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Deval sticks his nose in, but can’t close deal
By Howie Carr

Poor Arline Isaacson - her Mass. Teachers Association dumps all that money into the campaign of Gov.-elect Deval Patrick, so she calls in a marker on the only thing she really cares about, gay marriage. But then Deval can’t twist enough arms to kill the bill.

Three million bucks just doesn’t buy what it used to, does it, Arline?

So the proposed 2008 ballot question to ban “gay marriage” remains alive. But Arline is still a heavy favorite to win in the end. She’s doing it, after all, “for the children.”

The good news is, everyone’s life and liberty is safe - the Legislature adjourned last night.

The bad news, they’re coming back to the State House this morning to be sworn in for the next session. And the terrain continues to shift in favor of the gay lobby. Last night, Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute was asked which pols played the most important roles in fending off the homosexual lobby.

“There was Gov. Mitt Romney,” he said, “who changed the whole dynamic when he filed the lawsuit against the Legislature.”

This, of course, is Mitt’s last full day as governor.

“And Senate President Travaglini ran a tight ship, he didn’t allow for a lot of procedural maneuvers. He made it happen.”

Everybody thinks the next thing Trav will make happen is his own disappearance from the Legislature, probably in the spring.

“And, of course, the two reps, Phil Travis and Emile Goguen.”

Both of whose final terms expired at midnight.

The fact is, the gays just got greedy yesterday. They could have played by the rules and won. Hell, they probably still will. The high-water mark for the meanspirited let-the-people-decide crowd was 62 votes. And several of the pro-family reps besides Travis and Goguen are history. Farewell, Marie Parente.

But they couldn’t wait. They’re just too afraid of putting “gay marriage” to a vote. Finally, even Isaacson admits what we all know - that it would be voted down here, just as it has been everywhere else.

So Deval Patrick took time out from baking his inaugural chocolate chip cookies to trudge up to the State House to dangle a few carrots. Do you suppose that someone from, say, Essex County was promised, say, the job of veterans commissioner in return for changing his vote?

It was a rather unseemly way for Deval to begin his inaugural week, which is shaping up as even longer than Gerald Ford’s funeral. But what choice did he have? He owes Arline Isaacson big time, and he’s a bit strapped in the local-aid department, plus, didn’t he promise to reduce property taxes rather than stand by while the teachers turn every municipality in the commonwealth into Chelsea?

But is it really a good move to urge the legislators not to worry about breaking the law? That’s just the kind of encouragement they don’t need, Deval.

Breaking the law is a suggestion that will win friends and influence people on Beacon Hill. Break the law? Yes we can.

Next, Deval, you can lead the solons in a chant.

Toga, Toga, TOGA!

Deval shrugged and said that defying the law was simply a matter of “conscience.” Yeah, right. By one vote, the SJC invents a right to “gay marriage” that nobody anywhere had ever heard of before, and then, to stop the people from exercising their constitutional rights to do something about this radical reordering of society, Deval decides it’s OK to shred a part of the state constitution that dates back to 1918.

“The sky isn’t falling,” Deval said.
No, it isn’t. Not today. No thanks to you, Deval.

And by the way, did you notice something missing in this debate? Namely, live TV coverage. Yes, at a very fortuitous moment, the Legislature has vanished from Channel 44. Now they’re on the Internet, and I don’t mean YouTube, or MySpace. They’re tucked away on a government site, never to be seen again.

Nice win, all you soon-to-be-former pols. For Deval and Arline, the question is, can we stick it to the people at the next ConCon? The answer is, Yes we can.