NOM ‘Laundered A Quarter Of A Million Dollars’ Equality Group Charges

Mainers United For Marriage, a group working to support legalization of same-sex marriage in Maine, is charging NOM with having “laundered a quarter of a million dollars” into the Maine marriage campaign, in continued violation of Maine’s state ethics laws. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to even hear a case NOM tried to file, after losing several appeals that are requiring NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, to do what every other non-profit is required to do: make their list of donors public once it reaches a certain threshold.

“In 2009, NOM raised and spent $1.9 million to deny same-sex couples the freedom to marry,” Matt McTighe, campaign manager for Mainers United for Marriage, said via a statement. “This year, the organization has already laundered a quarter of a million dollars into the anti-marriage campaign – with more to come – and once again it refuses to disclose where the money comes from. Our campaign is proud of the nearly 14,000 donors who have contributed to the campaign to win the freedom to marry in Maine. NOM continues to hide in the shadows.”

“Maine voters deserve to know who is trying to influence this election,” McTighe said. “Maine law is clear, and NOM refuses to follow the same rules that every other campaign in the state must abide by. How can voters trust anything they say when they refuse to follow the law?”

“As we enter the last four weeks of the campaign, we know that our opponents are planning a major media blitz with misleading ads aimed at confusing voters and paid for by mysterious donors,” McTighe said. “We will answer them with stories from real Maine families and full disclosure.”

NOM replaced Chairman of the Board and co-founder Maggie Gallagher with a radically conservative Tea Party linked professor of law, John Eastman. It would seem that, in addition to the Board wanting to move NOM into a more race-baiting mode than Gallagher was comfortable with, they needed an expert at fighting all these lawsuits, in which they appear to be flouting election, finance, and ethics laws.

Last month, The New Civil Rights Movement reported that Eastman spoke to a Tea Party group in August and seemed to have joked and laughed about Iran dropping a nuclear bomb on New York.