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After Backing Gay Marriage, 4 in G.O.P. Face Voters’ Verdict
State Senator James S. Alesi, center, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Mr. Alesi, a Republican, may face a chilly reception in his own party.
A day and a half after he voted to legalize same-sex marriage, State Senator Mark J. Grisanti went to church.
There, across the pews at St. Rose of Lima in North Buffalo, sat 81-year-old Ann Deckop, and she felt betrayed, since Mr. Grisanti had vowed in 2008 that he was “inalterably” opposed to same-sex marriage.
“I voted for him and I’m writing a letter indicating that I will not be voting for him in the next election,” Ms. Deckop said.
But there was also Greg Fox, a 52-year-old technology industry salesman, who called Mr. Grisanti “a gentleman.”
“It’s important that we uphold Catholic values,” Mr. Fox said, before adding, “This is also 2011, so things change.”
And at the front of the church was the priest, who, Mr. Grisanti recalled, “put a hand over his heart and kind of pounded his chest, and pointed to me and smiled.” Mr. Grisanti said he was unsure what that meant.
Now, Mr. Grisanti and the three other Senate Republicans who provided votes necessary to legalize same-sex marriage in New York are confronting the uncertainty of how voters in their districts will react. Voter response will influence the balance of power in the New York Senate, where there are just two more Republicans than Democrats. And the events in New York also have national repercussions: because several Democratic-dominated states have already legalized same-sex marriage, gay-rights advocates increasingly need Republican support if they are to change local laws elsewhere in the country.
Some Republican donors, as well as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and leaders of the gay-rights movement, have promised to support the re-election campaigns of the four New York lawmakers. But the National Organization for Marriage, a group opposed to same-sex marriage, said it would spend $2 million in an effort to defeat the legislators, and key elements of the senators’ traditional political base have vowed to withdraw support.
“One thing I know for sure, these four people will not have the Conservative Party endorsement,” said Michael R. Long, chairman of the state Conservative Party. “That is certain.”
The political price for supporting same-sex marriage can be hard to predict. Four years ago, Assemblywoman Teresa R. Sayward, a Republican and a Catholic from a conservative district in the Adirondacks, voted in favor of same-sex marriage after making an impassioned speech about her son’s struggle with his gay identity.
“The night I took the vote the first time, I was told by my Republican colleagues that I would never get elected again,” she said. Since then, Ms. Sayward has been re-elected twice.
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James S. Alesi was the first Republican senator to say he would support same-sex marriage this year, and, if nothing else, the issue gave his constituents something new to say about him.
In January, Mr. Alesi shocked his supporters by suing a couple in his district. He claimed they had maintained an unsafe workplace in a house under construction where he had broken his leg trying to climb a ladder, even though he had entered without permission. He dropped the suit after heavy criticism.
At the time, The Daily News opined that Mr. Alesi was “not capable of shame,” while Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County executive, told a local reporter, “I’ve never seen an issue that has drawn such public anger.”
Now, Lynn Pigage, a retired high school Spanish teacher and an independent, wonders about Mr. Alesi’s endorsement of same-sex weddings, saying, “I question if maybe that was to redeem himself a little bit, voting for marriage.”
Mr. Alesi is likely to need support from Democrats to win re-election — in the last election, which he won by 7,000 votes, he garnered nearly 8,000 votes from the Conservative Party.
Anita Augesen, a retired career counselor from Pittsford and a Democrat, said she would consider casting her first vote for Mr. Alesi because of his support for same-sex marriage.
“I’m pleased that he was able to be open-minded about it,” she said. “I realize that was kind of a stretch for him to do that.”
Bob Wood, 72, a Democrat and the captain of an Erie Canal cruise boat, said Mr. Alesi’s vote “showed real courage and leadership.” Mr. Wood worships with Mr. Alesi at Spiritus Christi Church, a Catholic congregation that broke with Rome in order to support gay men and lesbians, as well as women in the clergy.
But the reception in Mr. Alesi’s own party remains chilly.
“He’s not honest,” said Ray Akey, 66, a retired sales engineer and a Republican who had voted for Mr. Alesi in the past. He said he would not again — “Not after what he did to those people,” he said, referring to the lawsuit — but also because of the same-sex marriage vote.
