Connect with us

UPDATED: NOM Hands Over Donor List From Maine Campaign Against Same-Sex Marriage – Details

Published

on

NOM, having exhausted nearly all legal options, has finally filed its list of donors whose contributions helped the anti-gay group fight a 2009 same-sex marriage campaign in Maine.

In 2009 the Maine state legislature passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry, and it was signed into law. Christian conservatives were furious, just months earlier having won marriage bans in California (Prop 8) and Florida.

NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, was still relatively new, but the anti-gay group went into action and campaigned heavily for the law to be placed before the people of Maine. It was, and voters overturned the legislation even before it had gone into effect.

That campaign against same-sex marriage cost NOM over $2 million, but the organization, headed at the time by Maggie Gallagher, refused to obey Maine election laws by filing its list of donors. For years, NOM has battled the State of Maine, and each time, NOM has lost.

Finally, the Supreme Court of the State of Maine, after an ethics committee fined the group $50,000, ordered them several weeks ago to hand over their list of donors.

Late Friday, NOM finally obeyed the court’s order and filed the list.

What it reveals is stunning, but consistent with other revelations journalists have discovered about the formerly well-funded group.

A handful of donors contribute the vast, vast majority of NOM’s funds.

For the fight in Maine, only six donors are listed, totaling just over $2 million, according to the Maine Sun Journal. The list can be viewed here.

One donor, Sean Fieler, a New York City resident who is also the chairman of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, donated over half the group’s funds for the Maine fight: $1.25 million.

Other donors include the Knights of Columbus ($140,000), two out of state individuals who each gave $300,000, and only one Maine resident, who gave $50,000.

Fieler’s Chiaroscuro Foundation claims if offers “the poor healthcare and educational opportunities that they need to thrive. We offer the saving grace of Jesus to all while defending everyone’s unalienable right to exercise the religion of their own choosing.”

It does not mention marriage, but on its website it states Fieler is also the Chairman of the American Principles Project, which was co-founded by NOM co-founder Robert P. George. Fieler is also a member of the board of Witherspoon Institute, which funded and directed the anti-gay parenting “study” by Mark Regnerus, which NCRM and many others have thoroughly debunked. Fieler is also on the board of the very anti-gay Manhattan Institute, which calls for anarchy in the face of government supported civil rights, including same-sex marriage and abortion.

UPDATE I: 2:09 PM EDT –
“The crooks & liars at the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) got caught money laundering $2 million in the Maine gay marriage election,” Fred Karger, one of NOM’s greatest critics, told NCRM exclusively via an email conversation. “I am honored to have filed the original complaint against NOM nearly six years ago and traveled to Augusta four times to testify against NOM before the Maine Ethics Commission.”

“Kudos to Jonathan Wayne, its Executive Director, Assistant Attorney General Phyllis Gardiner and their offices for their six years of hard work beating NOM at every turn. Great to see NOM pay a record $50,500 fine and spend millions more in attorney’s fees. Today is a great day for truth and transparency in elections,” Karger, founder of the group Rights Equal Rights, adds.

 

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

 

Image: Screenshot via UStream/NOM

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Trump’s Fate Could Still Hang on Possible Sentencing in NY Election Interference Case

Published

on

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan is expected to hand down a decision on Tuesday that could ultimately put the president-elect of the United States in jail. Donald Trump, who has yet to be sentenced for his 34-count criminal felony conviction in his New York election subversion case, commonly known as his “hush money” case, will learn if the judge will sentence him or set aside the verdict now that he has been elected President.

“Back on September 6th, Judge Juan Merchan (in Trump’s NY election interference case) ruled that he would issue a decision by tomorrow, November 12th, on Trump’s Motion to Set Aside the jury’s verdict and to Dismiss the indictment, based on SCOTUS’ immunity ruling,” MSNBC legal contributor and commentator Katie Phang reported Monday afternoon.

Judge Merchan on Sept. 6 had written that Trump was attempting “to bolster his application [for adjournment, or dismissal] by repeating a litany of perceived and unsubstantiated grievances from previous filings that do not merit this Court’s attention and will not be addressed in this Decision.”

On September 6, former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori wrote at Politico: “As a strictly legal matter, there was no good reason to delay Trump’s sentencing.”

READ MORE: ‘What Illegal Corruption Looks Like’: Trump Blasted for ‘Already Breaking the Law’

“The public’s confidence in the integrity of our judicial system demands a sentencing hearing that is entirely focused on the verdict of the jury and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors free from distraction or distortion. The members of this jury served diligently on this case, and their verdict must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election,” Merchan wrote Sept. 6. “Likewise, if one is necessary, thc Defendant has the right to a sentencing hearing that respects and protects his constitutional rights.”

Trump is currently slated to be sentenced on November 26.

Reuters reports it is now “unlikely,” according to legal experts, that Trump will face any jail time.

“Trump faces a sentence of up to four years in prison after being convicted of 34 felony counts. Legal experts have said that while lesser penalties such as fines or probation are more likely, a prison sentence would not be impossible.”

Last week in a guest commentary piece for the Kansas City Star, that paper’s former editor, Bill Dalton, wrote:

“On Nov. 5, the American people did the unthinkable — they elected a convicted felon president. Judge Juan Merchan should now do what was once unthinkable — force a president-elect to take the oath of office in a jail cell.”

