Buying NY Legislators to Redefine Marriage
John Colbin has an article in the New York Observer titled: The Gay Movement, After Marriage. He writes:
The issue attracted the Gill Action Fund, which, with the help of the Empire State Pride Agenda, gave $1 million to defeat weaker Republicans in local elections last year, as New York magazine recently reported. The catch, of course, was if the Democrats were victorious—which they were—they would get marriage.
The lobbying firm of Patricia Lynch, consistently one of the highest-grossing lobbyists in Albany and a former top aide to Sheldon Silver, got a $10,000-a-month contract to work on the issue.
What’s more, which has plenty to do with intensive direct lobbying efforts and campaign involvements by advocacy groups, advocates managed to get a number of legislators to switch their positions on gay marriage, and some of them, like State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem, supported it even when their constituents were mostly opposed . . .
Winning on gay marriage has become an obsession among wealthy donors and lobbying groups, and carrying out the mission has, to the chagrin of some gay activists, taken gay leaders into the campaign strategy sessions and legislative offices of Albany’s elected and hopefuls—and away from the mass rallies and demonstrations that had characterized the gay politics of the past.