Frank McNulty kills civil unions bill, earns shmuck of the session

He looked shmucky enough at the end of the regularly scheduled session of the Colorado Legislature when he pointed the finger at Democrats for not pushing the civil unions bill earlier, then delivered his own lethal injection when he sent the proposal to a "kill committee." And then whoops, House...

By Patricia Calhoun

May 18, 2012

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He looked shmucky enough at the end of the regularly scheduled session of the Colorado Legislature when he pointed the finger at Democrats for not pushing the civil unions bill earlier, then delivered his own lethal injection when he sent the proposal to a "kill committee."

And then whoops, House Speaker Frank McNulty did it again.

During the special session -- called by Governor John Hickenlooper so that lawmakers could reconsider the civil unions proposal, among other measures -- McNulty again sounded the death knell by assigning the bill to the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee -- where Representative Don Coram, who has a gay son, wound up voting against the proposal, citing the will of his constituents, who six years ago approved Amendment 43, which defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Coram's quandary was so personal it raised him far above the shmuck level. But McNulty, a Catholic who was treated like a rock star at a rally the day after the bill died, definitely qualifies. "We thought the fight was over in 2006," McNulty said. "We were wrong."

Very wrong: Watch this fight heat up as we head into the November election.

And bonus shmuck points to radio host Dan Caplis, who emceed that rally. See the top ten tweets attacking Frank McNulty for the death of the civil unions bill here.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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