Romney mulls appeal to SJC
Governor Mitt Romney is considering a plan to ask the Supreme Judicial Court to stop the state from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in May if lawmakers approve a proposed ballot measure that would ban gay marriage, administration officials said yesterday.
The emerging legal strategy is intended to prevent same-sex marriages from taking place on May 17, the date set by the SJC in its historic ruling legalizing gay marriage. Romney would seek the delay by arguing that lawmakers were sending voters a proposed initiative for the November 2006 ballot that would declare marriage solely the union of a man and a woman and establish civil unions for same-sex couples.
But the strategy became complicated last night when lawmakers failed to reach a final vote on the proposed ballot initiative.
At one point yesterday, Romney's aides believed the Legislature would reach a conclusion and asked local television stations for three minutes to make an important statement in the evening.
Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor's director of communications, declined last night to specify what the governor would say if the convention gave final approval to the measure. But he confirmed that the governor was contemplating legal steps to stop the issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples after May 17.
He acknowledged that the legal options included a petition to the SJC to suspend its 4-to-3 decision legalizing gay marriage until the voters had a chance to act on a state constitutional amendment.
Fehrnstrom also said the governor was reviewing other legal options, but he would not comment on what they were. "The lawyers can give you all sorts of scenarios," he said. "I want to allow the governor to speak for himself at the right time."
Fehrnstrom said that the governor, who has no role in the Constitutional Convention, felt compelled to step into the fray because of the importance of the issue and its impact on Massachusetts.
"On an issue as important as the definition of marriage the governor is not going to run and hide," Fehrnstrom said.
By late last night, the convention had voted three times in favor of the compromise amendment that would define marriage as a union only between a man and a woman but that also mandated the establishment of civil unions for same-sex couples that would provide all the protections and benefits of marriage. Lawmakers will return March 29 to vote for its final approval, and legislative leaders hope to send it to an additional Constitutional Convention in the next legislative session in order to be placed on the November 2006 state ballot.
The governor's decision to seek television time is part of his plan to take a major leadership role on the emotionally charged issue and guide the state through the divisive controversy.
His aides said Romney feels it is his duty as governor to address the controversial issue, but other strategists also see Romney as positioning himself nationally, both helping President George W. Bush's reelection campaign and distancing himself from the state's liberal image.
Just before last month's convention, Romney wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal urging other states to pass measures to block same-sex marriage. It appeared the day after the SJC reaffirmed its Nov. 18 ruling clearing the way for gay marriage in Massachusetts.
Then, when the convention began, the governor's senior staff was in regular contract with the staffs of the Bush White House and the national Republican Party, Romney aides said.
Romney spent the night at the White House as President Bush's guest Feb. 23, the day before the president announced his support for an amendment to the US constitution that would ban gay marriage.
The governor said the issue was not discussed when he talked with Bush and his wife that night.
On Wednesday, one of Bush's top political strategists, Karl Rove, came to Boston for a GOP gathering. Romney and Rove chatted, but it was not clear whether the subject of gay marriage came up.
Romney's activist role in lobbying Republican legislators at last month's convention was out of character for a governor who has often remained aloof when addressing such issues as his vetoes during a House or Senate session.
Romney's hand-picked GOP chairman Darrell Crate roamed the State House, citing the interest of the Bush campaign, and asked Republican lawmakers to line up behind a more stringent amendment banning gay marriage than was initially approved yesterday.
This week, the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts, a Republican gay-rights group, complained that Romney had misled them during his 2002 campaign. They said they recalled him telling the group he would not crusade against gay rights.
