The Voter’s Speakeasy

This year, two states will determine the legal status of same-sex unions by popular vote.

• Earlier this year, Maine’s State House and State Senate approved legislation that would permit same-sex couples to marry, recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states, and “allow individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages.”  In response, Maine citizens petitioned for a people’s veto to appear on the November 3rd ballot.  If this measure is approved, same-sex couples would be prohibited from marrying.

The state of Vermont enacted legislation permitting same-sex marriage in April of this year (see: Senate vote, House vote, Governor Jim Douglas’ veto,  House Override of Veto, Senate Override of Veto).  State Senator Kevin Mullin introduced an amendment to this bill that would have forced a legislative referendum on the measure, but it failed in the Senate.  Not long after, the Connecticut legislature (see: Senate Vote, House Vote) and the New Hampshire legislature (see: House Vote, Senate Vote with Amendment) each passed similar bills.  The State Assembly of New York passed such a bill as well, but it has yet to reach a vote in the State Senate.  Also in 2009, The Supreme Court of Iowa ruled that a 1998 law defining marriage as strictly between one man and one woman was unconstitutional.

Last year, the citizens of Arizona, Florida, and California approved constitutional amendments to define marriage only as the legal union of one man and one women.  Members of the Wyoming State House attempted to pass such an amendment this year, but it failed.

• Washington’s Referendum 71 does not permit same-sex marriage, but would affect the status of those in domestic partnerships.  According to the Official Explanatory Statement- as supplied by the Attorney General- approval of this referendum “would amend references in numerous state statutes so that rights, responsibilities, and obligations granted by or imposed by state law on married couples and their families would apply equally to state-registered domestic partners” (see: Senate Vote, House Vote).

In Nevada, domestic partnerships were first established this year (see: Senate Vote, House Vote, Governor Jim Gibbons’ Veto, House Override of Veto, Senate Override of Veto).   New Mexico and Hawaii legislatures tried to do the same, but were unsuccessful.

-Kristen Vicedomini, Research Director

Here in the Speeches department, we put thousands of speeches into the PVS database each year. This repetitive task can be boring at times, but when we stop to read some of the speeches, we often have to fight the urge to laugh out loud. Forget about kids, we’ve found that Congresspeople really do say the darndest things!

Some quotations simply leave us scratching our heads. This one from Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a good example: “I’m not afraid of August. It’s a month.”

We’ve also found that Representatives often devise unique metaphors to spice up their speeches. From Representative Steve King, “Reclaiming my time for a moment, I would point out that the carbon credits are the modern-day equivalent of the reason that Martin Luther came forward and nailed his positions up on the Diet of Worms which is, the church was selling indulgences.”

Other times, representatives use some interesting descriptive words.  Here’s one example from Representative Sam Farr, “National parks have the significance of being national. And if you think that it’s okay to carry guns in national parks, why not carry them into the National Cemetery, into the national White House, into the national Capitol, into the National Arboretum. The list goes on and on. This is a dumb amendment–and Congress should be embarrassed that we have to vote on it.”

Other Congresspeople intentionally use humor to connect with their constituents. Representative Jeff Flake, for example, identifies an “Egregious Earmark of the Week” and then follows it with a snappy pun relating to the earmark. A few weeks ago he picked an earmark granting $475,000 for the creation of business incubators in Casper, Wyoming. Reflecting upon this earmark, Flake quipped, “Looks like earmark reform doesn’t have a ghost of a chance this year.”

Whether it’s a slip of the tongue or a well-planned joke, Congresspeople say some pretty funny things. And thanks to the speeches department, you don’t have to miss a single one!

-Julie Zorb (University of Notre Dame, 2011, Political Science and French Double Major, from Phoenix, AZ), Speeches Intern