Log Cabin Republicans

The Log Cabin Republicans just sent out a gleeful email (subject: We Did It!) saying they "led the way" in pushing Mitt Romney out of the G.O.P. race and today "a great day for the Republican Party."

Email after the jump.  read more »

The New York Young Republican Club hosts Ken Mehlman at their monthly meeting.

The Log Cabin Republicans hold a meeting on 'Making the Case for Marriage Equality.'

Construction begins on the World Trade Center memorial and museum.

Local immigrant organizations deliver thousands of voter registration forms to the Board of Elections.

Betsy Gotbaum releases a report on gender participation in the Public Schools Athletic League on the steps of City Hall.

John Edwards campaigns with Ned Lamont in Connecticut.

Tom Suozzi announces the first Nassau county Restaurant Week in Mineola and then unveils plans for state education reform at City Hall.

—Nicole Brydson

Tonight, Log Cabin Republicans of New York hold their monthly meeting.

The New York Young Republican Club holds a political forum.

Tomorrow, Eric Gioia presents a proclamation and Homework Helpers donates computers and equipment to the Phoenix House in Long Island City.

—Nicole Brydson

The New York College Republican’s blog has an interesting little scoop: The Log Cabin Republicans have a PAC, whose only income is from the New York State Republican Party.

And the PAC, in turn, has contributed to a number of gay rights groups, like the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley.

Which is to say that GOP donors may be a bit surprised to see where their money is going.

So where's Bill Weld on same-sex marriage again? Andrew Kirtzman tried very hard to find out in an interview that aired yesterday. The attempt was endless, kind of comic, and ultimately unsuccessful.

Bear with him here...:

KIRTZMAN: Well, what is your position on gay marriage? You supported it enthusiastically...

Mr. WELD: No, I...

KIRTZMAN: ...in Massachusetts...

Mr. WELD: No, I've always supported...

KIRTZMAN: ...and now you're not so sure.

Mr. WELD: I've always supported equal rights, full equal rights for gays and lesbians. I signed the first executive order in the country authorizing domestic partnerships for gays and lesbians. I had a number of openly gay and lesbian people in my Cabinet. But I never said that I was in favor of gay marriage and I'm not today.

KIRTZMAN: I'm sorry, didn't you support the Massachusetts court ruling that validated gay marriage in Massachusetts?

Mr. WELD: No. No. I said that you can't repeal it by a statute, which is quite true as a matter of law.

KIRTZMAN: I'm sorry, did you speak in favor of it or against it?

Mr. WELD: I was not on the court when the court decided the decision.

KIRTZMAN: OK. So you're...

Mr. WELD: There was a move in the Massachusetts Legislature to repeal the court ruling through a statute, and you can't do that because the court ruling was based on constitutional law.

KIRTZMAN: Hear, let me put it this way in ways that I guess are more relevant to what's going on in New York state. As you know, the New York state Court of Appeals may get our own gay marriage case and by next year there could possibly be a ruling in favor of gay marriage in New York state. If you were governor, would you support a Defense of Marriage Act law that would prevent that from happening in New York?

Mr. WELD: A statute?

KIRTZMAN: A law, legislation.

Mr. WELD: Well, if the court decides as a constitutional matter that you've got to allow gay marriage, you can't overturn that by a statute. And I do not think I'd be in favor of a constitutional amendment either. I thought that was- a little cumbersome at the federal level.

KIRTZMAN: OK. So you would--where are you in terms of this issue in New York State? Would you be happy if the court ruled in favor of it or against it?

Mr. WELD: It's not a question of happy or not happy. The question is are you going to support, as a legislative matter, or oppose the institution of gay marriage, and I think 70, 75 percent of the voters in this state are very uncomfortable with the notion of a statute supporting gay marriage. So I'm going to be on the other side of that issue.

KIRTZMAN: I'm sorry. Are you uncomfortable with the idea of gay marriage?

Mr. WELD: I think as governor of this state, you're entitled to take into consideration the views of the polity, and I would be against gay marriage.

KIRTZMAN: OK. I have a quote here. I was just looking--preparing for my interview before. You told the Log Cabin Republicans in 2004, `the recognition of gay marriage as the Massachusetts Supreme Court has done is a conservative point of view. It's making the same demands on gays and lesbians as are made on everyone else when they want to commit to each other for a lifetime. I'm surprised that that is not a more broadly held point of view.' It sounds to me like you liked it.

Mr. WELD: That's an argument you could be making in that court case, but that doesn't...

KIRTZMAN: It sounds like an argument you made.

Mr. WELD: ...mean that it's public policy for New York state.

KIRTZMAN: I'm sorry, was that not an argument you were making? Did that not represent your opinion?

Mr. WELD: The court made its own decision and I was saying that was the basis for the court's decision.  read more »

KIRTZMAN: OK. So you were just speaking, I guess, intellectually?

Mr. WELD: Yeah.

From today's AP follow on the state GOP's decision to give the Log Cabin Republicans a seat on the party's executive committee.

"Whether it's a log cabin, a yurt, an igloo or a split-level, we've got room for every kind of housing no matter how you depict yourself in terms of your belief,'' says State Republican Party leader James Ortenzio.  read more »

He added that State Senator Serph Maltese, the anti-Log Cabin Republican voice, "turned himself in one minute from the Maltese Falcon to some form of domestic poultry."

The Politicker has learned that Patrick Murphy, the president of the New York City Chapter of the (gay) Log Cabin Republicans is likely to run for the Fourth City Council district, the one now represented by Eva Moskowitz.

This pleases us, because we like to think that the left wing -- call it the New York wing -- of the Republican Party is an undervalued stock. On the national stage, the conservatives control the institutions of power, but when they have a political convention, they push liberals and libertarians like Arnold and Rudy to the front. In New York, liberal Republicans have held the important executive offices for a decade, but there's no prominent liberal Republican holding more local office.

Over on the East Side, straight liberal Republicans spent the 1990s losing because Democrats painted them as Bush-DeLay-Gingrich clones. It'll be harder to do that with Murphy, whose group tries (often rather forlornly) to articulate a libertarian Republicanism that's nicely consistent, even if it hasn't exactly caught fire with the base.

If Murphy runs, we hear he'll have what's left of the East Side Republican organization firmly behind him. He can test Christie Whitman's notion of a liberal Republican revival.  read more »

Perhaps he'll even give us a City Council race that's still worth watching in November.