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Last week we told you that confirmation votes like Judge Lubbie Harper’s “are usually rubber-stamp affairs” and that “even a higher-than-normal ‘no’ vote on Harper’s confirmation” would send a message. That is what FIC Action just accomplished today.

As expected, Judge Harper was confirmed by the legislature. But a careful observer can gauge the progress FIC is slowly making in this bluest of states by measuring Judge Harper’s confirmation vote today against the legislature’s vote two years ago to re-confirm Richard Palmer–the Supreme Court Justice who actually wrote the Kerrigan marriage re-definition decision.

In the Judiciary Committee, FIC Action tripled the “no” votes: from one against Justice Palmer in 2009 to three against Lubbie Harper in 2011. In the House, we more than doubled the “no” votes: from seven against Palmer in 2009 to sixteen against Harper today. The Senate cast seven votes against Harper, the same number cast against Palmer.

But even these numbers do not tell the whole story. They do not include legislators like Rep. T.R. Rowe and Senator Joseph Markley who likely would have voted our way but had to recuse themselves because they have matters pending before the state’s highest courts.

Also, while the 14 “no” votes against Justice Palmer in 2009 were entirely Republican, the 23 “no” votes against Judge Harper today were bipartisan. Two Democrats in the House and one in the Senate joined with Republicans to vote against Harper and for judicial and financial restraint.

We will provide you with an exact breakdown, including which legislators voted well and which did not, in a future email. The key point is what today’s vote reveals about FIC Action’s position at the legislature: While we are still very much a minority at the Capitol, there is a growing trend in our direction.

And we are not the only ones seeing it. This is from an email sent out yesterday by the Connecticut chapter of the pro-abortion group NARAL:

We face a unique challenge in Connecticut. We once were a state where pro-choice leaders were a given, but we now find ourselves having to fight an anti-choice agenda pushed by groups like the Family Institute of Connecticut.

Even our adversaries acknowledge FIC Action’s progress. How about you?

We stood alone in opposition to Judge Harper’s confirmation. No other organization supported our position or lobbied with us. Our support comes from you. Would you please click on the link below to send your most generous donation to FIC Action?

Thank you for calling your legislators! Please click here to support the pro-family group that goes where others fear to tread!

(This was an email blast from FIC Action, sent earlier today.–PW)

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