California to Investigate Mormon Aid to Gay Marriage Ban Monday, November 24, 2008
AP
SAN FRANCISCO California officials will investigate whether the Mormon church accurately described its role in a campaign to ban gay marriage in the state.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission said Monday a complaint by a gay rights group merits further inquiry.
Executive director Roman Porter says the decision does not mean any wrongdoing has been determined.
Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of work it did to support Proposition 8, which amended California's constitution to define marriage exclusively as a union between a man and woman.
A representative from the Salt Lake City-based church could not be reached for comment.
Excerpts from the article found on worldaffairsbrief.com
"The complaint, filed by Fred Karger, founder of the group Californians Against Hate, asserted that the churchs reported contributions about $5,000, according to state election filings vastly underestimated its actual efforts in passing Proposition 8, which amended the states Constitution to recognize only male-female marriage."
"Broadly speaking, California state law requires disclosure of any money spent or services provided to influence the outcome of an election."
"Responding to a plea from Mormon Church leaders to become involved in this important cause, members contributed millions of dollars and volunteered for countless hours on behalf of Proposition 8. The ballot measure passed with 52 percent of the vote, leading to protests and boycotts of supporters of the proposition, including some Mormon temples and businesses.
"Mr. Kargers complaint paints a sweeping picture of the involvement by the church leadership, and raises questions about who paid for out-of-state phone banks and grass-roots rallies in California before the Nov. 4 vote.
Who paid for the buses, travel costs, meals and other expenses of all the Mormon participants? the complaint reads. No contributions were reported.
"The complaint also touches on a five-state simulcast from church leaders to Mormon congregations, as well as a Web site, preservingmarriage.org, that featured a series of videos advocating passage of the ballot measure and is labeled an official Web site of the Mormon Church."
I am aware of no repercussions here in Arizona, and only a comparatively small amount of flak in Utah so far. It appears that opponents of CA Prop.8 might try to come up with figures to guesstimate how much money was spent total by all LDS participants in support of Prop.8.