SAN FRANCISCO — Infighting, voter fatigue and a slow fundraising start appear to have plagued efforts by conservatives to place a measure on the 2006 ballot banning same-sex marriage in California.
The attempts to amend the California Constitution suffered a setback in recent days when two groups conceded that they would not qualify for the June 2006 ballot.
One group, ProtectMarriage.com, gathered fewer than half the 598,000 signatures required by Tuesday's deadline. Organizers said they might still decide to press ahead for the ballot next November, but a confluence of events has made it unlikely.
While the battle against same-sex marriage was an issue to conservatives this summer, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's September veto of a bill to legalize such unions defused the issue for the time being. Furthermore, the California Supreme Court is not expected to rule until 2007 on whether the existing law limiting marriage to heterosexuals passes constitutional muster.
"Everything we need to educate voters about the need for such a measure has been temporarily taken away," said ProtectMarriage.com's legal counsel, Andrew Pugno. "I think it is very unlikely there will be any measure on the ballot this coming year."
Meanwhile, VoteYesMarriage.com, led by Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families, announced that it would not circulate petitions until it raises enough money to guarantee a successful drive by paid signature gatherers. Its initiative might not make a ballot until 2008, he said.
If no such measure appears on a ballot in 2006, it would be a clear defeat for conservatives.
Thomasson stood beneath a banner in May proclaiming "1 Man + 1 Woman = Marriage" and vowed to get a measure on the ballot in 2006 saying "judges and politicians have no right to flush marriage down the drain."
Members of the ProtectMarriage.com coalition also pledged in a media event in April that they were aiming for the June 2006 ballot. That announcement came a day after an Assembly bill to legalize same-sex marriage sponsored by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) cleared two committees.
Thomasson's group, which is supported by the Rev. Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition, has for months taken swipes at ProtectMarriage.com, which is backed by Focus on the Family and other conservative national Christian organizations. Thomasson did so again Tuesday, calling the competing measure weak and inviting voters to abandon it in favor of his.
