And on the day the world ended (not), Minnesota's GOP began desperately looking for the exit.
Like a lot of states, Minnesota has a big budget crisis. Both the state House and Senate are controlled by the GOP, while our new governor Mark Dayton is a DFL'er (that's Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor party for you outsiders). So of course, the GOP is focused like a laser beam on the budget. Right? Well, maybe not so much. There is also the ban-gay-marriage amendment to the Minnesota Constitution to consider. Now that the GOP controls both houses, it's sure to pass, because the governor can't veto constitutional amendments (but they do have to be put to a vote of the people.) The Senate passed the amendment earlier this month, and it also has passed committee in the House. Only the final passage of the House remains.
One big Republican problem: polls show that, unlike most constitutional amendments, the ban-gay-marriage amendment is doomed in Minnesota. To be ratified, a proposed amendment needs a majority of votes from everyone who comes to the polls, even if they don't vote on the amendment itself. In other words, if you don't vote on the amendment, it's the equivalent of voting NO. As a practical matter, that means an amendment needs roughly 60% overall approval to have a chance to pass. The latest Minnesota Poll puts support for the anti-gay marriage amendment at a hopeless 39%.
This year, gay marriage may end up being the wedge issue that drives people to the polls to vote against the GOP.
The LGBT and anti-gay protesters have been out at full force in the capitol during the current legislative session. Everybody knows what the stakes are. Friday, it was hinted, would be the day the anti-gay-marriage amendment would be brought to the floor.
And into the fray steps the Rev. Bradlee Dean of the Old Path Church, who runs the "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" ministry (you can't make this stuff up). Dean was nominated to give the invocation on Friday. Hey, it's an invocation. What can go wrong?
With Dean, everything can go wrong. In a long-winded discourse, Dean implied that President Obama wasn't a Christian, and maybe wasn't constitutionally elected. And then the firestorm erupted.
Once Dean finished, Rep. Terry Morrow, DFL-St. Peter, rose to say that the expected hope of peace in the daily prayer had been "crushed by a single person's words."
Decorum on the floor broke so badly that [GOP Speaker Kurt] Zellers hit a session reset button. He asked the regular House chaplain, the Rev. Grady St. Dennis, to pray, then called for another Pledge of Allegiance and another attendance vote.
You have to give Republican Zellers full credit here. He apologized to the House for Dean's prayer.
From the lowly members' well in the House, a stricken Zellers addressed his fellow House members. "That type of person will never, ever be allowed on the House floor again," he pledged.
In a separate statement, Zellers said of Dean, "I take responsibility for this mistake. ... I denounce him, his actions and his words. He does not represent my values or the values of this state." Zellers is a cosponsor of the marriage amendment.
And a little research shows that Dean
has caused uproars before, saying homosexuals should be jailed and making comments that appear to support their execution.
In full backpedal mode, it now appears that the invocation flap has given Zellers the excuse he needs to drop the amendment from the agenda. The legislative session must end by midnight Monday (a constitutional deadline), but Gov. Dayton will call a special session to hammer out a budget if the work isn't done by then (as is usually the case.)
Pressed on the timing of the vote, Zellers said: "At this point, I don't [know] and I'm not prepared to say." Zellers later said he still believes he has the votes to pass the amendment.
It looks like the anti-gay Tea Party pastor has killed the anti-gay marriage amendment in Minnesota, at least for now.
UPDATE: It looks like amendment sponsor Mary Liz Holberg has moved the amendment to the fiscal calendar, which will probably bring it up for a floor vote tonight after 6 PM CDT.
The good news is that Zellers' political instincts are right on this and Holberg's are dead wrong. Putting the amendment on the ballot will bring out Dems in force, and the defeat will give the GOP a huge black eye in the state.
UPDATE 2:
Late tonight, the Minnesota House passed the amendment by a vote of 70-62. This is essentially a party-line vote. As tams712 says in the comments: BRING IT ON!