Three Ariz. GOP senators who voted for anti-gay bill now calling for veto

Three Ariz. GOP senators who voted for anti-gay bill now calling for veto

SB 1062 would have failed in state Senate

BOB CHRISTIE | Associated Press

Monday, February 24, 2014

Arizona state Sens. Bob Worsley, Adam Driggs and Steve Pierce.

Updated: 12:00 p.m. MST
PHOENIX — Three Republican Arizona state senators who voted for a bill allowing business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to refuse service to gays sent a letter to Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday urging her to veto the legislation.
The legislation has set off a firestorm across the U.S. From gay rights backers and politicians of all stripes.
The bill allows any business, church or person to cite the law as a defense in any action brought by the government or individual claiming discrimination. Opponents call it a license to discriminate against gays.
Prominent Republicans have pressed Gov. Jan Brewer for a veto, including Sen. John McCain, a former presidential candidate who represents Arizona.
Sens. Bob Worsley, Adam Driggs and Steve Pierce sent their letter urging the veto just days after they joined the entire 17-member Senate Republican caucus in voting for the bill.
“I was not comfortable’ with the vote,’ Worsley told The Associated Press. “I have not been comfortable with this for some time.”
Arizona’s two republican U.S. Senators, Jeff Flake and McCain, are urging a veto, as are business groups like the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. McCain weighed in Monday with a tweet saying “I hope Gov. Brewer will veto #SB1062.”
The bill is being pushed by the Center for Arizona Policy, a social conservative group that opposes abortion and gay marriage. The group says the proposal is needed to protect against increasingly activist federal courts and simply clarifies existing state law.
CAP President Cathi Herrod is urging Brewer to sign the legislation and deriding what she called “fear-mongering” from its opponents.
The bill is expected to be formally transmitted to Brewer as early as Monday, and she’ll then have five days to act. Brewer doesn’t comment on pending legislation, but she vetoed a similar measure last year. That action, however, came during an u nrelated political standoff, and it’s not clear whether she would support or reject this plan. But with the business community lining up against the plan, Brewer could have cover for a veto. She’s worked hard to return Arizona’s economy to pre-recession levels with business-friendly incentives and tax cuts.
Pierce said he and the others went along to present a solid Republican front, despite misgivings.
“We were uncomfortable with it to start with and went along with it thinking it was good for the caucus,” Pierce said. “We really didn’t want to vote for it, but we made a mistake and now we’re trying to do what’s right and correct it.”
Similar religious protection legislation has been introduced in Ohio, Mississippi, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee and Oklahoma, but Arizona’s plan is the only one that has passed.
Republicans say the bill is not about discrimination but protecting religious freedom. They say Arizona needs a law to protect people in the state from heavy-handed actions by courts.
The bill comes as the movement toward legalizing gay marriage rapidly gains momentum in the U.S. Seventeen states, plus the Washington capital district, allow same-sex marriage
Republicans frequently cite the case of a New Mexico photographer who was sued after refusing to take wedding pictures of a gay couple, and a lawsuit brought against an Oregon baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.
The businesses were sued, but those efforts came under state laws that extended protected-class status to gays. Arizona has no such law protecting people based on sexual orientation.