GOV. Spitzer’s plan to legalize gay marriage is dividing Democrats, harming Sen. Hillary Clinton‘s presidential ambitions, and handing Republicans their first strong campaign issue in some time, officials told The Post.
“This could turn out to be the Democrats’ Achilles’ heel,” crowed Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, a Schenectady Republican who has seen a sharp drop in the Legislature’s GOP membership in recent years.
Spitzer, who made a campaign pledge to legalize gay marriage if elected, renewed his commitment two weeks ago after being criticized by activists for failing to include the proposal in a final “to do” list of remaining legislative issues.
His action forced the Assembly’s majority Democrats, who have avoided taking sides on the polarizing issue for years, to confront what is expected to be a bitter internal debate to reach a consensus “conference position.”
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who has yet to take a stand on the measure, has pledged to consider the issue within four weeks.
Many insiders predict a significant number of the Assembly Democrats – and possibly a majority – will oppose the measure, led by conservative-oriented upstate and suburban lawmakers and a large number of African-Americans and Hispanics, many of whose constituents strongly oppose gay marriage.
One set of recently conducted Assembly polls found opposition to gay marriage outside of Manhattan running as high as 90 percent, depending on the Assembly district.
“The Democrats aren’t going to make their liberal friends happy if they don’t bring this to a vote, but they’re also going to alienate many traditional voters who believe marriage is between one man and one woman,” said Tedisco.
The Republican-controlled Senate has vowed to kill the gay-marriage proposal, no matter what action the Assembly takes.
Polls have repeatedly shown a majority of New Yorkers oppose gay marriage, although a growing number of young voters favor the proposal.
Clinton’s presidential campaign “won’t be helped at all if she’s running around the country having to answer questions about Spitzer’s proposal,” said a Democratic official close to the former first lady.
Clinton is on record against gay marriage, although she does support legalized “civil unions.”