Attempts to put marriage amendment on ballot blocked second time

DES MOINES - Bipartisan attempts to let voters determine the future of same-sex marriages in Iowa were rejected in the Iowa House - once on a parliamentary ruling and once on a procedural vote by representatives.

However, the issue, which brought hundreds of supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage to the Capitol Thursday, is unlikely to go away, according to the backers of a constitutional amendment to recognize only marriage between one man and one woman.

The burden now is on the people of Iowa, House members backing the amendment said.

"People are going to have to change the hearts and minds of their legislators" if they want to reverse last Friday's decision by the Iowa Supreme Court effectively legalizing same-sex marriage, Rants said. The court said Iowa county recorders may begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sax couples April 27.

 "If Iowans engage over the weekend and continue to ask us to address it - I mean the body, not just Republicans or myself, then it seems to be it would be appropriate for us to deal with it," House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said.

House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, ripped Republicans for substituting language calling for a vote on a same-sex marriage ban for the Health and Human Services budget. Democrats, he said, are not interested in more political theater or spending more time on the issue.

"We're moving forward," he said, and warned if Republicans continue to waste time on "political stunts" Iowans will take out their anger on them.

House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, agreed more time than necessary has been spent on the amendment. If Murphy had

allowed a vote, he said, the issue would have been settled. Since Murphy blocked debate on the issue it is likely to come up again.

At issue is House Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by Reps. Dolores Mertz, D-Otteson, and Dwayne Alons, R-Sioux Center. It calls for letting Iowa voters decide whether to amend the state Constitution to specify that "marriage between one man and one woman shall be the only legal union valid or recognized in this state."

If it had been adopted by the House and Senate this year and again in the 2011-12 session of the General Assembly, it could have been on the ballot as early as 2011.

"The bottom line is, Republicans and Democrats pledged that when court made its decision we would act," Paulsen said. "Maybe this is the action some of those people meant."

Democrats are interested in action on "helping middle class families struggling to make ends meet and balancing the state budget," Murphy said.

He called it "stunning that Republicans would choose to gut health care for our children, veterans, seniors and disabled Iowans to score political points." Murphy said, charging the GOP was trying to disrupt the House. "I just think it was extremely tacky on their part."

That's ridiculous, Paulsen said. "Because he didn't permit the resolution itself to be debated this morning, the other option was to amend it on to another bill. That's all we did."

After Murphy ruled Rants' motion to substitute HJR 6 for the health and Human Services budget out of order because it sought to change a house file to a house joint resolution, the House voted 44-54 against suspending the rules to consider it.

Ironically, Paulsen said, Rants' motion came on a bill being considered under suspension of the rules.

The first attempt to force a vote included some degree of drama as Murphy ordered a call of the House requiring members to be in the House chamber and remain until they a decision was reached on Paulsen's motion. In the past, state troopers have been sent out to bring representatives to the chamber under a call of the House.

Passion ran high on both sides of the issues and the public was on hand for this morning's showdown. The south galleries filled with red-clad supporters of traditional marriage. The north galleries filled with same-sex marriage supporters wearing t-shirts with One Iowa's blue dot logo.

After Murphy's decision, chants of "Let us vote" were heard from both galleries. Murphy, who had state troopers clear the House when opponents of a Democratic tax reform plan demonstrated at a public hearing last week, said lawmakers "are not going to let mob rule rule."

But he did not consider clearing the chamber today.

"We're not going to react to everything," he said. "Let them have their little rally."