Thursday, 4:30 PM
Group pushes for vote on healthcare amendment
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff
Three days after Massachusetts lawmakers bowed to pressure and voted on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, an advocacy group took aim Friday at 34 lawyers in the Legislature who refused to vote on a citizens' petition to guarantee affordable healthcare coverage.
Citizens for Limited Taxation said it plans to file a complaint with the state Board of Bar Overseers against the lawyers for ignoring a ruling by the state's highest court that said legislators had a constitutional duty to vote on certified ballot initiatives, even though the justices could not order them to do so.
After the Dec. 27 ruling and intense lobbying by opponents of gay marriage, the Legislature on Tuesday advanced the proposed ban, which requires at least 50 votes in a second constitutional convention to get on the 2008 state ballot.
But the joint session of the House and Senate refused to vote on the proposed healthcare amendment, effectively killing it.
"All the publicity and attention were paid to gay marriage because it's a sexy issue,'' said Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation. But the Supreme Judicial Court ruling applied to the healthcare amendment as well, she said. "We want them to vote up or down, just like the Constitution requires.''
Anderson said her group has no view on the merits of either amendment.
The group also plans to file a complaint with the Board of Bar Overseers against Governor Deval Patrick, also a lawyer, for remarks he made shortly before the joint session. Patrick, two days before he took the oath of office, held a impromptu State House news conference at which he urged legislators to use "whatever means appropriate'' to kill the gay marriage measure.
Anderson said Patrick displayed a contempt for the democratic process.
Cyndi Roy, a spokeswoman for Patrick, said the governor had no comment.
