A New York State Senator — one of only two Republican Senators who have officially stated they are voting “yes” on Governor Cuomo’s marriage equality bill — has just issued a major warning about the outcome of the bill, including strategic issues that could mean death for same-sex marriage equality in New York State. Republican State Senator James Alesi warns that stalling, timing of a possible vote, and the fact that the marriage vote will be last on the agenda and therefore all bargaining chips will have been spent, could spell the end of hopes for same-sex marriage equality.
On the steps of the state capitol, Alesi told supporters, “passing marriage equality is, I think, the most important thing I could do in my twenty years as a legislator.”
But the Republican lawmaker warned, “The longer things drag on in Albany – and this will be [the] last vote, if it’s taken—the more I worry about it,†Alesi said, according to Politics On The Hudson.
Alesi wisely warned that the marriage equality vote will be the final vote taken by the Senate in this session, and that mere fact could allow Senators to leave after voting on the property tax cap and rent control bills, which are priorities of the Assembly Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader.
“It gives some people the opportunity once they’ve taken a vote on rent control and tax cap and there’s nothing left, it gives them an opportunity to get on the Thruway and not have to take a vote on this,†Alesi told reporters today.
“I lost what I thought were a lot of good friends, people that supported me. And when I told them I am committed to giving people that live in America what every American wants, they told me I was no longer their friend. I think I have some new friends.”
“If you want equality and if you believe in equality, you will never be equal unless you treat people equally,†Alesi says, adding, “I’m a Republican. I was born that way.â€
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