Steve Who?: Martha Coakley

Showing posts with label Martha Coakley. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Justice Dept. Files Appeal in DOMA Suit

Tuesday certainly was a big news day for LGBT rights. Not only did a federal judge order an end to DADT, Obama's Justice Department filed an appeal in the ruling in the Massachusetts case of Gill vs. The Office of Personnel Management. Judge Joseph Tauro ruled on July 8 that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the U.S. Constitution.

Despite President Obama's repeated statements that he believes DOMA is wrong and should be overturned, his administration continues to twist the knife in the back on the LGBT community, planted there by former president Bill Clinton.

The Advocate reports:

Mary L. Bonauto, director of the Civil Rights Project at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the organization that brought the case, said she was not surprised by the filing.

“We fully expected an appeal and are more than ready to meet it head on,” said Bonauto. “DOMA brings harm to families like our plaintiffs every day, denying married couples and their children basic protections like health insurance, pensions, and Social Security benefits. We are confident in the strength of our case.”

Martha Coakley, the attorney general for Massachusetts who filed the case along with GLAD, echoed Bonauto's statements.

"We look forward to presenting our case," Coakley said in a statement. “DOMA is an unjust, unfair, and unconstitutional law that discriminates against Massachusetts married couples and their families. DOMA denies same-sex married couples from being treated equally under the law across a wide range of areas, from accessing basic health care, retirement, and social security benefits to being buried with their loved ones in a veteran’s cemetery.”

According to a press release from GLAD, the next step will be for the government to file its brief to the first circuit court of appeals arguing against Judge Tauro’s ruling. GLAD will then file its brief in opposition to the government, and finally the government will file a reply brief. At that point the appeal will be scheduled for oral argument. Briefing could be concluded by next spring, with oral argument to follow in the fall.

The government also today filed its notice of appeal in the related case Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Department of Health and Human Services.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Coakley Hands MA Senate Seat to Cosmo-boy Brown

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown to fill the US Senate seat occupied for thirty-seven years by the late Ted Kennedy yesterday in a stunning upset that has put health care reform in jeopardy. Brown won by 52% - 47% in a state that Obama won by 26%.

Critics of Martha Coakley have accused her of running a lazy and over-confident campaign, citing her three-week vacation over the Christmas holiday.

While health care reform in it's current state may be dead in the water, Brown may be the next Joe Biden and should prove a lot of fun to watch and comment on. If Democrats don't get their shit together soon, we could see a Palin/Brown presidential victory in 2012.

In what could be a preview of things to come, Senator-elect Brown wasted no time in pimping out his daughters during his victory speech. Why do Republicans persist in picking the pretty package with nothing inside? Because it's so much fun for the rest of us.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Polling: Dem. Coakley is no shoe-in for Ted Kennedy's seat

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley ...

Image via Wikipedia

As the clock runs out in the final days leading up to the January 19 special election to fill the vacant Massachusetts senate seat left by the passing of Ted Kennedy, democratic hopeful Martha Coakley's lead in the polls is slipping away. Democrats in the Bay State, including Coakley, have assumed that any democrat could win the seat, held by the Lion of the Senate for over three decades, with minimal effort and that's exactly what they've been giving it.

Public Policy Polling (PPP) reported on Friday, "At this point a plurality of those planning to turn out oppose the health care bill. The massive enthusiasm gap we saw in Virginia is playing itself out in Massachusetts as well. Republican voters are fired up and they're going to turn out. Martha Coakley needs to have a coherent message up on the air over the last ten days that her election is critical to health care passing and Ted Kennedy's legacy- right now Democrats in the state are not feeling a sense of urgency."

A Rasmussen Report survey published last week shows only a 9-point gap between Brown and Coakley, which the democrat has yet to see as a big enough threat to merit a change in strategy. The Brown campaign has also outspent Coakly by a significant margin.

I mention this next bit to illustrate just how desperate -- and motivated -- the GOP is right now. Republicans prefer the pretty package that is Bob Brown, the way they flock to the human vacuum tube that is Sarah Palin.

In September, the blog Gawker reported that the rabidly anti-gay Brown had posed for a nude photo spread in Cosmo back in 1982. The Brown campaign brushed it off as a youthful indiscretion, telling Newsweek's blog The Gaggle, that it would be different for a female politician. If a woman poses nude for a magazine, it speaks to her character, while a man who does it can chalk it up to "boys will be boys". The Gaggle piece and the Coakley campaign have never taken brown's candidacy seriously and that seems to be backfiring on them.

Bob Brown was taken to task by the press back in February, '07 when his eldest daughter, Ayla, was a contestant on American Idol. Some high school kids posted derogatory comments on Facebook about Ayla that included the F word. Shortly after the post was discovered, Brown was asked to speak at a high school where he used to opportunity to address the offending piece, reading sections of the post word for word, including the aforementioned F-Bomb. Critics accused Brown of bad judgment, while he defended himself for making a point about the damage that can be done by hate speech.

All of this aside, although voter turnout is typically lower during off-year and special elections, republican conservatives historically turn out in higher numbers during mid-term cycles than democrats. This trend, combined with anti-Obama backlash could create a perfect storm for a GOP victory in the democratic stronghold of New England.

Even with a majority in both houses on the hill, now is not the time for democrats to rest on our laurels. The Teabagger movement, for all its lunacy, has been gaining momentum nationwide and can no longer be taken lightly. While a Brown victory in Massachusetts may not signal the beginning of another Republican Revolution, it serves as a reminder that there is no such thing as a sure thing. If Martha Coakley hopes to pull off a senate victory and continue the legacy of Ted Kennedy, she needs to show that when it comes to Bob Brown, there is no "there" there.