Domestic partnership vote likely next week, expected to be close

The debate over domestic partnerships has attracted large crowds at the Roundhouse. (Photo by Gwyneth Doland) 

SANTA FE — A domestic partnership bill will likely come to a vote in the state Senate as early as Monday, and supporters and opponents alike say that while they’re hopeful they’ll emerge victorious, nothing is certain.

“I think we’re gonna pass it, and it’s gonna be by one or two votes,” says Diane Wood, director of the northern regional office of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Some opponents of domestic partnerships are equally cautious.

“You just never know,” says Deacon Steve Rangel, associate director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We’re hopeful, but I wouldn’t say confident. We’re praying that the outcome will be that the bill is stopped.”

In 2008 a similar bill died in a Senate committee; in 2007 it came to a full vote but was defeated in the Senate.

Supporters take heart knowing that there have been changes in the makeup of the Senate since 2007. In particular,  Sens. Steve Fischmann, Tim Eichenberg and John Sapien, supporters of domestic partnership legislation, each replaced a member who had not favored the legislation.

“Many incumbents were defeated (in 2008), and some of those were supporters of domestic partnership, but we have also picked up a couple of votes from incumbents who didn’t support us last time,” Wood says, keeping her exact tally private.

There are 27 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the Senate this year. But Democrats also outnumbered Republicans in 2007, when the bill was defeated by one vote.

“We feel like the votes are there but we are not letting down,” says Tony Wagner, a regional field director for the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender  rights.

“We’re continuing the constituent outreach and doing everything we can do to get this vote off the floor,” Wagner says.

Supporters say they are focusing attention on Sens. Pete Campos of Las Vegas, Linda Lovejoy of Crownpoint, Howie Morales of Silver City and David Ulibarri of Grants, whom they believe to be undecided or wavering.

Rangel declined to identify any particular legislators he’s talking to more than others, saying only: “We definitely take the opportunity to voice our beliefs. It’s important to know the church’s stance on this.”

Legislators got a surprising glimpse of voters’ stance on the issue earlier this month when a poll conducted in the districts of Sens. Richard Martinez and Bernadette Sanchez showed more than 60 percent support for domestic partnership legislation.

“It was very clever on the part of the ACLU to fund that poll,” says Christine Sierra, a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. “I think that might have surprised (Sanchez).”

Earlier in the session, Sanchez took a walk during a committee vote on the bill, leaving the measure hung up on a tie. But on Monday, she cast the deciding vote to send SB 12 to the floor. In explaining her vote to the committee and audience, Sanchez denied that the poll had anything to do with her decision and criticized the wording of the poll as biased.

Opinions on the survey, conducted by Research and Polling Inc. of Albuquerque, were predictably divided.

“A scientific poll of the constituents’ positions on the issue — that’s way more credible than relying on the people that are mobilized on an issue,” Sierra says.

But Rangel disagrees. “Anytime you do surveys you can lead the answer you’re wanting… If you put it that you want everyone to have the insurance and all those other things, of course everybody’s compassionate on that. And so are we. We’re not the bad guy in this situation. We love everyone,” he says.

But opinions also differ over whether data from those two districts can be generalized to infer support for domestic partnership in other areas of the state.

“Those districts are very different — one is very urban, the other’s rural — but both had similar results… I think it’s a good indication (of statewide trends),” Wood says.

Pollster Brian Sanderoff, president of Research and Polling Inc., disagrees.

“We cannot assume that the results would be the same or similar,” he says.  “The last time (we did a statewide poll on domestic partnership) was five years ago, and it was very evenly divided. But a lot has changed in the last five years.”

One thing that’s changed appears to be the interest of Gov. Bill Richardson. Two weeks ago, the bill appeared doomed in committee without the vote of Sen. Sanchez, but Richardson said he was determined to get the bill to the floor for a vote and prophesied that it would happen. It did.

“It’s very important where the governor stands on these issues, because the governor’s office can apply pressure (to lawmakers),” Sierra says.