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Loading ...Donors poured 83M into Prop 8 campaigns
02.03.2009 9:12am EST
(San Francisco, California) More than $83 million was donated to support or oppose the ballot initiative that abolished same-sex marriage in California, according to campaign filings released Monday.
The new filings cover the weeks immediately before and after the Nov. 4 election. They show that elected officials, businesses, churches and individuals poured more than $28 million into the campaigns during the contest’s closing days.The final tallies show that opponents of Proposition 8 raised $43.3 million in 2008 and had a little more than $730,000 left on hand at year’s end. The measure’s sponsors raised $39.9 million and had $983,000 left over.
Even before the late contributions were added, the race was the most expensive ballot measure on a social issue in the nation’s history. Proposition 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote. Gay marriage backers have asked the California Supreme Court to overturn it.
The new disclosure forms reveal that the state Democratic party and Democratic politicians gave heavily in the campaign’s closing days to defeat the gay marriage ban, which overturned the state Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in June.
The Democratic State Central Committee donated $150,000 and spent another $202,647 on mailers and other in-kind contributions. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom funneled $20,000 from the committee he has established to explore running for governor next year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave the same amount from her re-election account to the No on 8 campaign.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has been criticized for strongly encouraging its members to support Proposition 8, for the first time assigned a dollar value of nearly $190,000 to its role in getting the initiative passed.
More than half, or $97,000, went to the time staff of the Utah-based Mormon Church devoted to the Yes on 8 campaign, according to the church’s report. Another $21,000 was for the use of church buildings and equipment during the campaign. Most of the rest went to airline tickets, hotels and meals for church officials.
The church said it did not make any cash donations supporting the measure.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission has been investigating the Mormon Church for allegedly underreporting its spending on behalf of Proposition 8.
Church spokeswoman Kim Farah said Monday that the church has complied with all campaign finance laws and that the updated figures come in response to the state’s disclosure deadlines, not the FPPC investigation.
“The value of the Church’s in-kind contribution is less than one-half of one percent of the total funds raised for the Yes on 8 campaign,” Farah said.
Focus on the Family, the evangelical Christian media empire based in Colorado, reported giving $657,000 in cash and services to promote Proposition 8.
The new round of reports also list about 530 small and late donors whose contributions in support of the same-sex marriage ban had not been publicly available until Monday. Proposition 8’s sponsors had sought permission to keep the identities of those contributors secret, arguing that the identifying information in previous campaign reports had led to donors being harassed.
A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the donors had to be disclosed for now, but said ProtectMarriage.com and the National Organization for Marriage could proceed with a lawsuit seeking to have the information removed from the secretary of state’s Web site.
I can’t believe almost $1 million went unspent by the anti people who many believe really dropped the ball. I sent some money. Where is it?
hi,my name is steven from moreheadcity,nc,yet i still have more heart! i live in avery strict’ religious town here and am queer…
i would like to say that i would’nt,and alot of my gay’ brothers would’nt minded,every bit of the money gone to oppose prop’8 to go to starving’ children,here and overseas…
i feel disappointed to hear that the mormon’ church who is to be representing ‘christ cared more for going against equal rites then for feeding the poor &hungry overseas,or here! but,maybe this is a part of their’ cross’ consciousness,’christ left the cross! when will the church let it go,as a former,and hopefully to stay,a former weapon of mass’destruction!life is good so is god,so if it be gay’,least let it be happy!
One good thing to come out of all of this is that we are all so pissed off! In an effort to defeat us, the religious right has made our movement stronger than its ever been!
There is no way that Prop 8 will stand in court. Even if it does, we have time on our side and public opinion is moving in our direction.
Get involved in a Civil Rights Group and stay ANGRY! That is the only way that we will make things happen for our community.
Something good has to come out of this. One is that in these economic times people are going to realize that paying $83 million just for hate was not the smartest thing to do. Specially when the initiative will most likely be thrown by the courts for limiting the rights of a minority and because the supreme court enacted and decided that marriage for gays and lesbians was ok. In the end it seems that our enemies are going to end up more tired, defeated and broke. We are stronger, united and politically active.
To our European Neighbor Henry: Thank you for your support and kind words…unfortunately America does NOT Really stand for “Liberty & Justice for All”…they are JUST pretty words/a meaningless symbolism…as an American I’m embarrassed about the blatant hypcracy America spews about Freedom this,and Freedom that..blah,blah,blah..it’s BULLSHIT plain and simple. Yes…we’ve elected our 1st black president,but America has SO MUCH Further to go…it’s almost endless….to reach IT’S TRUE Promise of Equality for ALL it’s citizens…Our problem, like many other fanatical countries is RELIGIOUS DOGMA and Easily Brainwashed idiots….that almost $100 Million dollars Henry could have, gone to the 1000’s upon 1000’s of HOMELESS on LA’s SKID ROW….people whow are Hungry,NO health care,NO FOOD, NO prospects for a REAL future..but you see Henry….it’s the religious Freaks & crazies who think Keeping LGBT people down is THEIR priority….I’m one Disgusted American!
