Mormon – NOM Cooperative in Iowa Election

Des Moines Register

Anti-gay, Mormon-funded group spreading lies and fear in Iowa, group says

By Jason Clayworth • jclayworth@dmreg.com • August 24, 2009

One Iowa, the state’s largest civil rights organization for gays and lesbians, is speaking out about an out-of-state Mormon-funded group that’s spent at least $86,080 on a special House race to fight marriage equality for same-sex couples.

The National Organization for Marriage is a New Jersey-based group known for its multi-million investment to pass California’s Proposition 8.

The marriage organization last week filed an independent expenditure statement indicating it has spent $86,080 on radio and television ads that benefit Stephen Burgmeier, the Republican candidate for House District 90 in a Sept. 1 special election in southern Iowa.

Burgmeier is opposed to same sex marriage. His Democratic opponent, Curt Hanson, says he believes Iowans should be able to vote on a constitutional amendment to prohibit same sex marriages.

One Iowa executive director Carolyn Jenison issued a statement today noting the marriage organization’s efforts in Iowa.

“The Mormon Church and NOM have invested millions of dollars to spread lies and fear in California and now they have their sights set on rural Iowa,” Jenison said. “This raises the question: Has Burgmeier been bought and paid for by out of state religious extremists? If not, he should reject this divisive ad.”

She continued:

“NOM has a history of funneling money from the Mormon Church into anti-gay measures, while refusing to disclose the source of their funds. NOM should release the list of those contributing to the ads airing in Iowa.”

Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, was also quoted in One Iowa’s press release:
“This is about out-of-state extremists attempting to buy an Iowa election, plain and simple,” Jochum said.

One Iowa has countered the ads with its own. See it here.

Calls made Monday and Tuesday to NOM, including one to its executive director Brian Brown, were not immediately returned.

Maine Coverage + 8 The Mormon Proposition

Three Excellent Stories: Maine — Investigation of NOM and Other Groups, AP Story – Mormon Church in Hot Water & Mike Tidmus on San Diego Kiss-In at Manchester Grand Hyatt?

Kennebec Journal Story by Matt Wickenheiser

BY MATT WICKENHEISER

Maine Sunday Telegram



Maine’s same-sex marriage debate increasingly seems to be a coast-to-coast affair.

Earlier this summer, the campaign seeking to repeal Maine’s new same-sex marriage law said it had retained Schubert Flint Public Affairs, the high-power firm that ran the successful effort to ban gay marriage in California.

Now it appears Sacramento, Calif.-based Schubert Flint may face some familiar foes.

This past week, Equality California, the San Francisco-based group that fought to maintain gay marriage in that state, said it planned to support similar efforts in Maine. During a conference call in which Equality California officials talked about trying to reinstate gay marriage there in 2010, they also pushed support for their Maine counterparts.

The attention, and several press releases from both supporters and opponents of gay marriage, demonstrate a growing focus on the Maine debate and the importance it will have on a national level this year.

Both sides – supporters and opponents of gay marriage in Maine — have attracted dollars and expertise “from away.”

“Equality is our mission, and we support our brothers and sisters throughout the country,” Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors said in a Friday interview. “Each time there are more people who are able to have the dignity and respect and rights that come with marriage, the better it is for everyone, and the better it is to restore marriage rights in California.”

Kors said his group would contribute $25,000 to the “No on 1” campaign in Maine. Kors also said the group would encourage supporters to make matching contributions and volunteer time to help the campaign in Maine. And Equality California is evaluating what sort of staff assistance it could send to the East Coast, Kors said.

Also on Friday, the Washington Blade, a gay and lesbian publication, reported that the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign had donated $50,000 to No on 1 this past week, raising the total contribution from that group to $75,000.

The group is committed to donating at least another $50,000 to Maine, and it has field staffers working in the state, the Blade reported.

The group spearheading the people’s veto initiative, Stand for Marriage Maine, put out a release this past week, criticizing the California-based efforts.

“Stand for Marriage Maine’s opposition has constructed a glass house, claiming their campaign is being orchestrated by Mainers, not special interest groups from away,” the group said. “The Equality California announcement would seem to roll a boulder right through that glass house.”

Mark Sullivan, spokesman for No on 1, said the campaign “welcomes the support we’re getting from defenders of marriage equality.” Sullivan noted that Stand for Marriage Maine had already received more than $200,000 from out-of-state groups, according to campaign finance reports filed last month.

Sullivan said Maine organizers had not yet spoken to their California counterparts about how efforts could match up.

“We’ll be looking forward to meeting with them,” said Sullivan.

The money that Stand for Marriage Maine has received from national groups, particularly the National Organization for Marriage, was the subject of yet another critical e-mail – this one from a California group supporting same-sex marriage.

On Thursday, Californians Against Hate, based in San Diego, put out a media statement complaining that while Stand for Marriage Maine had received large sums of money from those groups, it wasn’t apparent who had donated money to those groups in the first place.

“We certainly don’t take much of it very seriously,” Marc Mutty, chairman of Stand for Marriage Maine’s executive committee, said, referring to the criticism by Californians Against Hate. “We are frustrated at the fact that it’s yet one more distraction.”

Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, sent a letter to the Maine Ethics Commission and the Attorney General’s Office, raising allegations of money laundering.

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission, said his staff is interpreting the letter as a request for an investigation. They have forwarded the letter to the Stand for Marriage political action committee, he said. The staff needs to ask Karger for more specific information and charges, said Wayne.

