Brian Brown, the gay-obsessed leader of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, was profiled in today's Washington Post. There is the perfunctory "I have gay friends" line, even as Brown campaigns full-time against equality. I'm sure Brian loved that profile. It repeatedly makes the point that Brown is very straight, very married and has six kids. (That point is made over and over in case we didn't get it.) His boss, Maggie Gallagher, made Brown send the article out to the NOM mailing list. According to Maggie, "The Washington Post profile just nailed him!" Yes, the article makes Brown look so manly as he obsesses over the gays.
But, NOM is also getting a lot of attention from election officials in states where the group is engaged in anti-gay electioneering.
Gerald Weinand at DirigoBlue reports that the Maine Secretary of State wants more info. on NOM's involvement in Maine. This is based on a complaint filed by Fred Karger from Californians Against Hate. Karger knows the way NOM and its allies launder money. The Maine Sec. of State is going to investigate:
Karger claims that National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has funneled contributions specifically intended for S4MM without disclosing the names of the donors, as is required by Maine campaign finance laws.This is the kind of attention NOM wants right now. Some states actually enforce campaign finance laws.
Today, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics sent a letter to Joseph Keaney, Treasurer of S4MM and Brian Brown, Executive Director of NOM, stating that the Commission will consider the request at its regularly scheduled meeting on 1 October 2009. The meeting will be held in Room 208 of the Burton M. Cross Office Building, 111 Sewall Street in Augusta, beginning at 9:00 a.m.
It should be noted that this meeting will explore if a formal investigation is warranted, and is not an investigation itself.
In Iowa, NOM is also under scrutiny, we learn via One Iowa:
In a August 27 letter, the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, warns the National Organization for Marriage about their campaign activities in Iowa. Here are the key points of the warning:Yeah, NOM wants to hide their donors. That's very shady and it really looks NOM has got something to hide. Brian Brown and NOM are going to be in the spotlight a lot more in the next few weeks.
* only an “insignificant and insubstantial amount” of NOM’s income is permitted to come from business organizations
* if advocacy activities in Iowa exceed $750, NOM must form a PAC and disclose contributors
* “To continue to file an independent expenditure statement for future elections in Iowa would mean that your organization is not raising more than $750 from outside sources for such purposes”
Last Friday NOM filed an independent expenditure report for nearly $90,000 worth of ads. The letter makes clear that to continue to file in this manner would run afoul of Iowa election laws.
One Iowa has been calling for NOM to release the names of their contributors since Monday. Please sign our petition now to keep their feet to the fire!
