116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Republicans spar over marriage issue
May. 28, 2010 12:52 pm
INDIANOLA – Former Gov. Terry Branstad said Friday a GOP rival's plan to try to stay a Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage by executive order would be an illegal act that would discredit the office of governor.
Speaking to about 50 supporters at the Crouse Café, Branstad said the best option for overturning the 2009 ruling that struck down Iowa's law defining marriage as only between one man and one woman would be to bring a constitutional amendment before voters. He conceded voters first would have to supplant legislative leaders currently blocking such a move with Republican majorities in the House and Senate next November.
Meanwhile, Sioux City management consultant Bob Vander Plaats said he would hold the Iowa Supreme Court “in check” if he wins the June 8 GOP gubernatorial nomination and defeats Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in November by issuing an executive order on his first day in office to halt same-sex marriages until the Legislature addresses the issue or gives voters a chance to amend the Constitution with one-man, one-woman marriage language.
“To me, this is the defining issue of this campaign,” said Vander Plaats, who campaigned in eastern Iowa on Friday. “I believe that not only can a governor hold a Supreme Court in check, it would be negligent for a governor not to hold a Supreme Court in check when they go outside their jurisdiction.”
Branstad, a rural Boone lawyer who is facing Vander Plaats and five-term state Rep. Rod Roberts in next month's GOP primary, said the governor doesn't have the authority to successfully overrule the Supreme Court by executive order as Vander Plaats proposes.
“The only thing you do is discredit the governor if you try to do something that's not legal. I disagree with what the court did but the answer to that is to do what 31 other states have done and that is to pass a constitutional amendment. Then, that takes it out of the hands of the court,” Branstad told the Indianola crowd.
“If the governor tries to do something that's found to be illegal, it certainly doesn't bring respect for the office,” he said later in an interview. “You need to do things that are legal, not promise that you're going to do something that won't work.”
During a Friday appearance at the Cedar Rapids Daybreak Rotary Club, Vander Plaats defended his stance that same-sex couples should not be allowed to adopt children even if that meant the children are not adopted.
“I believe that marriage is the foundation of society. I believe its design is for procreation and should be reserved for one man and one woman,” Vander Plaats said.
He believes children “are best raised in that environment where there is one man and one woman. That's what I would take a stand on.”
Vander Plaats went on to explain that the “No. 1 cost to government is the breakdown of the family” that results in problems in schools and higher social welfare costs to the state.
“I think that from governor's standpoint, from the state's standpoint, we should try to mirror what's in the best interest of the kids,” he said, “and what's in the best interest of the kids is, I believe, is a mom and a dad or a husband and wife raising children.”
Vander Plaats said his opposition to same-sex marriage is a personal conviction that, unlike the political position held by Culver, can't be bargained away.
Asked about whether he would accept the results of a referendum on same-sex marriage, Vander Plaats seemed to say he would if the voters amended the state Constitution to limit marriage to one man and one woman.
Roberts made campaign stops in Latimer, Mason City and Hampton on Friday.
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