Campaign finance laws for candidates are fairly clear, said Wayne. Any money earmarked for a candidate from one party through an intermediary must be identified back to the source, he said. The laws for PAC reporting aren’t as clear, said Wayne.

Kate Simmons, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, said the office would aid the Ethics Commission in its work.

“We appreciate Wayne’s responsibilities to the people of Maine, and we will cooperate with them to the extent we can,” said Mutty. “We see all these accusations launched against us as very non-specific, just an attempt to further blur the issues.” Mike Tidmus Blog — Coverage of San Diego Kiss-In

Fred Karger in San Diego Saturday asking support for the Manchester Hotels Global Boycott and Mega Donor Terry Caster’s A-1 Self Storage Boycott. Caster gave $693,000 to Pass Proposition 8!!!

AP Story by Jennifer Dobner



Mormon church becomes target in renewed gay marriage fight

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Mormon church’s vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide “kiss-in” Saturday.


The event comes after gay couples here and in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, were arrested, cited for trespassing or harassed by police for publicly kissing. In Utah, the July 9 trespassing incident occurred after a couple were observed by security guards on a downtown park-like plaza owned by the 13 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The court case was dismissed, but the kiss sparked a community backlash and criticism of the church.

“I don’t think that kiss would have turned out to be the kiss heard round the world if it were not for Proposition 8,” said Ash Johnsdottir, organizer of the Salt Lake City Kiss-In.

Atali Staffler, a Brigham Young University graduate student from Geneva, Switzerland, said she joined the 200 or so people who filled a downtown amphitheater for the event because she has watched her gay father and many gay friends struggle to find their place.

The 31-year-old, who was raised Mormon but is not active in the church, said the church shouldn’t be involved in Prop. 8.
“I encourage them to promote the values they believe in and to defend their religious principles in advertisements, but civil rights have nothing to do with religious principles,” she said.

Twenty-two people, many of them strangers to one another, gathered under the scorching sun on
Washington’s National Mall to participate in the national smooch. They were gay and straight, couples and singles of all ages, with placards that read “Equal Opportunity Kisser” and “A Kiss is a Not a Crime.”

“This is America. A kiss on the cheek is OK,” said Ian Thomas, 26, of Leesburg, Va., who organized the Washington Kiss-In. “It’s got to be OK. If not, we’re in serious trouble.”

About 50 people, mostly gay and lesbian couples, gathered at Piedmont Park in downtown Atlanta and kissed for about five minutes.

“You think that America is evolving into a gay-friendly nation,” said Randal Smith, 42, “but what happened in Texas and Utah show us it’s still a long way off.”

National organizers say Saturday’s broadly held gay rights demonstrations were not aimed specifically at the Mormon church. But observers say the church’s heavy-handed intervention into California politics will linger and has left the faith’s image tarnished.

“What I hear from my community and from straight progressive individuals is that they now see the church as a force for evil and as an enemy of fairness and equality,” said Kate Kendell, executive director of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights. Kendell grew up Mormon in Utah. “To have the church’s very deep and noble history telescoped down into this very nasty little image is as painful for me as for any faithful Mormon.”

Troy Williams, who is gay and grew up Mormon, said ending the tension between gays and the church requires mutual acceptance and understanding.

“For both sides to peaceably coexist, we’re all going to have to engage in some very deep soul searching,” said Williams, a Salt Lake City-area activist and host of a liberal radio talk show.

Church insiders say Prop. 8 has bred dissent among members and left families divided. Some members have quit or stopped attending services, while others have appealed to leadership to stay out of the same-sex marriage fight.

But church spokeswoman Kim Farah said Friday that Mormon support for traditional marriage has nothing to do with public relations.

“It’s too easy for those whose agenda is to change societal standards to claim there are great difficulties inside the Church because of its decision to support traditional marriage,” Kim Farah said. “In reality the Church has received enormous support for its defense of marriage.”

Mormonism teaches that homosexual sex is considered a sin, but gays are welcome in church and can maintain church callings and membership if they remain celibate.

The church has actively fought marriage equality legislation across the U.S. since the early 1990s and joined other faiths in asking Congress for a marriage amendment to the Constitution in 2006.

Last year at the urging of church leaders, Mormons donated tens of millions of dollars to the “Yes on 8” campaign and were among the most vigorous volunteers. The institutional church gave nearly $190,000 to the campaign — contributions now being investigated by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission.

After the vote, many gay rights advocates turned their anger toward the church in protests and marches outside temples that singled out Mormons as the key culprits in restricting the rights of gay couples.
That constituted a setback for the faith, argued Jan Shipps, a professor of religious history and a Mormon expert from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Mormonism, Shipps said, has struggled with its image since its western New York founding in 1830 for a host of reasons, including polygamy.

Leading up to Salt Lake City’s 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the faith worked hard to craft a modern, mainstream image, touting its unique American history, culture and worldwide humanitarian work to thousands of reporters.

“This really undercut the Mormon image that had been so carefully nurtured during the Olympics,” Shipps said.

Church representatives don’t discuss public relations strategies or challenges publicly, but at a semiannual conference in April, church President Thomas S. Monson seemed to be clearly feeling a post-Prop. 8 sting.

In an era of “shifting moral footings,” Monson said, “those who attempt to safeguard those footings are often ridiculed, picketed and persecuted.”

That argument doesn’t wash for Linda Stay, whose ancestors were early Mormon converts. Stay said she was doubly transformed by Prop. 8. She and her husband, Steve, finally quit the church — along with 18 other family members and a few close friends — and became gay right activists.

