Taking a Stand on Gay Marriage

In his blog, The Daily Politics, Ben Smith notes that we just don't know the position of most state legislators on gay marriage:

A surprising number of them -- a majority, I think -- aren't on the record with any position at all.

But is this really so surprising? As we noted in our 2004 report, there is shockingly little transparency or accountability in the New York State Legislature. Even when a legislator takes a public position on a controversial issue, chances are good that she won't have back it up with a vote and alienate some of her constituents. Over the past several years, fewer than 10% of bills introduced per year actually came up for a vote on either chamber floor, the lowest rate in the nation.

Categories: General, Legislative Rules