On the last possible day for vetoes, Governor Lingle exercised her right and vetoed a civil unions bill.
House Bill 444 would have given same-sex and heterosexual couples the ability to enter into civil unions and receive the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as marriage under state law. Same-sex marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships performed in other states would have been recognized as civil unions in Hawaii.
I don't pretend to know what's in Linda Lingle's heart, but I'm willing to guess what's in her political mind. I think she wants to run for the US Senate in 2012, when current incumbent Dan Akaka will be 88 years old and might very well decline to run for re-election. (Our other Senator, Dan Inouye, filed re-election papers today).
I think she vetoed the bill in order to maintain credibility and get financial support from mainland Republicans and the national Republican party for that Senate run. Had she let it go into law without action she'd have been a tough sell to the mainlanders, and if she'd (horrors!) signed it into law she'd have been accused of being too liberal for the Republican party. She placed ambition over minority rights.
If Lingle runs for the Senate in 2012 and her coffers are filled with mainland money, this decision will have paid off for her.
Posted by Linkmeister at July 6, 2010 08:54 PM | TrackBack