The
St. George woman’s family, which includes two gay children, will play a central role in a documentary film, “8: The Mormon Proposition” currently in production. Stay’s son, Tyler Barrick, married his boyfriend in San Francisco on June 17, 2008, the first day gay marriage was legal in California.

Miami-area filmmaker Reed Cowan said the Stays’ story is a painful representative of many Latter-day Saint families, including his own, that needed to be told.

“It used to be that I could defend my church and my heritage, but what they did here, they crossed the line and they made it very hard to defend their actions,” said Cowan, whose family has cut him off since he began work on the film.

With the gay rights fight far from over, some believe Prop. 8 could continue to frustrate the church’s image for years to come, much like polygamy — the church’s own one-time alternative form of marriage — and a policy on keeping black men out of the priesthood, issues that have lingered years after the practices were abandoned.

“The church is certainly going to survive and thrive, there’s no question about that,” said the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Kendell, who is raising three kids in California with her partner of 16 years. “The issue is, what will be its image in the average American mindset.”

To see the church characterized, because of its own actions, as one in a group of anti-gay religions and as a religion that forces members to choose faith over family is “a tragedy of generational proportion,” she said. “And it seems to me, that it was entirely unnecessary.”

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

This story appeared in publications across the US including: USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC and Forbes Magazine

Money Laundering by NOM in Maine Election?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 13, 2009

Contact: Fred Karger 619-592-2008

Letter Sent to Maine Election Officials
Warning of Money Laundering by
National Organization for Marriage (NOM) & Others

LOS ANGELES, CA / AUGUSTA, ME – Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger sent a letter today warning top Maine election officials of possible money laundering by opponents of same-sex marriage.

The organization trying to overturn Maine’s same-sex marriage law, Stand for Marriage PAC recently turned in 100,000 signatures to place the question on the November ballot. These gay marriage foes hope to repeal LD 1020 — the law passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor allowing same-sex marriage in Maine.

Of the $343,689.50 raised to pay the Brighton, Michigan based National Petition Management, Inc. to collect the signatures, only $400, or a mere .001 of that total came from individuals. The remaining $343,289.50 was given by various religious organizations and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) gave nearly half of that total, $160,000. The remainder came from Catholic organizations ($150,000) and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family ($31,000).“It sure looks like they are trying to hide the donors in their latest effort to strip away marriage equality,” said Fred Karger. “ There is no way these organizations like NOM and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland had all this money sitting in their treasuries (except for possibly Focus on the Family). They went out and raised it expressly for this campaign. It’s very expensive to hire these signature gathering firms to collect 100,000 signatures in a short period of time.”

Let the Laundering Begin

NOM is a Mormon Front Group

There is an ongoing investigation into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC Case #08/735). The FPPC is looking into both the Church’s lack of reporting its non-monetary contributions to Prop 8, and also whether NOM was, in fact, established as a front group by the Salt Lake City based Mormon Church. The Mormon Church has used this tactic in several states beginning in Hawaii in 1996.

Warning Maine Officials

In a letter to Jonathan Wayne, Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices (letter copy below), Karger warned of suspected money laundering by the major donors to Stand for Marriage PAC.

It begs the question; are they directing all contributions to their existing organizations, who in turn then give the money to Stand for Marriage PAC?,” Karger asked in today’s letter. “We are very familiar with how this coalition operates, and we want to warn the political leadership and the residents of Maine to beware.

The coalition has also hired the highly regarded Schubert, Flint Campaign Management firm of Sacramento, California.

Who are the Victims Here?

These major backers of Stand for Marriage PAC will do their best to play the poor victim. They like to say that their contributors are being targeted simply because they give money to “preserve marriage.” That’s what they did in California after running a very nasty campaign and spending $40 million to take away marriage equality from millions of Californians.

Let’s be clear. They are NOT the victims here. The Mormon Church and its coalition have qualified and passed Constitutional Amendments in 30 states to yank away civil rights from gay and lesbian Americans.

The Mormons began this fight in 1988. They have been destroying lives, intimidating people and demonizing an entire class to solidify their base and raise millions and millions of dollars.

After two decades of assaulting the LGBT Community, we are now fighting back with our talent, our numbers, our friends, our money and our purchasing power. They are not the victims in this equation, and even the best PR by all of their consultants cannot rewrite history.

Our hope is that as young people discover that they are LGB or T, they do not feel any less of a person because Maggie Gallagher (NOM $160,000 to the Maine campaign), Bishop Richard Malone (Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, ME $100,000 to the Maine campaign) Knights of Columbus (Catholic Church’s Political Arm $50,000 to the Maine campaign) or James Dobson (Focus on the Family $31,000 to the Maine campaign) gave so very much money to bully them and take away their rights.

Copy of Letter To Maine Election Officials

August 13, 2009

Mr. Jonathan Wayne
Executive Director
Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and
Elections Practices
135 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333

Re: Money Laundering — Stand for Marriage PAC

Dear Mr. Wayne:

We have reviewed the very first finance report which was recently filed by Stand for Marriage PAC, the group trying to repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law.

It appears that there are already questionable activities.

Stand for Marriage PAC reported raising $343,689.50 during the period April 1 to July 5, 2009. We found it very suspicious that of that total, only $400 was given by individuals. The balance of $343,289.50 was contributed by various religious organizations and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. That means that individual contributions to repeal gay marriage in Maine are only .001% of the total raised.

