Anti-gay-marriage fundraising to be investigatedThe state ethics commission voted 3-2 today to order an investigation of the fundraising efforts by the National Organization of Marriage, a Washington, D.C.,-based organization that has given money to fight same-sex marriage in Maine. Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate filed a complaint with the commission saying the group should be required to disclose the names of donors. In response, Brian Brown, executive director of NOM, said they have not raised money specifically for Maine and therefore are not required to report individual donors. The investigation is expected to take several weeks and will likely not be completed before the Nov. 3 election. Question 1 on the ballot asks voters if they want to reject a new state law that allows gay and lesbian couples to marry in Maine. Bookmark/Search this post with:
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Comments
I vacillate on how I'm going to vote on the issue. On the one hand, I really don't care if homosexuals marry; on the other, I'm sick and tired of their whining. Guess I'll decide when I get to the voting booth.
Why do so many conservtives love claim to Love America, but hate Americans??
Keep the hate out of Maine! Vote NO.
Interesting out of state special interest groups are fighting each other. Too bad Maine people cannot be left to decide this issue ourselves.
I believe that the No on One campaign is already disclosing donors and complying 100% with the Maine ethics laws.
On the other hand, it seems that folks who donate to discriminate against their fellow taxpayers are a bit ashamed to have that known publicly. I guess I can understand why they would be so ashamed.
Maybe they should not be donating if it bothers them so much. When the ruling comes down against them, the names will have to be released and we will all now who they are anyway.
I just pray to god the catholic church is involved....up to its eyeballs...
the church will go broke, and parishoners will suffer. The Church should stay out of politics. Its worong!
Hopefully they'll also investigate all of the funding coming from the New York Times web site ad the pro gay marriage side is now using for their "Maine" campaign. And how much the leaders of that campaign are making and where that money comes from--then disclosing it.
Dana, why is it important to know what the campaign leaders earn? Do we know what the Stand for Marriage earn?
I work collecting campaign donations from time to time. for No on 1. We are REQUIRED to get name, address, phone, email, and work information, what they do and who they work for. Why should NOM be able to hide the source of their donations.
Their side DID sign the pledge to be honest and open. Of course, no one expected them to follow that, but we did expect they would at least meet the federal guidelines.
That's a pretty decent scam. If they just collect money for no particular purpose, when the send a hundred grand (which they did for Maine), they can say they don't know who it came from because it might not even have been contributed for a campaign.
However, since all they do is fight same sex marriage, that's going to be a hard explanation to defend.
This is way overdue. The website for NOM says it "will raise funds for direct involvement in targeted races of strategic importance across the country"; interestingly, the Princeton New Jersey based organization's position is that it doesn't have to report individual donors, as donations are not solicited for specific reasons. Uh-huh. Who knows who's behind the monies coming into Maine to repeal our law. Maggie Gallagher, president of NOM, recently co-authored a bokk entitled "The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better-Off Financially, while vehemently denying that right to gays.
Heh - they're called NOM - which is appropriate, as the ethics commission will eat them for breakfast.
Of course, all of this is just the SSM's attack on NOM, trying to cloud the issue, isn't it? It's ALWAYS an anti-family, anti-Christian conspiracy somehow. Yeah, sure.
This has been too long coming. The NOM Marriage PAC "will raise funds for direct involvement in targeted areas of strategic importance across the country" according to its website. The fact that NOM doesn't feel it has to report who the donors are, ostensibly because the donations themselves are not solicited for a "specific purpose", is interesting. Ironically, Maggie Gallagher, the Princeton, New Jersey organization's president recently co-authored a book entitled "The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better-Off Financially", while vehemently denying gays the right to marry.