race since 1995, but a strong showing in the last election gives the GOP some hope in the battle to reverse their losing streak.  This year, two incumbent Democratic Freeholders are...
A recent poll conducted by Gov. Chris Christie’s pollster, Adam Geller of National Research, shows that U.S. Rep. Rush Holt’s hard re-elect numbers have gone down.  A recent poll shows that 39% of twelfth district voters believe Holt deserves...
Karen Kominsky, a veteran Democratic strategist who served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Gov. James E. McGreevey and as N.J. state director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, has joined Cozen O’Connor as a member of its Trenton-based Public...

Contributors

Everybody needs to start a new job with a list of priorities and Chris Christie is no exception. There might be a thousand things that need to get done... more »
Trivia Question --- A Democrat Chief Executive elected by an overwhelming margin cannot convince overwhelming Democrat Majorities in the Legislative Branch to enact his agenda, and faces increasing public... more »
As part of his solution to New Jersey’s current budget deficit, Gov. Chris Christie announced that, effective yesterday, he will not allow any additional parents to enroll in FamilyCare,... more »
The First BankAmericano was started in Elizabeth with a mission to serve the traditionally underserved Hispanic population by bringing them into the financial system through savings and checking accounts... more »
Let me get this straight.  The state has a “cap” or limit on how much municipalities can increase their annual budget every year—four percent.  The goal is to keep... more »
My New Jersey Mort Zuckerman Story Both national and local media have been reporting about the possibility of New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman seeking the Republican nomination... more »
You’ve got to hand it to Christie; he calls it as he sees it.  I don’t mean the newly crowned Governor, Chris Christie, but his nine-year-old son, Patrick.  ... more »
Anyone involved in governing and administrating a town or county in New Jersey understands the economic problems outlined in The Star-Ledger editorials of February 28 and March 1.  The... more »
It is widely anticipated that Gov. Chris Christie’s first budget message, to be delivered on March 16, will show the harsh reality of New Jersey’s bleak financial outlook. No... more »
As you know, the state is facing a very serious budget problem – and we are moving quickly to take the steps necessary to meet this challenge. The initial... more »
Republican Playbook:  Fear, Scorn & Partisanship -- Instill fear.  Sow uncertainty.   Create doubt.  Demonize.   These tactics may be the unfortunate norm for campaigning, but they are bad – if not... more »
Our new Governor suffers from no lack of advice.  Much of it, contained in the transition reports, deserves prompt attention.  Obviously, economic prosperity benefits everyone, and – as... more »
I have to genuinely wonder if this legislature will go down as the most taxing legislature in the history of the state of New Jersey surpassing the legislative actions... more »
Now that  the dust has finally settled after the grueling campaign for governor, there are a number of lessons that we can draw from this election. First and... more »
3.11.10   That Dog Won’t Hunt, SonI had a recent email exchange with one of my favorite Rightwing-Conservatives-Libertarians ---Steve Lonegan. The subject matter was, of course, national... more »
Sheriff Larkin must go:  no ifs ands or buts.According to published reports, Mercer County Sheriff Kevin Larkin entered the Political Science class of associate professor Michael Glass at Mercer... more »
On January 11th New Jersey’s 213th Legislature ended its session, followed the next day by the commencement of the 214th Legislature, with newly elected officials being sworn into office,... more »
On January 6, 2010, several newspapers published articles with titles like “no more aid for struggling cities”, “Christie will cut state aid” and the like; furthermore, in the body... more »
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, you target teachers. That’s not a positive note to start your tenure. You forget that the Teachers’ Union makes decisions on its own, such... more »
On the day of his inauguration, Governor Christopher Christie inherited a gaping $2 billion hole in the state’s budget and swiftly set about the people’s business in meeting our... more »