Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick(D) Gay Wedding job Offer to be Probed

A Massachusetts’ group gathered up sufficient votes to send a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to the states’ constitutional convention, where they are required to vote as to whether the proposed amendment should be placed on the ballet for a vote. Was that a run on sentence or what, anyway, I digress. The committee is scared to death to vote on the issue because they know it will be voted for and will have to appear on the ballet for the voters. They also know the voters are against the illegally instituted gay marriage law by a court overstepping it’s bounds. So they have, against the state constitution managed to delay voting on this issue so that it will be voted on too late to appear on the ballet.

Now their governor, Deval Patrick, has come up with a way to eliminate the members of the legislature who would vote to send this issue to the ballet. He is offering them cushy government hack jobs in return for their resignation before the vote.

From the Boston Herald:

A leading gay marriage opponent is urging top prosecutors to probe allegations that the Patrick administration has floated job offers to induce anti-gay marriage lawmakers to leave the Legislature before a critical vote next week. 

Kris Mineau, spokesman for VoteOnMarriage.org, said he has heard persistent complaints about alleged job offers as lobbying has intensified in recent days. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote next Thursday on whether to put a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage on the ballot in 2008.

 “From what we’re hearing (of the job offers), the level of this would warrant a look by the (state) attorney general or the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Mineau said yesterday. “If one were to read the laws about bribery in government, this would appear to fall into that category.”

Patrick previously denied making job offers after the Herald reported that he had made such overtures to lawmakers. A spokesman for Patrick said last night, “Employment decisions in this administration are based on qualifications and the merits.” 
 Mineau said he has not directly contacted Attorney General Martha Coakley or the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston to ask for a formal investigation. He also declined to identify specific lawmakers who have allegedly received job offers, saying he does not want to subject them to more public scrutiny. Patrick is currently trying to fill several posts in agencies overseen by his office. 

 “The pressure on our legislators is absolutely unprecedented,” Mineau said yesterday. He said the calls are not just coming from local gay marriage supporters, but from national officials such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York), Democratic Party chief Howard Dean and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who held an event at the Park Plaza Hotel yesterday and a fund-raiser last night.
As of the last official count, the proposed ban would pass by seven votes, but supporters of gay marriage have been lobbying fiercely to turn the tables.
“We’re continuing to work hard, and the legislators are listening,” said Marc Solomon, campaign director of MassEquality, which is leading efforts to keep gay marriage legal. “We have had good discussions with a number of legislators who have not yet voted with us.”

I guess the ends jusifies the means. Reward the people you don’t agree with you to get them out of the way, and then you have the means to implement your agenda regardless of the will of the people.