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Last week the Londonderry, NH council voted against the anti-equality warrant article before it. The warrant pitched a non-binding resolution asking state legislators to allow a plebiscite on the new marriage equality law. At the time, the Londonderry council noted that despite their vote against the warrant, the question could still be forced onto the town’s spring ballot if the anti-equality activists could get the signatures of 5% of voters. As Granite State Progress described it,
Londonderry, a charter town with a different process, hosted a public hearing on Monday night to discuss the petition put forward by Rep. Al Baldasaro (R-Londonderry), one of the figureheads behind the resolutions. Following a student rally and a standing-room only public hearing, the town council rejected the petition. Baldasaro has indicated that he will try to collect signatures from 5% of registered voters, which would automatically place it on the ballot.
But according to Putney Swope at Blue Hampshire, the Londonderry council reversed itself today and is now allowing the question on the ballot without the question’s proponent proving that he has enough signatures.
Update: The Union Leader article that Putney Swope quoted from is now available online.
The town charter gave Baldasaro 30 days to collect the signatures, but he had only until Feb. 6 to get an article onto the official 2010 town warrant…Ultimately 759 signatures were validated, short of the approximately 850 required…since it was extremely likely Baldasaro could come up with the additional signatures in less than three weeks, [it was] recoommended councilors place the petition on the warrant to save the cost of special election…
And why did the council reverse the public decision it made earlier?
All five councilors said they have been bombarded with angry, threatening calls and e-mails since Saturday, when Baldasaro delivered the petition to the home of Council Chairman Mike Brown at 8:30 p.m…
Let us hope that this is nothing more than the council allowing ballots to be printed with the question on it in the event that all the signatures are collected in time, but that the vote result will be ignored if said signatures aren’t delivered by the deadline. Otherwise, the moral of the story is that if the mob gets angry, screw the law, the mob rules. If my benefit of the doubt turns out to be for given for nothing, this move by the Londonderry council is all the more pathetic in light of the the strong pro-equality vote by the New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee today. According to Rep. Jim Splaine:
Bi-Partisan Majority Opposes Amendment And RepealAnd a bi-partisan majority of the House Judiciary Committee voted today in identical 12-8 votes to oppose CACR 28, a Constitutional Amendment to outlaw same-gendered marriages or Civil Unions, and House Bill 1590, which would have repealed last year’s HB 436, which provides for marriage equality.
Both bills will be on the House floor next Wednesday. It goes to show yet again that on this issue, Democrats and Republicans and all of us can come together to oppose returning to the discrimination of yesteryear. It’s not the New Hampshire Way to take votes away from our neighbors.
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NoteThere is a rising tide of anger in Londonderry as the news spreads through town about the flip flop. Its not surprising that Baldasaro came up with the signitures he did, signatures of 5% of the towns voters is pretty easy to do. However, Baldasaro had indicated to some people in the town that he didn”t intend to push a special election, unless he’s since changed his mind. I know one thing, the Londonderry town meeting is going to be an interesting place to be.
Gee, an anti-equality town named Londonderrythat brings me back to my roots…and IRA murals painted on the ends of housing units in protest…..and rubber bullets to keep the ‘undesirables’ herded into their ghettos…..and the romantic sound of small arms fire on a moonlight night, punctuated by the odd car bombing….
anti-equality governments named Londonderry—things never change
The town is not anti-equalityOn the contrary, the townspeople came out in force last week at a town meeting to show that they aren’t anti-equality. But the town council does seem to be a bit screwed up.