New Hampshire Governor Says He Will Sign a Revised Gay Marriage Bill

  Cross posted on Grizzly Goundswell

  Today the governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, finally made his much anticipated decision on the gay marriage bill that is about to make it to his desk in the next few days. He will veto the bill as it is currently written but he has provided language to the senate that if, or I should say when, added will change his vote.

If the Legislature passes this language, I will sign the same-sex marriage bill into law. If the Legislature doesn’t pass these provisions, I will veto itThe governor doesn’t believe that the language that prevents

  The language in question is the provision that makes it okay for religious institutions to refuse to perform gay marriages. He wants that language strengthened to further ensure that religious institutions are protected. It is all but a done deal now as the senate will surely make these language changes and send the revised bill to his desk.

  With today’s statement we have learned three things about Governor Lynch. First, he is a liar; second, he is a liberal; third, he is not a leader.

  Let me elaborate.

 First; the governor has claimed for five years that he opposed gay marriage. He claimed all along that he believed a marriage was between one man and one woman. During debates while campaigning when the question came up he reaffirmed his opposition to gay marriage.

  Last week when the senate killed the gay marriage bill he reiterated his belief that marriage was between one man and one woman. He claimed that New Hampshire’s civil union law gave same sex couples the same exact rights as traditional marriage. He went so far as to say that any changes in gay marriage in New Hampshire would have to come from the federal level.

  As I said, he made all of these claims after the senate killed the gay marriage legislation, but the senate pulled a fast one. Two days after the senate killed the bill they brought it back up for reconsideration and it passed. The last person who wanted to see this was the governor because it put the decision back into his hands.

  Once the bill passed he began to hedge his bets immediately by saying that he still personally believed that a marriage was between one woman and one man, but that he would do what he thought was right for the state. This was all the confirmation needed to see where he would come down on this issue.

  Suddenly five years of campaign promises on this issue were out the door and he has shown us that he is nothing but a liar. People elected him because of his stance on the issues, and the stance he sold the people of New Hampshire on gay marriage was that he opposed it. He lied, otherwise he would have just vetoed the bill and he would still be able to claim that he was just fulfilling a campaign promise. He could say that the voters knew this was his stance on the issue. He didn’t do that, he hid his true stance on the issue but now we know where he stands.

Second; he is a liberal. Some people get upset when you call politicians liberal and it sounds like you are using the term as an insult. I am not using it as an insult, I am stating a fact. And the fact is that Governor Lynch himself has been hiding from the fact that he is a liberal. He is the one who has hidden from this moniker. He can hide no more.

  Governor Lynch has always claimed that he is a moderate but he can no longer make that claim. He has been defending himself from attacks on the right which has been trying to paint him as a closet tax and spend liberal. (Admittedly myself included.) Today he has outed himself (pun fully intended.) as the liberal that many of us thought that he was. He can no longer play the moderate card.

  Third; he is no leader, he is a follower. The question that has been asked since this legislation passed was whether the governor would abide by  the will of the voters who knew his stated position on gay marriage or would he succumb to the pressure of the party. Today he answered that question.

  The governor likes to say that he is a leader. During campaign debates he claimed that he has shown great leadership by working together in a bipartisan manner to accomplish much during his time as governor. But when push came to shove instead of looking to his party and leading them he fell in line and followed them. He had the chance to stand up to his party and say “I am opposed to gay marriage”, that is what he claimed during the elections, he should have lead his party on this issue as well. But he couldn’t control them and now we have learned he will follow them further and further to the left as they continue in the future.

  Governor Lynch was re-elected twice with about 70-75% of the vote, all of these people knew his position on gay marriage, at least the position that he stated. A recent poll showed his approval rating at 54%, while good that is way down from his usual approval rating of around 65%, this is not going to help him.

  He is now going to lose a good portion of the conservatives who have been fooled by him and some of the moderates. It is one thing for him to irresponsibly run up the state’s debt and wiggle out of blame by blaming President Bush. It is one thing to raise multiple taxes to pay for all of his out of control spending. But it is another thing altogether to lie to the voters and that is what Governor Lynch has been doing on the issue of gay marriage for the last five years.

  When he signs the gay marriage bill onto law he should also be signing his ticket out of here. The last thing New Hampshire needs is a standard run of the mill lying politician as governor.