Speaker DiMasi Is Required to Vote on Rep. Goguen's Resolution to Fire Four Judges from SJC
Speaker Has No Choice, State Constitution Requires It to Happen This Year
            The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sal DiMasi, is required under the state Constitution to take a vote this year on the Resolution of Emile Goguen (D-Fitchburg) to fire the four judges who illegally ruled in favor of gay marriage on Nov. 18, 2003.
            Those four judges are still sitting on the state's highest court, the Supreme Judicial Court, despite their illegal ruling. They are Margaret Marshall, Roderick Ireland, John Greaney and Judy Cowin.
            DiMasi has already promised he will take a vote on removing them because he is an astute, practicing trial lawyer who has seen what happened to the leaders before him who violated the state Constitution on this issue.
            Senate President Tom Birmingham and Shannon O'Brien are both gone, John Kerry lost the Presidency because he backed civil unions, another name for gay marriage. Margaret Marshall's ruling on gay marriage was blamed by most national pundits for Kerry's loss. Even Tom Finneran is now a private citizen. DiMasi still remembers the airplanes flying banners over Finneran's house on the Cape.

End Gay Marriage Now 
            Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage (MCM) is in an intense effort to remove Margaret Marshall and the three Associate Justices who made it a three-three tie. Those three Associate Justices made Marshall's plan possible.
            MCM also supports the Amendment which could take effect in 2008 if passed. However, they don't understand why they would wait until 2008 if they can do it this year.
            "We've been waiting for this opportunity to unify the state," says Sally Pawlick, President of MCM. "We're glad we bided our time. Many national family organizations saw Massachusetts as a place to become famous and rich. There was no way we could compete with their money and staff. So we waited until they left, which has now happened. 
            "This is the time to get into action again. Our thousands of volunteers obtained 130,000 signatures in 2001. But we didn't realize how dirty this would become. The owner of the New York Times/Boston Globe conglomerate, Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., (Pinch) surprised us by jumping in with his billions of dollars and all his power to make us the first state in his announced plan to help homosexuals across the entire country. We had never heard of the Sulzberger family but we know all about them now. Pinch's father paid $1.1 billion in 1993 just to purchase the Globe.
            "As we look at Vermont, we see that 'fatigue' and 'inertia' have set-in. Whereas the conservatives in that state got a big 'bump' everywhere after civil unions were enacted, they lost it all in the last election. You can't keep people excited about one issue for a long period. The other side knows that. That's why 'delay, delay, delay' is their strongest weapon.
            "We must end gay marriage this year. If we wait until 2008, we will have lost most of our momentum. And we mustn't forget that in Massachusetts the schools are working the other side of the issue as a part of sex education, to convince all the children that homosexuality is normal and positive and anyone who disagrees is a homophobe. Just look at what Lexington is doing to David Parker, the father who went to jail after he objected when they demanded that his young child attend such classes.

Cannot Be Sent to Committee
            The Legislature has sent Bills of Address to various committees in the past, inasmuch as the power structure, particularly the lawyers, has never liked John Adams’ idea of allowing oppressive judges to be removed.

            But the process of sending a Bill of Address to a committee cannot be found in the Constitution. This is just another way for powerful politicians to either delay or kill the entire process and thwart the will of the people.

            Representative Goguen filed his Bill of Address as a Resolution, but somewhere, someone, back when Speaker Finneran was in charge, changed it to an ordinary Bill which was submitted to various Committees which mysteriously killed the measure even though they never officially met.

Just Resign
            Of course, everyone at the State House would like the four judges to just admit they made a mistake, resign, go away and stop all this upset.
            If they do that, they keep their million-dollar retirement plans, but they will lose them if they are "Removed" for fault by the legislature. No one, apparently, has a desire to void their pension plans even though MCM spent many thousands of hours and $1.7 million back in 2001-2002. Neither MCM nor Rep. Goguen are vindictive although it would be understandable if they were. However, if they are forced to spend a lot more money now in removing these judges, it is understandable why they would seek some punishment and/or compensation. After all, the citizens at MCM have done nothing except to follow the Constitution.
            The Reps and Senators do not want to vote on this issue because no matter how they vote, someone will be angered. They just want it to go away. The resignation of the judges is the only way  to accomplish that.