Are the proponents trying to hide the identities of those contributing to their campaign? Are they directing all contributions to existing organizations, who then gave the money to Stand for Marriage PAC? This appears to be the case.

If this is true, would it not be considered money laundering?

We have been very active and have closely tracked all the money that was raised to pass Proposition 8 in California last year. Californians Against Hate was the first to uncover the vast involvement in the election by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). Our extensive research revealed that the Mormon Church had its members in California and around the country give approximately 75% of the $40 million that was raised to pass Prop 8.

On November 13, 2008, just nine days after the election, we filled a complaint with, the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), your counterpart in California. Our complaint alleged that the Mormon Church had spent a tremendous amount of money in non-monetary contributions that they never reported, which is required under California election law.

We submitted evidence supporting our claim that the Mormon Church ran out of state phone banks, produced 27 slick commercials (that ranged from 30 seconds to 8 minutes long) and put them on their elaborate web site Preserving Marraige.org for all to see. We also asked the Commission to investigate the Mormon Church for bussing people from Utah to California for precinct walking, sending out extensive direct mail and numerous other activities.

Eight days later, the FPPC announced that they were launching an unprecedented investigation into the Mormon Church (Case # 08/735) as a result of our complaint.

On March 19, 2009, we filed a supplemental complaint with the FPPC. We received hundreds of secret Mormon documents that show exactly how involved the Mormon Church has been throughout the country in fighting same-sex marriage. The documents reveal how the Church established front groups to wage their battles, and shield the Church from any negative publicity

We believe that the Mormon Church established the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) in May of 2007 for the express purpose of qualifying Proposition 8 for the California ballot. This was done in conjunction with leading Catholic organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.

It is no coincidence that these are the exact same groups that are funding and leading the effort to repeal Maine’s recently passed same-sex marriage law.

We believe that only Focus on the Family had money in its treasury. The other groups raised money expressly for the campaign to hire the professional signature gathering firm to qualify the referendum.

They are trying to hide the true identities of those contributing to the campaign.

It certainly sounds like money laundering to us. We hope that your office will investigate the genuine sources of the funds contributed to Stand for Marriage PAC.

The Mormon Church appears to be using the National Organization for Marriage to fight same-sex marriage all over the Northeast.

They admitted as much in a Washington Post story on May 29, 2009. A spokeswoman in Salt Lake City declined to say whether the church is involved in debates going on in the Northeast except to say, “…that leaders remain intent on preserving the divine institution of marriage between man and woman. The faith holds that traditional marriage transcends this world and is necessary for the fullness of joy in the next life.”

It sure sounds like the Mormon Church is involved to us.

On our web site Mormongate.com, we describe the formation of NOM. This was done at the very highest level of the Mormon Church – the President and the 12 Apostles.

You can see exactly how they operated in Hawaii in order to skirt state election laws there. They funneled money through Hawaii’s Future Today, which they established to fund that state’s campaign to ban same-sex marriage.

In the near future, we will be releasing other official Mormon documents that explain how this happened in other states.

If we can be of any assistance in your efforts to monitor Stand for Marriage PAC, please to not hesitate to call upon us.

Best regards,

Fred Karger
Founder
Californians Against Hate
www.CaliforniansAgainsthate.com
619-592-2008

cc: Attorney General Janet Mills

News Coverage From Around the World!!!

CAH – News Coverage #24

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Concordia Discors

Global Manchester Hotels Boycott

LGBT & UNITE HERE Leaders Announce
Global Manchester Hotels Boycott

SAN DIEGO, CA — Five prominent leaders who have been boycotting San Diego developer and hotel owner Doug Manchester for one full year, held a news conference on Friday to announce plans to take the boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego global for Year II of their highly successful boycott.

They unveiled three large posters in English, Spanish and Japanese representing the expansion of the Manchester Hotels Boycott to the world. Pointing to the enormous success of Year I, which by Manchester’s own estimates has cost his Hyatt property $7 million alone; the group explained their plans to expand the boycott.

Photo by Mike Tidmus

“We will be asking the public to please not cross the line,” stated Boycott organizer Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, while holding up the yellow caution tape (photo above) representing the theme of Year II. “We want everyone to really think long and hard before going in to Mr. Manchester’s hotels. Don’t support bigotry and discrimination by spending money at either Manchester Hotel only to have it used against us. Doug Manchester gave a whopping $125,000 early contribution to California’s Proposition 8. Prop 8 ended marriage equality for millions of Californians when the voters narrowly passed the Constitutional Amendment last November.

Also speaking at the news conference was longtime LGBT activist and San Diego Gay Pride Grand Marshall, Cleve Jones, who discussed how the organizers were going to reach out to all international tour operators, travel planners and meeting planners. Brigette Browning, President of UNITE HERE Local 30, whose union has been so successful in encouraging over a dozen major conventions to cancel their meetings at the Manchester Hyatt, spoke about all the lost business due to the boycott. She explained that number represents over 100,000 room nights. Rick Jacobs, Founder and Chair of the Courage Campaign, representing over 700,000 members, asked Governor Schwarzenegger to “Fire Doug Manchester” from the board of the prestigious California Travel and Tourism Commission, because the passage of Prop 8 will cost the State of California $1 billion in lost revenue. Also speaking at the news conference was well known San Diego City Commissioner Nicole Murray- Ramirez, who discussed the Human Relations Commission’s, which he chairs, unanimous support of the boycott.

Here are the three posters:

It’s The Moment of Truth, Maggie.

Will You Take a Lie Detector Test, Maggie Gallagher?

