MEMO FROM CARSON CITY:

How speaker corralled the final vote for partnerships

Loyalty to his Democratic ‘family’ overcame doubts of a Las Vegas lawmaker

Sunday, June 7, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Politics: The Early Line

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CARSON CITY — Once the governor’s veto of the domestic partnership bill was overridden in the Senate, observers assumed that the legislation would easily make it out of the Assembly — even though the bill had been approved originally without enough votes to override.

No one doubted that Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley would find the additional two votes she needed.

Legislative observers say Buckley, in her two sessions as speaker, has been able to control her Democratic caucus firmly. Rarely did Democrats go rogue, and almost never when it came to issues that Buckley cared about.

Buckley is not above playing hardball. She can be dismissive with those she doesn’t agree with and come off as imperious with those who don’t come prepared.

But caucus members say she has built loyalty. And when it came time to vote on the domestic partnership bill, that loyalty paid off.

With a liberal base already sore for what they saw as a too-modest tax increase and $1 billion in cuts in the budget, failure of the domestic partnership bill in the Assembly could have delivered a blow to her chances of becoming governor.

The key vote in the Assembly was Jerry Claborn, a Democrat from Las Vegas who is a retired operating engineer serving in his last term. Claborn had missed the first vote on the bill — he was with his ill wife in Las Vegas — and initially said he wouldn’t vote to override the governor’s veto.

“I wasn’t going to support this bill at all,” he said. He expressed concerns that domestic partnerships would trump last wills when it came to inheritance, he said.

“I want to save my legacy for my children. I want to make sure they get what I have, and it doesn’t go to my wife’s domestic partner,” he said. “I’ve been married for 40 years, so I guess it won’t happen to me. But what about other people?”

Over the final three days of the session, Buckley repeatedly talked to him. She brought in the Legislature’s top lawyer to try to ease his legal concerns, as well as Claborn’s friend Assemblywoman Kathy McClain.

Still, he hesitated.

“I could count where the vote was,” Claborn said. “The simple fact was that I knew I was the last swing vote on the thing. I could kill it all for everybody.”

When the Senate overrode the governor’s veto, Buckley was watching the vote on television in her office. She turned to lawmakers and said, “Is it time for me to get Jerry?”

Afterward, he remembered one of the last conversations he had with Buckley.

“We got to talking real serious like,” he said. “She said a couple words that stuck with me. ‘Jerry, a lot of people have been waiting for this day, waiting for a long, long time for something like this to happen.’ ”

In the end, he still has concerns about the bill. But, he said, he has no regrets about his vote.

“I knew we needed this bill, we Democrats did. I have two families. There’s my family with my wife and children. Then there’s the family I’ve had for the past 12 years, Assembly Democrats. I didn’t want to let them down.

“I did it for the simple fact of the love of my Democratic friends and Ms. Buckley.”

Discussion: 8 comments so far…

By billsail

6/7/09 at 7:49 a.m.

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Buckley said he has two families. His wife and the Democratic party. What happened to his service to the people who elected him? Doesn't he represent the people in his position? Buckley was promised something for his vote. We will just wait and see where he ends up to see what he traded his vote for. FOLLOW THE MONEY and you see their motivation. How sad...
By smoke14

6/7/09 at 10:20 a.m.

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politians are first loyal to themselves....then to whoever is paying them off, then at election time they PRETENT to be loyal to the voters ....if you find a human among a politian or lawyer you have found a diamond in the rough
By term25600

6/7/09 at 12:35 p.m.

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it appears the real job of a politician is re-election. what about the actual job they were hired to do? I am so disgusted by politicians and their rhetoric.

As to giving gay people the same rights as straight people, why not? What IS the big deal on this. Its 2009 after all. Time to move on to more important things and stop the nonsense and rhetoric about 'saving marriage' . Even Jon and Kate plus 8 cant seem to 'save' their marriage. Why not let gay people get married too. Maybe they will do better !!!
By howdydostu

6/7/09 at 6:22 p.m.

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I can only write from my heart that what I know to be true. Robert and I would never have choosen our gayness. Who would choose something that until fairly recently has been so frowned upon by society as a whole?
And as the coversation about marriage equaity, civil unions and domestic partnerships goes foward, we see hearts and minds slowly changing.
Fair minded legislators, civic and corporate leaders have begun picking up the pieces of debris left behind from campaigns which have divided us...campaigns which became a cash cow for people who pandered for votes, using fear as a way to line their pockets.
Governor Gibbons is a role model for the sanctity of marriage? Richard Ziser is a moral leader? When he bankrolled "question 2" by going on talk radio saying all he wanted to do was "protect marriage" he made it seem as if civil unions or domstic partnerships was a possbility. How many voters supported "question 2" thinking that all they were doing was protectiong the "traditional meaning of marriage" yet wanted to see your gay family members, neghbors and co-workers still find some measure of equality under the law? If this recent debate in this legislative session doesn't prove to you how disingenuous these people have been...nothing will.
As I have stated in previous posts, Robert and I feel strongly that our churches should be free to make their own choices about marriage. But, the courthouses belong to ALL Americans.
I wish for every partnered couple the joy, companionship and happiness that Robert and I have found in our lives.
Stuart & Robert Wyman-Cahall
Las Vegas, NV 89142
By atdleft

6/7/09 at 6:56 p.m.

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term-

Well said.

bill & smoke-

Bitter much? I bet you wouldn't have been complaining if Jim Gibbons had done the same thing to block the override of his SB283 veto. It's not our fault that he's too ineffective to do that. Unfortunately, our families are too often the victims of this kind of politicking. It's nice that our side had the better game plan for once.

howdy-

I hope one day we'll see full civil marriage equality in Nevada & nationwide so that you and your husband will no longer feel like ping-pongs in this idiotic game of political warfare. This is about civil rights and about human rights, plain and simple.
By art_bell

6/8/09 at 5:47 a.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By NVCitizen

6/8/09 at 7:41 a.m.

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Domestic partnership is not a "gay" issue or a "straight" issue, but rather a civil rights issue. We need only look at the 14th Amendment to understand this. It is also not a religious issue, as the right to marry is granted through the State, and not through any church. Just try to show up at a church to get married without a marriage license in hand.
For those who feel that the "sanctity" of marriage will be attacked, just whose marriage are they talking about? Britney Spears'? Pamela Anderson Lee's? Larry King's? Elizabeth Taylor's? Marie Osmond's? Garth Books'? Straight folks, and even those who claim to be stalwart "christians" can't get marriage right, so why not give gay folks the opportunity to screw up their lives, too?
By OhSee

6/8/09 at 8:34 a.m.

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BillSail,
You don't have a clue!!!! Buckley is the Speaker of the Assembly and is a woman. If you actually read the story you would have understood the owner of the "Democratic Family" statement was Assemblyman Jerry Claborn, a man.
Shooting from the hip is counter productive...

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