How they voted on NJ Civil Unions

[rusty charly]

In the category of "It's long past time to stop thinking we're moderate Republicans, we moved to the right years ago and haven't voted as moderates since": Senator Leonard Lance, Senator Nick Asselta, Senator Joe Kyrillos, all of whom voted NO on civil unions, not because they want marriage equality.

http://www.bluejersey.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=3474

In the category of "I can't decide if I'm a conservative or moderate Republican, i.e. I actually voted to expand the domestic partnership law in early 2006 but now I voted against civil unions because I decided to run for the State Senate against my Republican Assembly seatmate Steve Corodemus in a district that's right-wing outside of Asbury Park": Asm. Sean Kean, who voted NO on civil unions, not because he wants marriage equality.

In the category of "If I vote yes, will you get your freakin' community off my back already? You demolished me in the election": Senator Tom Kean, Jr., who voted YES on civil unions.

In the category of "We'd be moderate Republicans if Tom Kean, Jr. let us, we freely admit we do whatever he wants in our common district": Asm. Jon Bramnick and Asm. Eric Munoz, who like Kean Jr. voted YES on civil unions. Bramnick, in fact, has shown promise of being a moderate Republican but Kean Jr. too often forced him to the right.

In the category of "I'm proving to be the progressive Republican I said I was, and if I run against Senator Ellen Karcher, I'll do everything I can to make it a difficult choice for progressives": Asw. Jennifer Beck, who voted YES on civil unions and gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor in favor of LGBTI rights. Neither she nor Karcher has taken a specific stance on full marriage equality, though.

In the category of "I may turn out to be the socially conservative Democrat you feared I would be, rather than a reliable Democratic vote": Asm. Gary Schaer