Democrat David Gantt refused to vote on the gay marriage bill but the media doesn’t think that’s all that important for you and the pro-gay marriage lobby to know.  From all the coverage on the vote, one little sidebar section in the D&C even mentioned how our entire local delegation voted but it was never included in any news story.  It turns out Assemblyman Gantt didn’t even vote on the bill.  Well, he kinda did.  He voted to NOT vote on the issue.

I found this on the Democrat & Chronicle website:

Here’s how local state legislators voted on legalizing same-sex marriage in New York:

ASSEMBLY

Voting no: James Bacalles, R-Corning; Daniel Burling, R-Alexander; Joe Errigo, R-Conesus; Stephen Hawley, R-Batavia; Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua; Robert Oaks, R-Macedon; and Bill Reilich, R-Greece.

Voting yes: Susan John, D-Rochester; David Koon, D-Perinton; Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit.

Abstaining: David Gantt, D-Rochester.

SENATE

Voting no: James Alesi, R-Perinton; George Maziarz, R-Newfane; Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette; Michael Ranzenhofer, R-Amherst; Joe Robach, R-Greece; Dale Volker, R-Depew; Cathy Young, R-Olean.

Channel 8 ran a story in which they wanted only GOP Senators from our area to explain their votes.  Why?  Did Democrat or GOP Assemblymembers need to explain their votes?  Does Democrat Assemblyman David Gantt need to explain his non-vote?  As the ONLY member of the Rochester state delegation to ABSTAIN his vote on gay marriage isn’t this the more compelling story?  Every single other member voted yes or no but Gantt doesn’t take a stance at all.  Why?  Why does the media think certain people need to explain why they voted a certain way but Gantt gets a free pass on not voting at all?  Does David Gantt have members of the local media in his hip pocket?

Also, prior to the State Legislature passing a deficit reduction plan all we heard day in and day out from our local media was how cutting the state budget was the most urgent business before the state and it demanded immediate action.  Nothing was more important and every single day that went by was another failure to address an aspect of our state’s fiscal crisis.  For once I agreed with the media.

Then why on the very next day following officials passing a plan to move closer to eliminating the state’s deficit is the front page, above the fold story in the Democrat & Chronicle the Senate’s vote on gay marriage?  The story on the budget cuts that passed was buried somewhere in the local section or further in the A section.  All of the sudden the fiscal crisis affecting the State of New York wasn’t all that important.

And Jim Lawrence wonders (maybe he doesn’t) why we think his whole “Fed Up With Albany” campaign is a big fat crock.

Right now, the most important issue facing New York taxpayers is our lagging economy and Democrats at the state and federal level raising taxes on working families to fund their bloated government budgets.  I guess according to our local media, it’s only the most important issue until they decide something else gets them better ratings and advertisers.

Once again the media proves to the people of Rochester its bias and hypocrisy.  It’s so damn frustrating.

On a side note, I wonder what the Rochester Radicals think about Gantt’s non-vote on gay marriage?