Ultra-left state rep and House Ed Committee chair conspiring to do end-run on stalled Planned Parenthood bill

To sneak it in as a state 2009 budget item amendment!

(FEBRUARY 25, 2008) This is about the Massachusetts Legislature, after all, so undemocratic tactics are the order of the day.

At the Executive Session of the Joint Education Committee earlier this month the Planned Parenthood pro-homosexual and pro sex-ed bill (H597/S288) was sent to a study — it appeared to be a BIG victory for the pro-family movement! This horrific bill would write into law "reproduction and sexuality, mental health, family life, and interpersonal relations" as required subjects in the public schools. This seemed to be a huge setback for Planned Parenthood and the homosexual groups. For the second time in a row, they put heavy resources into getting this passed. But MassResistance (and parents across the state) pummeled the Legislature with phone calls, emails, letters, and personal visits against this bill. (MassResistance reports on this bill, & public hearing, here.)

Interestingly, during the Executive Session the lead sponsor, Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge), wasn't too pleased. "I'm really sorry that this is going to a study," she told Committee House Chairman Patricia Haddad. Haddad shot back, "Well, I am, too, but that's what's happening."

Well, not exactly, as we're finding out. Last week we noticed on Rep. Alice Wolf's website the following little blurb in her "Legislative updates" section:

Health Education
Unfortunately, my bill to make age-appropriate, comprehensive, medically accurate health education part of the core curriculum in Massachusetts Public Schools was put off this year. However, Education Committee Chairwoman Pat Haddad and I are currently working to advance this important issue through the FY09 Budget.

Sneaking a bill into law by making it a "budget item" is a sleazy device the homosexual lobby has used before when they knew they couldn't get it through legitimately. (More on this below.)

Anyway, this has been confirmed in the current issue of the homosexual newspaper "Bay Windows", which reports:

Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge), one of the lead sponsors of House Bill 597, which would require school districts to institute health curricula, said that while the education committee sent her bill to a study committee, she and other proponents are pushing for language on health education to be included in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, a version of which is currently being drafted in the House. Wolf, a member of the education committee, said she and committee chairwoman Rep. Patricia Haddad (D-Somerset) will press for funding for the Department of Education to study the state of health education in the state's public schools and create a plan to expand heath education.

"Chairwoman Haddad and I had an agreement that we would try to proceed with this agenda of trying to move forward with a health education curriculum through the budget process. And whether or not that will be successful we do not know," said Wolf.

While the bill is not explicitly LGBT-focused, anti-gay advocates including MassResistance have accused proponents of using the bill to sneak pro-LGBT content into the schools because the state's health education frameworks include discussion of LGBT people and issues. MassResistance founder Brian Camenker and several of his supporters testified against the bill during a hearing last May.

Wolf said from her discussions with fellow committee members she does not believe they were swayed by MassResistance's arguments in their decision to send the bill to study, but the controversy they created did hurt the bill.

"I think what it did is raise [that] there's some controversy around this, and there's a certain amount of resistance around here to do things that have controversy," said Wolf.

- "Fate of two LGBT-related bills uncertain" Bay Windows 2/21/08

A sleazy way to legislate . . .

As we said, sneaking a bill into law by making it a "budget item amendment" within the massive state budget is a last resort which has been used before by the homosexual lobby for bills they can't get through any other way.

Including an item as a budget amendment which really has nothing to do with the state budget is technically legal, though quite sleazy. But if you can get a member of the Ways and Means Committee to add it in, it's pretty much a free ride. It doesn't have to go through a public hearing, committee debate, or executive session the same way as other laws. And once the committee approves it, the House and Senate rarely pay attention to the thousands of individual items and they usually just vote everything through fairly mechanically.

They did it last year, though we nearly stopped them.

You'll recall that last year the homosexual lobby got the law passed to create the new "Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth" — which has broad powers and is independent of the Executive branch of government — as a budget item amendment. And as many of you know, MassResistance saw what was going on and went into action. First, we got hundreds of people from Republican primary states to call Gov. Mitt Romney's office to demand he veto that line item, which he eventually did. Then, as you remember, since the Republicans don't have enough reps or senators to sustain a veto, we lobbied hard and actually got the necessary Democrats to sustain the veto. The vote was taken and we won, but the homosexual lobby immediately called for a reconsideration and a recess. The pro-homosexual House Speaker Sal DiMasi then twisted some arms and when the reconsideration vote was taken, nine cowardly reps changed their votes, allowing the veto to fail and the law to pass.

MassResistance report on the "Commisson on Gay and Lesbian Youth" bill they slithered through last year

MassResistance report on the reps who caved in on the re-vote

Fight back!

This year we need to stop this undemocratic process before it gets started.

Don't let them pull this disgusting tactic again. This must be stopped in its tracks. You can do something. Contact Patricia Haddad, the House Education Committee Chairman who is conspiring with Rep. Alice Wolf to do this.

Call, write, or email Rep. Patricia Haddad here!

Tell her:

(1) Don't even dare try pushing the odious Planned Parenthood bill (H597) into law as a budget item amendment. That bill deserves to stay dead!

And also: (2) We demand that allow the Parents' Rights Bill (S321) be voted on by the Legislature. Don't keep it bottled up. Pay attention to parents, not the homosexual lobby!

And remember: What happens in Massachusetts will soon happen across America! Stop it here!