Opinion
News about Rep. O'Flaherty Is Disappointing but Not Surprising; Most Mass. Politicians Want Love, Re-election and Money
By Sally Pawlick, Mass. Citizens for Marriage
            The news from Brian Camenker yesterday about the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty, is disappointing but not discouraging, because everyone, including our adversaries, knows what politicians want, particularly in Massachusetts.
            We can't give them lots of money, as the other side has done, but we can give them lots of telephone calls showing our love and appreciation and we can certainly help with their re-elections (or hurt them as we did with Sen. Tom Birmingham and Shannon O'Brien in 2002).
            An overwhelming majority of citizens are on our side, and we cannot let the O'Flaherties forget that. We must ring more of their telephone bells than the other side does.        
            No one doubts, including our opponents, that the people of Massachusetts want to be rid of homosexual marriage, but we have been too polite, too quiet. Most, even now, are begging to be permitted to try another Constitutional Amendment for 2008. We were one of the first states back in 2002 to pass such an Amendment but we ran away when they snarled at us. We're still paying for that. It cost tens-of-thousands of people-hours and $1.7 million to have one man, Tom Birmingham, flush us down the drain.
            Why would we repeat that?
            Why would we expect them to respect this new Amendment anymore than they have respected our Amendment from 2002? The answer, of course, is that they won't unless we show that we will be tough and stand our ground.

Just Another Family Man Trying to Make It
            Chairman O'Flaherty is just another Rep who is raising a family and trying to "make it." He (or his wife) has discovered that the pay of a Legislator is not huge and he has tried to augment it.  Above all, he does not want to lose his re-election.
            You must let him know you're there and watching. All Reps and Senators are watching very closely. The liberals haven't been able to get more than 20% of the Legislators to announce their support for gay marriage. The rest are sitting and watching, waiting to jump on the winning side, whichever it may be.
            We'd better start ringing telephone bells all over the state.