….and many individuals and businesses were REIMBURSED directly by the MORMON Church…This just coming out( pardon the pun)
Eric Ethington’s weblog
Dedicated to those who believe in equality
Prominent Mormons Were Reimbursed For Prop 8
February 2, 2009 by ethingtoneric
In what seems to be an endless line of embarrassments for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it is now coming to light that several prominent Mormon figures were actually reimbursed for their efforts and participation on the Yes On 8 campaign.
Below is a list of several of them, brought to my attention by my good friend Reed Cowen (many thanks to him for this). The full list can be seen here (if unable to be viewed, too many people are looking at it at once) and I highly recommend that everyone views the list to see who they recognize.
Lawrence Research (Gary Lawrence, Mormon pollster and Meridian contributor): $528,877.35
Eagle Foundation (a Mormon PAC set up by Bart Marcois and David Parker): $135,912.76
Glen Greener (former Salt Lake City Police Commissioner, Meridian contributor, and now a GOP operative and sometime Cali property developer): $50,236.42
Sonja Brown (Protectmarriage.com communications director): $41,844.00
Zion Multimedia Corp.: $2,000.00
Rob Wirthlin: $768.18
So what does this all mean for the LDS church? Well it’s still unclear, and the list of those who were reimbursed may be getting longer as more is unearthed. But until then, you can count on more and more outcries against this “loving and tolerant” religion.
I see that someone named Stewart Hough, who claims to be the “President” of ATA was on the donor list. I’d like to verify if this is the airline and if so, no longer patronize ATA if he is in fact who he claims to be. He wants to use his money against us, I’ll use my money against him.
The Menstruator Said: Everyone of those dollars is hate towards how we love and who we love.
Actually, only roughly half of those dollars was hate towards how & who we love. The other half went to support how & who we love.
Thanks Henny, for some civil global perspective. The same thing occurs here too in Massachusetts,Connecticut, soon in New Jersey and New York, and will soon in many other states. Then the ‘HOLIER than THOUS’ will just have to find someone else to hate.
I’m not even outraged anymore. Everyone of those dollars is hate towards how we love and who we love. This is some very distressing and bewildering news.
No one’s going to do anything, but at least we can now look our elite haters in the face.
What will we do?
I agree with the comments that this was money badly spent, and spent from ignorance and fear. The campaign against Prop 8 also did a poor job by not showing loving gay and lesbian couples and their families in the media spots. By only portraying heterosexuals, they played into the fears of the Right, who believe we are so bizarre that we cannot be seen in public! Also, the anti-8 campaign received more dollars so they had at least the same amount of air to convince voters. Well, what’s done is done; time to move on and also time to boycott those who hate us.
I would love to see a breakdown of how the money was spent. I don’t believe basic civil rights should be up for a popularity contest. But I do believe that this country needs established venues to air issues and debate surrounding elections. My question is: Should those venues and that political process be a for profit industry?
What a complete waste!!!!! There is a lot of good that kind of money could have done. A whole world of hurt and need out there, of people dressed in tattered rags, with matted hair and matted beards, flaking skin, eating out of garbage cans and maybe if lucky sleeping on a steam grate for some warmth.
I once saw a homeless man with one leg swollen beyond all belief and another that been attacked by rats and had part of his arm chewed up.
Could shelter, feed and shower some of these people, and give them new clothing when needed. Provide dental care, haircutting, beardtrimming and job training as well as shelter for those who those who still have body, mind and motivation left for those kinds of things.
I’m from a European country which legalized gay marriage some time ago; oh yes, at the time, there were some cries, etc., from the “right”; once gay marriage was in place, I never heard another peep out of anyone (simply because nothing had changed, other than gays and lesbians could get married); I don’t even hear the subject discussed anymore! In fact some people don’t even know that we have gay marriage in this country! (it’s simply a non-issue). What’s wrong in the U.S.? (World Leader).
Religion!!
THAT IS UNF*CKING BELIEVEABLE !! 83 MILLION $ !! MONEY THAT COULD HAVE HELPED THE HOMELESS-THE HUNGRY -THE UNEMPLOYED !! WHAT HAS OUR SOCIETY COME TO !!??? ALL THIS TO TAKE BACK A CIVIL RIGHT GRANTED TO AMERICAN GAY PEOPLE WHO HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO LIVE HERE AS THE OPPOSITION DOES. . SO SAD !