This same-sex marriage debate is heated. And when things heat up in Vermont in March, that means only one thing: mud. Stepping in it, slinging it, wiping it off your shoes.

A string of statements from both the governor and the Legislature on same-sex marriage lean toward the disingenuous.

A Nov. 21 article by Associated Press staff writer Dave Gram is one example. In it:

Gov. Jim Douglas: "I never indicate what I might do when a bill gets to my desk, but I've been quite clear that I don't support the legislation."

Well, sometimes he indicates what he might do, like yesterday.

In the same story, Sen. John Campbell, D-Windsor, one of the sponsors of the same-sex marriage bill: Campbell criticized Douglas for not saying whether he'd veto a same-sex marriage bill. "This is too important of an issue for a governor to be evasive. He should let the people of Vermont know where he stands now," Campbell said.

And when Douglas did that yesterday, Campbell seemed not to like it.

The list goes on:
Legislative leaders said Douglas shouldn't be deciding the fate of a bill before the bill passes, yet they decided three weeks ago that a bill would pass before any committee started taking testimony.

Douglas said yesterday: "I'm sure that legislative leaders would not have advanced this bill if they did not have the votes to override a veto." I would argue that he is playing games when he says that, that he suspects otherwise and merely wants legislators to look bad if they don't have the votes.

It is mud season.

- Terri Hallenbeck