Vander Plaats hopes election results spurs action on marriage issue

Conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats, who spearheaded a successful campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices in Tuesday's retention votes, said Wednesday he hopes the election results send the message to Gov.-elect Terry Branstad and the reconfirmed Legislature that Iowans expect action to halt same-sex marriages in Iowa sooner than later.

“I think the people last night gave a very, very clear voice and, if you want to call it the moral majority, that's probably the best thing that I can come up with, they sent a clear voice. They want this issue addressed,” Vander Plaats said in an interview.

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and associate justices Michael Streit and David Baker fell short of the simple majority needed to remain on the high court in Tuesday's balloting. The trio – the only justices up for retention this year - were part of a 7-0 decision in April 2009 that struck down as unconstitutional a state law that defined marriage as only between one man and one woman and paved the way for couples of the same gender to be married in civil ceremonies.

With Republicans taking control of the House next session, they're likely to start a resolution for a marriage amendment to the state constitution but that issue may stall in the Senate, where Democrats retained a reduced majority based on unofficial election results. Even if the resolution were to pass the new General Assembly and the Legislature seated after the 2012 election per Iowa's process to get a constitutional change before the voters, that process likely would take until the 2014 election to make it to the ballot unless a special election was held.

“People don't want to wait four, six, eight years to have their voice heard on this issue,” Vander Plaats said. “They want to have the Legislature let their voice be heard, they want to have the governor to let their voice be heard.”

To that end, the Sioux City Republican who lost to Branstad in the GOP primary election last June said he would like to meet with the governor-elect and discuss the option of having Branstad issue an executive order halting same-sex marriages until the people are allowed to vote on the marriage amendment.

Another option would be to have the Legislature reaffirm the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act “but without judicial review” and have Branstad sign it into law – a scenario that poses legal questions that might have to be resolved and could run aground in the Senate, he acknowledged. Vander Plaats pointed to the federal health care reform act, which includes several without judicial review, as the template for a new marriage statute.

Earlier this week, Branstad said he wanted to see the election results before speculating of future options regarding the marriage issue.

During the GOP primary, Branstad, a rural Boone lawyer who begin a fifth term as governor in January after serving from 1983 to 1999, rejected using the executive order in that manner. He said he did not think the action would be legal and it would discredit the office of governor.

“That's still my opinion,” he said Tuesday.

“The courts have said, no, the governor doesn't have the authority to overrule a Supreme Court decision by executive order. I know of no state that has ruled that way and I guess if somebody wants that to be done, I think they'd have to cite some legal authority as to why you should do that,” Branstad said. “I've heard Vander Plaats advocate that, but I know of no state that has done that and I want to do things that are going to be constructive and helpful and follow the will of the people of this state.”