NOM President, Maggie Gallagher as she would appear strapped to a lie detector,
if she agrees to take a polygraph test.

We have made arrangements with the highly regarded New York City Polygraph Examiners, which has an office located very close to you in Westchester, for you to take a polygraph test. If you would prefer, they have a mobile polygraph service, and can have a paleographer administer the test right in your home.

Maggie, you claim that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) did not help establish, or give any money to your National Organization for Marriage (NOM), or to any of your other organizations or even to you personally. Let’s find out once and for all, Maggie.

Californians Against Hate will gladly pay for your lie detector test to determine the truth once and for all about whether or not the Mormon Church set up NOM as a front group, just like it has previously set up other front groups to oppose same-sex marriage around the country.

On our web site Mormongate.com, we have documentation that shows just how the Mormon Church established “ Hawaii’s Future Today” as a Mormon front group to fight same-sex marriage in that state. It hid the full extent of its involvement in fighting same-sex marriage in Hawaii until several months ago, when we received secret Mormon documents showing just how the Mormon Church, at the very highest levels, ran and funded that campaign.

As you are well aware, the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is in the middle of an investigation of the Mormon Church, including its involvement in setting up your National Organization for Marriage — FPPC Case # 08/735.

In just two years since NOM was formed, you claim to have spent $6 million in your efforts to deny full equality to gay and lesbian Americans. Where is all that money coming from, Maggie? Who is producing all your slick commercials, paying for your polling, travel, robo calls, direct mail, PR consultants, lobbyists, Executive Director Brian Brown’s and your large salary and for all your other staff?

Why won’t you release your IRS form 990’s for 2007 and 2008 that we have repeatedly requested? This is required by federal law. Maggie, what are you hiding?

NOM funded the qualification of Proposition 8 for the California ballot to the tune of $2 million, and is now spending millions more in a failed effort to stop marriage equality in 6 Northeast states.

Maggie, You Have Lied Before.

Remember Your Bush Administration Scandal?

After 3 years, you finally were forced to tell the truth about the $41,500 you received from the George W. Bush Administration to promote its Marriage Programs and National Fatherhood Initiative. You lied about it for 3 years until the truth finally came out. You claimed that you “forgot about your contract,” which ran from January through October 2002. According to USA Today, you were forced to apologize.

Your responsibilities included drafting a magazine article for a Health and Human Services (HHS) official, overseeing the initiative, writing brochures for the program and conducting a briefing for department officials.

Do you remember when CBS Nightly News reported about your scandal? Watch the coverage here: CBS News

In columns, television appearances and interviews with newspapers such as the Washington Post, you defended Bush’s proposal for a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage. All the while, you were being paid by the Department of Heath and Human Services.
This forced President Bush to order his Cabinet secretaries not to hire columnists to promote administration policy.

Take a Lie Detector Test, Maggie!!!

We have repeatedly asked you to tell the truth about the millions of dollars in funding for your 2 year old National Organization for Marriage. You have refused.

Did the Mormon Church create and fund your National Organization for Marriage? Take the test!

Please Help Us Keep Up the Fight Against NOM & The Mormon Church.
Click on This Link Below to Contribute So That We Can Run More Ads!


https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=1084701

Where’s the Money, Maggie?

Where’s the Money, Maggie?

Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage (NOM) Refuses to Turn Over Its Federal Financial Records as Required by Law.

Californians Against Hate began requesting your 990s (IRS non-profit tax filings) over three months ago, Maggie. You have not responded as required by law. We visited your national office in Princeton, N.J. twice to view the Form 990s, and sent our requests there by certified mail.

Someone at that address signed the US Postal Service receipt on April 25, 2009 (see copy below). You then had 30 days to comply with our request, but you still have not sent us your federal tax flings for 2007 and 2008.

We have also been to your “office” in Manassas, VA, and no forms there either, Maggie. It looks to be the home of your Treasurer, Neil Corkery. The Corkerys are apparently traveling around the world, and again, the forms are not available for public inspection as required by federal law.

What are you hiding, Maggie? Tell Us the Truth!

Is it all the involvement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) in creating and funding the National Organization for Marriage, Inc.? That is exactly what the California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating (Case # 08/735) right now.

Since you have not complied with public disclosure laws for your 501(c)4 non-profit corporation for NOM, we have taken the liberty of preparing an invoice showing just how much you owe the United States Treasury as of today for refusing to release these documents.

INVOICE
June 24, 2009
TO:
Maggie Gallagher
President
National Organization for Marriage
20 Nassau Street, Suite 242Princeton, NJ 08542

Re: Fine for Nondisclosure of Federal 990 Records

National Organization for Marriage a 501(c) 4 Corporation has failed to file with the Internal Revenue Service and make its federal forms available to the public after repeated requests.

Fine shall be $20.00 per day up to a maximum of $10,000.00 for the period:

March 25 to June 24, 2009

92 days @ $20.00 per day = $1,840.00

Due and Payable to: Internal Revenue Service

$1,840.00
This is not an actual Internal Revenue Service Invoice

As you are probably aware, the IRS fine for noncompliance is $20.00 per day for every day that you do not turn over your records up to a total of $10,000. For the 92 days so far, you owe the United States Treasury $1,840. While that won’t put much of a dent in the national debt, it is what you owe the government so far in fines. Frankly, Maggie, we are tired of waiting, and are exploring other actions to force the release of your filings.

Is NOM Even a Legal Entity?

