Political Caucuses 2012: Democrats concerned about constitutional amendments

Of the top issues discussed by Democrats during local caucuses Tuesday night, three were proposed constitutional amendments.

Goodhue County DFL Chair Arlene Roth said some of the biggest concerns posed by Democrats were in regards to marriage, photo identification for voters and the right to work.

The marriage amendment would define marriage as between a man and a woman, effectively preventing any same-sex marriages to be recognized by the state if passed.

“To take away the rights of a particular group of people — it’s a form of discrimination as far as I’m concerned,” said Red Wing resident Linda Thielbar, whose daughter is a lesbian.

Thielbar was one of four people from Ward 3 Precinct 3 to show up at the Democratic caucus Tuesday in the Twin Bluff Middle School cafeteria. In addition to the marriage amendment, the group wrote a resolution about the voter ID amendment, which would require photo identification to be provided in order to vote.

“I think it’s horrible. It’s going to cause huge problems and disenfranchise people from voting,” Thielbar said. “We really have much bigger fish to fry than all of these extraneous topics that are taking us away from dealing with the economy and job development.”

Aside from submitting resolutions at the caucus, a preference ballot was conducted and preliminary numbers are high for the president.

“The vast majority support (Barack) Obama. There were very, very few who were uncommitted,” Roth said, adding that she’s still sorting through the results from all 44 precincts in Goodhue County.

Twelve of the 44 are located in Red Wing, all of which convened at Twin Bluff. That particular caucus location saw a turn-out of about 80 people.

“There’s issues people are concerned about and this was the venue to discuss them,” Roth said.

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