Watch Reuters’ report below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Tenfold Increase in Number of Deportations’: Trump Hands Stephen Miller Top Policy Post

 

 

 

Continue Reading

News

‘What Illegal Corruption Looks Like’: Trump Blasted for ‘Already Breaking the Law’

Published

on

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is criticizing President-elect Donald Trump, asserting he is violating a mandatory ethics law regarding presidential transitions and conflicts of interest—provisions which she says she wrote—and that refusal could have impacts on national security preparedness. Trump signed updates to this law during his first term in office.

“Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law,” Senator Warren wrote. “I would know because I wrote the law. Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like.”

The Massachusetts Democrat pointed to a CNN report that reveals Trump “has not yet submitted a series of transition agreements with the Biden administration, in part because of concerns over the mandatory ethics pledge vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn in to office.”

READ MORE: ‘Tenfold Increase in Number of Deportations’: Trump Hands Stephen Miller Top Policy Post

“Both Trump’s and his family’s foreign business ties have also come under intense scrutiny throughout his time in office and on the campaign trail,” the report notes. “Trump and his transition team are already behind in accessing key transition briefings from the Biden administration, as they have failed to sign a pair of agreements to unlock critical information before taking over the federal government in 72 days.”

CREW, the federal government watchdog, in a report updated just after Trump left office 2021, reported he had “promised a firewall between his business and his presidency, but he broke that promise and accumulated 3,403 conflicts of interest so far. The conflicts include visits to Trump properties by foreign government officials, taxpayer spending at Trump businesses, and Trump’s own blatant promotions of the businesses. CREW has tracked around two conflicts of interest per day, but that is likely only the tip of the iceberg.”

“Experts are sounding the alarms about impacts to Day 1 national security preparedness,” CNN also reports.

The New York Times notes that the Trump transition team “has missed multiple deadlines for signing required agreements governing the process. That has prevented Mr. Trump’s transition team from participating in national security briefings or gaining access to federal agencies to begin the complicated work of preparing to take control of the government on Jan. 20, 2025.”

Separately, one researcher pointed to a report on the 9/11 terror attacks.

“The 9/11 Commission found that the delayed transition affected national security for months after the inauguration, which may have contributed to 9/11,” according to E. Rosalie Li, who writes about public health, national security, and public policy. “On the day of the attacks, only 57% of the top 123 Senate-confirmed positions were filled at the Pentagon, the Justice Department, and the State Department combined, excluding ambassadors, U.S. marshals, and attorneys.”

Richard Painter, the well-known professor of law and former chief White House ethics lawyer summed it up: “Here we go again. Vintage 2016. Come on @realDonaldTrump, let’s sign the ethics agreement and get on with it.”

Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Puboci Service outlined some of the agreements the Trump transition is late in signing, if they sign them at all.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Nomination of Stefanik to UN Resurfaces ‘Ultra MAGA’ Transformation

 

Continue Reading

News

‘Tenfold Increase in Number of Deportations’: Trump Hands Stephen Miller Top Policy Post

Published

on

Stephen Miller, the architect of Donald Trump’s child and family separation policy and one of his longest-serving, die-hard loyalists, will become the incoming president’s deputy chief of staff for policy, a top role in the second administration of the Republican nationalist.

Miller, an immigration hardliner who was also responsible for Trump’s Muslim-majority country travel ban, has a history of promoting white nationalist rhetoric. He is responsible for the separation of thousands of young children from their parents, and even from their siblings, as a means to deter other asylum seekers from crossing the southern border into the United States. Under Trump and Miller’s “zero tolerance” policy, there were no plans to reunite the children with their parents.

Despite efforts by the Biden administration, thousands of children have never been placed back into their families. As of May, 1400 children remained separated from their parents.

READ MORE: Trump Nomination of Stefanik to UN Resurfaces ‘Ultra MAGA’ Transformation

“Miller will return with more influence than he had in the first Trump administration, where he served as a senior adviser for policy, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN,” The Daily Beast adds, noting that Miller was also behind Trump’s “American carnage” inauguration address.

CNN reports that “Miller is also a lead architect of the president-elect’s plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. He has said that a second Trump administration would seek a tenfold increase in the number of deportations to more than 1 million per year. In an interview on Fox News last week, Miller expressed eagerness at the prospect of beginning mass deportations as soon as possible.”

“They begin on Inauguration Day, as soon as he takes the oath of office,” Miller said.

“Confirming the appointment, Vice President-elect JD Vance posted a message of congratulations on Monday to Miller on X and said, ‘This is another fantastic pick by the president.’ The announcement was first reported by CNN,” The Associated Press reports.

READ MORE: ‘Chief Shareholder in the Presidency’: Musk on Trump-Zelenskyy Mar-a-Lago Call Fuels Fears

In 2019, The Guardian called Miller “the white nationalist at the heart of Trump’s White House,” amid an “extraordinary email leak” that revealed Miller had “promoted white nationalist articles and books in emails to a writer at Breitbart, who after leaving the hard-right website leaked 900 messages to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).”

Miller also wrote at least part of Trump’s infamous January 6, 2021 speech at the Ellipse, during which he said, “…and we’re going to walk to the Capitol…”

CNN, in a minute-by-minute analysis of the insurrection,  reported that at 9:52 AM, “Trump talks to senior adviser and lead speechwriter Stephen Miller for 26 minutes, according to White House records that were obtained by the committee and released at a public hearing. After Trump’s conversation with Miller, Trump adjusts a draft of his upcoming speech to add more lines about Pence and the joint session of Congress, according to the committee, which reviewed the drafts.”

In February of 2017, just weeks into Trump’s first term, Miller told reporters, “our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial, and will not be questioned.”

Watch the video bel0w or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Probably Illegal Rumors’: Trump Calls for Investigations — to Protect His Interests

 

Image via Shutterstock 

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.