In another very interesting development, we received a letter from the IRS last week in response to the request that we filed with them on May 6, 2009 for your Form 990s. The IRS said that, “we have no record of any organization by the name (National Organization for Marriage, Inc.) or address ( 20 Nassau Street, Ste. 242, Princeton, N.J 08542). Now, can you explain that?? They do have a record of your Educational Fund, the 501(c)3, but that apparently was just established last year. NOM, Inc. was established in May 2007 to get Prop 8 on the ballot, so there should be 2 annual filings available on NOM, Inc.

Here’s the copy of the IRS letter:

Maggie, why don’t you do the right thing and release your 2007 and 2008 form 990’s? Just what is in there about your funding and expenditures that you don’t want people to see?

A recent Washington Post story had this to say about the Mormon Church’s involvement in the same-sex marriage battles in six Northeastern States.

Mormon officials have tried to stay out of the controversy that followed the California vote, when the church’s prominent role in the marriage fight became clear. A spokeswoman in Salt Lake City declined to say whether the church is involved in debates going on in states such as New Jersey and New York, except to say that leaders remain intent on preserving the “divine institution” of marriage between man and woman. The faith holds that traditional marriage “transcends this world” and is necessary for “the fullness of joy in the next life.”

Well, Maggie it’s not so divine for you to stonewall your financial records.

That Admission by the Mormon Church
Raises Many More Questions

Who is paying for your multi million dollar TV campaign? Who is funding your $500,000 New York State PAC? Your California PAC? Who is paying for all the direct mail robo-calls and millions of direct connect calls in New York alone? Where did you get the $6 million that you admit to spending as reported this week in your hometown newspaper, The Journal News:
LoHud.com ?

How much are you and your executive director Brian Brown getting paid? Is the Mormon Church paying you directly or through another one of your other organizations like the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy

Is the Mormon Church producing all of your slick new commercials? Your controversial and often maligned A Gathering Storm commercial that was made using actors pretending to be real people was chock full of Mormon actors, mostly from Arizona. Most of the bad actors on your audition tapes appear to be Mormon as well. We have that documented.

Just how much money is the Mormon Church spending now to fight same-sex marriage in at least 7 states? Mormon families spent close to $30 million in California to pass Proposition 8 last year. The Mormon Church has likely spent tens of millions of dollars directly throughout the country on all their efforts to stop gay marriage since they hired the world’s largest PR firm, Hill and Knowlton, in 1988. It even appears that the Mormon Church, through its Public Affairs Committee, was monitoring same-sex marriage activities and involved in Canada as well.

We know that the Mormon Church has not been truthful about all of its involvement in opposing same-sex marriage for 20 years. We have seen ample evidence of this in the Church documents that we received.

When we filed our complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission last November, Mormon Church officials first said they spent “zero dollars on Prop 8.” Then 3 months after the election, they finally admitted to have made $190,000 in non-monetary contributions. Nearly all of that was supposedly spent the week before the election.

They later changed their story again, saying that the $117,000 reported in Salt Lake City staff time ($96,000) and facilities’ usage ($20,500) was not actually spent just on election day as they had reported to the California Secretary of State. According to Church spokesman Scott Trotter, the staff time included work between August and November. Well, then shouldn’t there have been other expenditures in August or even July and September? Come on Maggie, tell the truth!

The Mormon Church announced its active participation to pass Proposition 8 in the now famous letter read from Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church. This rare act took place on June 29, 2008, and was read to every Mormon in the Western United States. President Monson called on all Mormons to give of “your time and your means to pass Proposition 8.”Well, it worked. As we now know, the Mormon Church took over every aspect of the Yes on 8 campaign, and was largely responsible for its passage.

Please, Maggie, tell America the truth for once about where your millions of dollars are coming from. We are a country of laws, and we have the right to know.

Please Help Us Keep Up the Fight Against NOM.
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NOM’s Maggie Gallagher Probed

June 22, 2009


Keith Eddings keddings@lohud.com

A national organization headed by an Ossining woman that has pledged to spend more than $1 million to defeat a gay marriage bill in New York is defending itself in California against allegations that it was organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to defeat similar bills nationwide.

The National Organization for Marriage said last week that it would spend $500,000 to help mount primary challenges against Republican state senators in New York who vote for a gay marriage bill proposed by Gov. David Paterson. It has passed the Assembly but stalled in the Senate, as Democrats and Republicans fight for control of that chamber.

The spending would come atop $600,000 the group says it has spent on media campaigns and telephone calls to sway senators in 25 Senate districts, including those represented by Sens. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson, and Thomas Morahan, R-New City.

NOM says it has spent $6 million to block gay marriage in several states since it was organized in 2007, including $1.8 million to place an amendment on the ballot in California that repealed gay marriage there last year.

The campaign to repeal same-sex marriage in California was fueled in large part by the Mormon church. Critics in that state say the church began the effort by recruiting Maggie Gallagher of Ossining – who has forged a career writing about marriage for conservative think tanks – to establish NOM.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating complaints that NOM operates as a front for the Mormon church and that the church failed to report millions of dollars in nonmonetary contributions to the campaign.

The complaint was lodged by Los Angeles gay rights activist Fred Karger, who formed Californians Against Hate to protect gay marriage in the state.

“The church is the marionette, the puppeteer, of Maggie and Brian,” Karger said, referring to Gallagher, who is NOM’s president, and Brian Brown, its executive director. “The evidence is clear that the Mormon church is 100 percent behind the National Organization for Marriage and its funding.”

