OK, so the two Democrat lawmakers – Judiciary Committee co-chairmen Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Michael Lawlor – who pushed the now-infamous and dead bill to overhaul the Catholic Church and the First Amendment – not only did not apologize, but brazenly counterattacked by scheduling hearings on legislation promoting transgendered special rights and assisted suicide. In legislatese: “So, you wanna screw with the Chairmen, Bishop?!”
The suicide bill was scheduled for hearings tomorrow (March 20), but it’s already been pulled. Blogging GOP Sen. Michael McLachlan explains:
The assisted suicide bill from co-chairs Senator McDonald and Representative Lawlor, scheduled for a public hearing before the Judiciary Committee on March 20th, appears to be dead for this session. The reason for pulling SB1138 off the agenda is reported to be “clerical error.”
I feel bad for the clerk and staff of the Judiciary Committee.
Last week the committee staff got hammered trying to process thousands of emails and phone calls from outraged Catholics and First Amendment rights advocates when their bosses – the co-chairs – began a frontal assault on the Catholic Church. This week the co-chairs decided to take on the right-to-life advocates and the calls and emails started flowing into the Capitol again.
Can someone in the Connecticut Democratic Party tell Senator McDonald and Representative Lawlor that we have a budget crisis and we need to focus on balancing the budget – not waste tremendous state resources on personal vendettas?
The blood still up from last week’s fight on the anti-Church bill, the Family Institute of Connecticut is now calling on the legislative leadership (Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams and Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan), to bounce the duo. FIC President Peter Wolfgang says “Rep. Lawlor and Sen. McDonald should not be allowed to continue to use their Judiciary Committee chairmanships to launch blatantly unconstitutional attacks on religious liberty in general and the Catholic Church in particular. . . . The chairmanship of this key committee should not be used to waste tremendous state resources on personal vendettas. FIC Action calls upon the Speaker and the Senate President to remove Rep. Lawlor and Sen. McDonald and to replace them with Judiciary Committee chairmen who will not abuse the position.”
Slim odds of that happening. But the ongoing Democrat hamhandedness could come back to bite them next year (if voters haven’t forgotten).