Asked to sum up his feelings about his senator, Mr. Akey said: “It’s not real pretty. I’d have to put some cuss words in there.”
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Roy J. McDonald punctuated his endorsement of same-sex marriage with one off-color quote, and found himself transformed from an unknown Republican senator from Troy into an unlikely folk hero of the gay-rights movement.
A blunt-spoken Vietnam combat veteran, Mr. McDonald describes himself as blue-collar. When asked about his position by a small group of reporters, he began his reply with an expletive, adding: “I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing.”
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat who spent hours trying to persuade Republicans to support same-sex marriage, singled out Mr. McDonald for praise, saying that the senator had reached his decision based on his own sense of right and wrong. Mr. McDonald attributed his change of heart in part to having two autistic grandchildren, which, he said, led him to rethink several issues.
Mr. McDonald appears to be relatively electorally secure. He was re-elected by more than 18,000 votes last year.
“I can only gauge these things from what I know of, and I have yet to get a phone call from someone saying they are real upset about the way he voted,” said Neil Kelleher, the Rensselaer County Republican chairman. “If he isn’t the candidate in 2012, I think it would only be because he chooses not to be.”
Not all of Mr. McDonald’s old friends were so forgiving. Bob Roe, the longtime chairman of the Saratoga County Conservative Party, said he had known Mr. McDonald for decades and even campaigned with him.
“You can imagine I’m real disappointed,” Mr. Roe said. “I consider him a friend, but I can’t support him.”
But Kurtis Albright, a 27-year-old Democrat who works at a bookstore in downtown Troy, said he would consider voting for Mr. McDonald next year.
“I seriously doubt it will hurt him at all,” Mr. Albright said. “I’d think about it now.”
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Stephen M. Saland agonized over his decision to support same-sex marriage. But for many of his Hudson Valley constituents, his deliberative decision-making was reassuring.
“He searched his soul and came to a conclusion,” said Betty Patton, 78, a Republican who carried a bag from her Presbyterian church and conceded that she was still trying to come to terms with same-sex marriage. “I respect that,” she said.
Mr. Saland opposed the measure in 2009, but at home in Poughkeepsie, two powerful forces seem to have quietly nudged him toward a yes vote: his wife, Linda, who wanted him to back the measure, and the rabbi at his longtime synagogue, who is an outspoken advocate of gay rights. And with a margin of victory in 2010 of nearly 20,000 votes, Mr. Saland is not seen as being in any particular danger of being defeated.
“It shows he has an open mind, rather than being a politician who thinks ‘I’m right, you’re wrong,’ ” said C. H. Moore, a Republican social worker. “If anything, it will help him.”
Rich Benes, 44, said he had a hard time thinking of marriage as anything but a union between a man and a woman. But he said Mr. Saland’s support for the bill would have no bearing on his vote.
“Sure, he flip-flopped, but people change, that’s a reality,” he said. “I am not going to vote based on one little issue.”
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Few senators are in as tenuous a position as Mr. Grisanti.
He was a Democrat until he switched parties to run as a Republican last year. His Buffalo-area district is heavily Democratic, and Mr. Grisanti was elected in 2010 by just a 519-vote margin. Now, many voters are recalling Mr. Grisanti’s previous disavowal of same-sex marriage.
Adam Kaiser, 27, a funeral director from Grand Island, said he was in favor of same-sex marriage and had supported Mr. Grisanti. Even so, Mr. Kaiser, a Republican, said he would not vote for him again.
“All politicians are liars, but you got to do a better job of pretending like you’re telling the truth,” he said. “I think it’s a ticket out of office for him.”
Paul Smith, a 60-year-old who runs a debt collection business in Niagara Falls, was also disturbed by the vote.
“Logic and truth and moral fiber, it’s being taken away from us right now,” he said. “No matter what opinion he gives you publicly on TV, you don’t know if he’s being honest.”
But Vicki Harnden, a 48-year-old Republican from Grand Island who works at a frozen-custard shop, praised Mr. Grisanti for his vote.
“In this day and age, you have to change,” she said.
In his comments on the Senate floor, Mr. Grisanti said that he had struggled with the issue as a Catholic, but that as a lawyer, he could not deny other citizens “the same rights that I have with my wife.”
“Whatever happens in the future,” he said, “that’s up to other people to decide.”
Source: New York Times