4353
(0 votes, average 0 out of 5)
Written by WiG
Feb 1, 2012
The nation’s largest gay civil rights group is calling for an investigation of the nation’s best-funded anti-gay marriage group in light of new campaign disclosure reports from Minnesota.
The Human Rights Campaign says reports released on Feb. 1 reveal an unprecedented effort by National Organization for Marriage to avoid disclosing individual donors as required by law.
HRC now wants the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board to investigate NOM’s financial activity around a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
Reports filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board show just seven individual donations and one donation from a family estate for the anti-gay ballot campaign. But more than $1.2 million came from three entities – $750,000 from the Minnesota Catholic Conference, $250,000 from NOM and $226,000 from Minnesota Family Council. The Catholic group’s contribution included $650,000 from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ investment income.
Meanwhile, Minnesotans United for All Families, the coalition working to defeat the ballot measure, reported contributions from more than 5,000 individuals, 75 percent of them from Minnesota.
“NOM has deliberately evaded Minnesota’s public disclosure laws,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese. “We’ve seen this movie before in plenty of other states. This is part of NOM’s systematic attempt across the country to oppose public disclosure and hide its donors.
“In Minnesota, they have taken it to a whole new level. We believe that NOM and others may be secretly telling people to contribute to them instead of directly to the campaign so that they can avoid public disclosure. The contrast between seven individuals opposing marriage equality and thousands of pro-equality supporters is quite revealing.”
NOM lawyers, for months, fought Minnesota over its public disclosure laws.
In a related case, this week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit upheld Maine’s campaign finance disclosure laws from attack by NOM. In 2009, NOM solicited contributions for a ballot measure but refused to register and report as a ballot question committee as required by Maine law.
The Maine attorney general is investigating NOM for violating state law.
