Comments on: 16 Democratic senators uncommitted on ENDA

By: GetEQUAL.org

GetEQUAL.org — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:57:36 +0000

[...] http://www.washingtonblade.com/2010/04/15/16-democratic-senators-uncommitted-on-enda/ [...]

By: Jillian Weiss

Jillian Weiss — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:16:10 +0000

Here’s more info on these Senators:

Unconfirmed US Senator contact info: http://bit.ly/45WGMc

US Senate ENDA Spreadsheet: http://bit.ly/14TDll

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:16:42 +0000

To my mind, it is entirely unacceptable for Democratic members of the Senate or House to vote against ENDA, no matter how much they wish to appeal to their conservative/Republican constituents, who quite frankly won’t vote for them if they support or oppose ENDA anyway. When are the Dems going to get the massage that it doesn’t do them any good to try to appease the right-wingers as they alienate themselves from their own liberal supporters. The reason the Dems are in trouble this year has more to do with them cutting their own throats in this way than it does some resergence of strength on the political right. The Dems lost in Virginia because the Democratic candidate for governor wanted to paint himself as a conservative, and in so doing he lost the support of the liberal base, most of whom stayed home. Remember that our insane Republican Governor McDonnell won in an election where there was only a 19% turnout. And if its one thing I’ve learned, it is that Republicans always show up on election day, with Democrats typically being less motivated. The same thing happened in Massachussetts with Scott Brown’s win, where the Tea Party clowns claimed it was a surge of growing support against the Democratic agenda, but remember it was a very close election, and a special election where Republicans always turn out and Democrats usually don’t. Polling after the election also showed that most of the Dems who voted for Obama in the previous election didn’t show up in the special election in part because they were frustrated with the slow pace of reform, not because they opposed it.
In regards to ENDA’s chances, we might also be surprised to see newly elected Senator Scott Brown vote in favor of the bill, as he has to run again in 2012 when Obama is up for re-election and can’t win in a high profile general election with a bigoted voting record. Simply put, he needs to move to the left the way Collins and Snowe do in Maine, (the two Republicans the article cited) if he wants to get re-elected. The biggest problem in the end is waking the Democrats up to the need to support ENDA. My own Senators Webb & Warner, here in Virginia have been a source of frustration, but Webb has since signed on as a cosponsor. Now its Senator Warner’s turn, and if he is foolish enough to vote against ENDA he can surely count on me closing my checkbook to him and likewise voting against him when he comes up for re-election, because I won’t support a Representative or Senator who isn’t willing to support ENDA.

By: Bradley Rymph

Bradley Rymph — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:50:34 +0000

This reinforces my certainty that I made the right decision in not donating funds to either Democratic Congressional campaign committee or to the DNC. If I had, they would be using my money to support the re-election of pseudo-Democrats who do not deserve to be re-elected. I profoundly hope that Blanche Lincoln loses her primary to Bill Halter. If not, I would just as soon as have real Republicans in the Congress as have phony Democrats who vote like Republicans.

By: Randi M. Romo

Randi M. Romo — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:41:48 +0000

CAR, the statewide group in Arkansas has so far been unable to get a firm refusal or committment to sponsor the bill.

In a letter to a constituent Senator Lincoln initially compared ENDA to special rights. Upon being called to task Senator Lincoln retreated from that position, but did not satisfactorily explain nor defend it.

To date the best we can get from either Senator is that they will review the bill and make their decision in the best interest of their constituents.

Senator Lincoln will most likely not support the bill. She is under a tremendous amount of fire here in Arkansas from supporters as well as her opposition. We don’t expect her to draw additional fire to herself with ENDA. In Arkansas we continue to face strong opposition to any measure of equality for LGBTQ people.

We are less certain of Senator Pryor taking an anti-ENDA position. But again, we have not been able to get a clear answer. We are working in collaboration with the NW Arkansas Center for Equality and Stonewall Democrats via our joint Arkansas Allies project we continue to press both Senators.

We did attempt to respond to the voice mail message left by this article’s reporter, but were unable to reach the reporter. Regrettably his voice mail did not work to take our message.

Randi M. Romo
Executive Director
CAR – A Vehicle for Change

By: Wonk Room » House Prepares To Pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Still 16 Votes Short In The Senate

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:36:50 +0000

[...] the Democrats’ bill back to committee. DC Agenda reports that “supporters in the Senate don’t appear to have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster,” however. “With the 2010 congressional elections fast [...]