Conservative Chairman Mike Long says his small, but powerful party apparatus is kicking into high gear to remind candidates seeking their endorsement that they won’t countenance support for same-sex marriage.

The Conservative Party will no longer endorse candidates who support same-sex marraige — making it all the more difficult for Senate Republicans who need the extra line in New York’s fusion balloting system to vote in favor of the measure and win re-election.

Only yesterday we notified all our members of the state executive committee our county leaders to ask them to go back to their legislators mainly to state senators, mainly how important this was. We knew they were getting ready to contemplate. It was getting closer for them to make a decision as to what they’re going to do and asked the leaders up and down the state of New York to reinforce our position and remind the legislators that we passed a resolution that is the state executive committee did saying very clearly that anyone who supports destroying traditional marriage will in fact not get the Conservative Party endorsement.

A good example is Yonkers mayoral candidate John Murtagh, a Republican who supports gay marriage. I’m told the local Conservative Party declined to give Murtagh the line Monday night.

Meanwhile, members of 1199 SEIU Healthcare Workers were in Albany to lobby legislators on the issue. In two was President George Gresham, who has ties to the Working Families Party, the union-backed, left-leaning party.

Interestingly, Gresham met with Democratic Sens. Joe Addabbo and Shirley Huntely, two Queens lawmakers who voted no in 2009, but are believed to be on the fence this year.

Gresham wouldn’t say if any of his WFP clout was a factor, but did say his union would be able to apply pressure.

I’m not a spokesperson for the WFP, but as far as 1199 is concerned, we don’t have permanent friends we have permanent interests. When you decide to vote in favor of something that helps our members we have a long memory.

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