Spitzer Promises Gay Marriage For NY

NY Governor Elliot Spitzer preached to the choir at a private fundraiser in the West Village on Wedneday.

"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.

Senate Majority leader Joe Bruno's spokesman said: "Driver's licenses for illegals and gay marriages are not what the people of New York want. This is Gov. Spitzer promoting another divisive issue and it indicates that his priorities are all wrong."

Same sex marriage has been approved by the state assembly, but under Bruno, the state senate will never have the chance to vote on the issue. Republicans presently control the senate by a slim majority, 33-29.
.