Gallagher said there is no connection between NOM and the church except that a Mormon serves on NOM’s board. She said she started NOM and recruited Brown to run it because conservative ministries, think tanks and charities that oppose gay marriage are not positioned to fight it on the ballot and in state capitols.

“I would not shy away from telling you if a group of Catholics and a group of Mormons founded NOM,” Gallagher said. “It’s not true. I founded NOM. I’d be happy to work with Mormons, but NOM was not started at the suggestion of Salt Lake. But I’d be OK with it if it was true.”

Once before, Gallagher faced allegations of a cover-up about who funds her work for conservative causes. In 2005, she acknowledged receiving at least $21,500 from the Department of Health and Human Services to write brochures and other material promoting the Bush administration’s marriage initiatives.

Gallagher also advocated for the Bush initiatives in a syndicated column she writes for Universal Press, but did not disclose the HHS payments. She said she earned the payments legitimately but conceded that she should have disclosed them in her column.

Karger has no smoking-gun evidence tying NOM to the Mormon church, but said the relationship would be exposed if the California Fair Political Practices Commission responds to his complaint by issuing subpoenas for church records. He said he believes the relationship exists because the Mormon campaign against gay marriage in California mimicked what he called its undercover campaign to overturn a court ruling allowing gay marriage in Hawaii in the 1990s.
On his Web site,
californiansag.wpengine.com, Karger posts documents revealing how Mormons created a group called Hawaii’s Future Today in 1995 and covered up the group’s roots in a church many Americans are uneasy about. The documents detail how the church recruited non-Mormons as figureheads for the effort, while installing a Mormon on the board, and dodged financial disclosure requirements about its spending.

“We have organized things so the Church contribution was used in an area of coalition activity that does not have to be reported,” church Elder Loren Dunn said in a June 5, 1996, memo to a church committee overseeing the effort. He added that a campaign leader was avoiding reporters who were asking about church spending on the Hawaii marriage bill.

Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the church in Salt Lake City, responded to a question about the authenticity of the memos by e-mailing this statement: “Mr. Karger is entitled to his opinion but not to his own version of the facts.” She would not elaborate.

Farah said the church “did not establish the National Organization for Marriage.” She did not respond to a question about whether the Mormon church has been active in the campaigns to defeat gay marriage in New England and New York.

In April, as NOM was launching its $600,000 media and phone campaign in New York, Karger launched his own low-budget media campaign in the state and New England in ads on news organizations’ Web sites. The ads, called “The Mormons Are Coming!” and set to the tune of “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” plays on New England’s historic unease with the Mormon church. Several news organizations, including the (Albany) Times Union, rejected it.

“To attack, harass and intimidate any one religious faith and say they don’t have a right to participate in the process I think is profoundly anti-American,” said Brown, NOM’s executive director. “A lot of what Fred is trying to do is to intimidate Mormons – especially – out of supporting marriage, and it’s wrong.”

“I’ve never questioned the right of the Mormon religion or any religion to be involved in the political process,” Karger said. “All I’ve said is, if they are going to participate, they need to abide by the election laws. I believe there’s a lot more there. I don’t believe Brian or Maggie are telling the truth.”

Two Words of Advice on How to Win Back Same-Sex Marriage — Voter Registration!

I spent three decades as a public affairs and political consultant. I spent a couple of hours at Los Angeles Gay Pride last Sunday.

Being heavily involved right now in our LGBT civil rights movement, it is important to observe what is going on out there. Several hundred thousand people attended the Sunday morning parade and the annual weekend festival. June is Gay Pride month, and there are literally dozens of cities in California that hold Pride weekends throughout June and all summer long.

Last year’s Pride was particularity interesting, because much to our surprise, gay marriage had been made legal just weeks earlier, and it was going to take affect days later. What an exciting and historic time that was. What a difference a year makes.

I remember last year that there was no one registering voters the entire weekend of L A Pride. Odd I thought, since one year ago we knew in advance that Proposition 8 was very likely going to be on the November 4th ballot.

Voter registration is an essential element in all major political campaigns. Practically every campaign and every political party has conducted voter registration drives almost going back as far as George Washington. It’s basic, nothing really new or innovative. The idea is, to register new voters who will vote with you in order to help your side get more votes than your opponents. Like I said, pretty basic.

This year I went into the Pride Festival to do a little test. I wanted to see what all was going on with voter registration.

I had assumed that our wonderful LGBT organizations (and they are incredible organizations) would have hundreds of people out registering LGBT voters and all our friends at LA Pride this year. I figured that they would be taking advantage of this mostly younger crowd, and get everyone at Gay Pride registered to vote. After all we very likely will be back on the ballot to repeal Prop 8 in less than 17 months.

As I went to my first LGBT political booth, I asked gently if there was a way to register to vote? A young bewildered volunteer said, “not really sure.” I visited the over 20 more LGBT political booths, out of over several hundred at the festival. Sadly, I could not find one voter registration card! Not even one!!!

During my wanderings, I finally met a very nice girl who had heard that the Stonewall Democrats booth had some voter registration forms. She marched me right over there, and I was thinking bingo, but alas, after some searching around they first said “we ran out,” then said, “sorry, we don’t have any.” Then the cute volunteer added, “good idea though.”

200,000 to 300,000 LGBT individuals and so many of our friends were in one place, who all agree that marriage equality should return to California. You do the math. Talk about a missed opportunity!!!

