Political Genius Spitzer Forges Ahead

Admittedly, he'll probably have an easier time getting this passed in the ultra-liberal State of New York.

Though you really do have to wonder about his priorities. How about attracting some business to the state and worry about your idiotic social experiments later?

ALBANY - Gov. Spitzer said at a private fund-raiser that he wants a Democratic-controlled state Senate to legalize gay marriage - a highly divisive and controversial issue - as one of its first priorities in 2009, a witness to the remarks told The Post.

Spitzer, a gay-marriage proponent, pledged to help Democrats next November win the three Senate seats they need to gain the majority.

"One of the first things we're going to do when [Senate Minority Leader] Malcolm Smith is [majority] leader is gay marriage," the witness recounted Spitzer as telling some 60 people who paid up to $10,000 each to attend the event in Greenwich Village Wednesday night.

"Everybody applauded when he said that," said the witness, who was among senators, Democratic activists and lobbyists at a fund-raising event for the Senate Democratic Committee. It was held in the library of the elegant West 13th Street home of HBO's "Oz" creator Tom Fantana.

Two other witnesses, including an elected official, said they couldn't recall Spitzer's exact language, but added that the governor suggested a Democratic-controlled state Senate would follow the state Assembly's action this year in passing, for the first time ever, a gay-marriage bill.

Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson denied the governor said a Democratic-controlled Senate would make gay marriage a top priority. She said his reference to the Assembly passing a gay-marriage bill "was the line greeted with applause."

While Spitzer's remarks to public and private gatherings are often recorded, Anderson said there was no recording from the event.

The Queens-based Smith said he couldn't recall Spitzer's precise remarks, but remembered the governor saying, "There are issues that have to be addressed."

"He [Spitzer] said the Assembly had passed the gay-marriage thing," Smith, a gay-marriage supporter, said. "He said one of the things we could have dealt with is that." Senate Republicans compared Spitzer's linking gay marriage to a Senate Democratic victory to his now-scrapped proposal to grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

"Driver's licenses for illegals and gay marriages are not what the people of New York want," said John McArdle, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer).

"This is Gov. Spitzer promoting another divisive issue. and it indicates that his priorities are all wrong," McArdle continued.

When put on the ballot, gay marriage has been voted down nationwide. It took the courts in Masschusetts to force it upon the people, and were this put on the ballot in New York, it's a safe bet it would be voted down.

We have no issue with civil unions, but if Spitzer wants to spend what little political capital he has left on such a divisive issue, he should proceed forward.

Beating him in 2010 will be that much easier.

UPDATE: Linked at A Blog For All and Instapundit. Thanks!