I’m pretty certain that at least half of the mostly younger crowd at Pride is not registered to vote yet. Once they do register, they will be voting for let’s say 70 more years on many more LGBT issues and for candidates who support us. That’s a lot of Novembers and Junes. In California, all new voters have the option of checking a box to have an absentee ballot mailed to their home forever. Vote at home = very high turnout.

It’s simple. Elections are won by who gets the most votes. We narrowly lost last year. Let’s put on the biggest, most successful most fun voter registration program in California history. Let’s give it a catchy name like “Milk the Vote” or “Register for Equality.” Then brand it, use our massive volunteer force that has been and continues to be organized, and let’s go get 600,000 new LGBT voters and our friends registered now. This new army should be everywhere the next 17 months where there is a gay event, rally, march, college campus and any place that there are more than 25 gay people assembled.

It’s a lot of work, but if all our organizations and volunteers get behind “Milk the Vote,” or whatever the name is, we can make up the 599,602 votes that we lost by and win next year’s election to repeal Prop 8. Let’s make sure that California once again leads the way on equality.

I appeal to all our very effective LGBT organizations to work together and make voter registration the number one activity between now and next October 18th (last day to register for the November 2, 2010 election).

Hell, people can even register on line: http://www.sos.ca.gov/nvrc/fedform/ and then just print out the form and mail it in.

We lost by only 4% of the vote last year — 599,602 votes out of the over 13.4 million cast on Prop 8. What a change from just 8 years earlier when we lost by 23%!

Please, make this the last Pride in California, or anywhere in the country for that matter, where we are not registering voters.

It is the smartest thing that we can be doing now and for our future.

Meet your anti-gay adversaries

Meet your anti-gay adversaries
On the anniversary of Stonewall, remember we must still fight

By
DANIELLE TRUSZKOVSKYJUN. 18, 2009

Although we are in another wonderful month of gay pride celebrations, it is important to remember that our community is in the midst of an active battle for equal civil rights. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM)—the group behind the nation-wide anti-gay movement—has recently expanded its efforts and ad campaigns to ensure that millions of gay Americans are denied the same basic rights as every other US citizen. Since we are fighting for our rights and the rights of our families, it makes sense that we should know as much as possible about our primary adversary.

On their website, NOM states they have a 501(c)(4) nonprofit status, which means that the group is a “Social Welfare Organization” without restrictions on lobbying expenditures. When I searched for the organization using Guidestar (the leading nonprofit research database), however, no such 501(c)(4) shows up. Instead the National Organization for MarriageInc shows up with a 501(c)(12) status which is for “Local Benevolent Life Insurance Associations, Mutual Irrigation and Telephone Companies, and Like Co.” It seems this organization is intentionally misrepresenting itself.

It is also suspicious that this group, which has a seemingly limitless supply of cash, is operating out of tiny one-room office (located at 20 Nassau Street, suite 242, in Princeton, NJ). I visited this office numerous times, but never found a single person working there.

Also strange is that this office was previously inhabited by a right-wing organization called the Witherspoon Institute, which according to the Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN) is an “Opus Dei-affiliated foundation.” Opus Dei is the secretive sect within the Catholic Church, with direct ties to the Vatican, that reportedly has billions of dollars in assets. They were made famous by the villain in “The Da Vinci Code,” who was a devout member of Opus Dei, albeit an uncharacteristically murderous one. It’s not surprising, however, that an Opus Dei “Numerary” is one of the founding members of NOM. ODAN states, “Numerary members pledge to remain celibate and generally live in Opus Dei houses. They commit their entire salaries to Opus Dei, submit incoming and outgoing mail to their directors, and practice various forms of corporal mortification, including use of the cilice, a spiked chain worn around the thigh, and use of the discipline, a knotted rope for whipping.”

NOM has more than one tie to a controversial religious sect. Another founding member of the group was Matthew Holland, who is a professor at Brigham Young University. His father is a member of the Quorum of 12 Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This “Quorum” represents the governing body of the LDS church. The Mormon and Opus Dei connection comes together beautifully in NOM’s “Gathering Storm” ad campaign, and it appears that at least 3 of the “actors” in the commercial are Mormons and at least 1 is a member of Opus Dei. Although NOM portrays itself as a group of average Americans, the reality is quite different. (Most Americans do not whip themselves with knotted ropes or stab their own legs with spiked chains.)  And since the Board of NOM has such close ties to religious organizations with billions of dollars in assets, it is only logical to question where NOM’s funding is coming from and if it being reported accurately.

On March 25, 2009 Californians Against Hate requested copies of NOM’s IRS 990 tax return forms. Federal law requires non-profits release this information within 30 days. It is nearly 90 days after the initial request and still NOM has failed to release their tax forms and are currently accruing IRS fines of $20 per day until their financials are released to the public. What are they trying to hide?Although NOM is continuing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on ad campaigns across the country, no one knows where this money is coming from. They are the only national organization working to deny gay Americans equal rights and their operating practices are suspect.

Considering the Board’s obvious ties to the Mormon Church and Opus Dei—is it possible that the only nationalized effort against gay civil rights is merely a front group for controversial religious organizations in an attempt to force their religious ideology on the American public?This June let’s remember that although we may have many differences within our own community, we are all fighting for a common goal: equal rights.

If members of the Mormon Church and Opus Dei can come together in a “marriage” of sorts in a collaborative effort to deny gay Americans equal rights, then certainly we as a community can work together to ensure that we win this fight for equality.

Opus Dei can come together in a “marriage” of sorts in a collaborative effort to deny gay Americans equal rights, then certainly we as a community can work together to ensure that we win this fight for equality.