Mormongate

Fred Karger: "They're (Mormons) perfectly allowed to be involved.
It is legal for them to be involved in initiative campaigns.
What they have to do is abide by the California election laws."



Read all about it at Californians Against Hate (graphic courtesy of CAH).



And at Americablog: Under pressure, Mormon leaders finally admit spending almost $200,000 of church money on Prop 8

And at Main Street Plaza: LDS leaders caught in a lie… (a.k.a. history repeats itself)



From Mormon Church Reveals New Spending On Gay Marriage Ban:

A new report filed Friday by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) lists more than $190,000 in expenses by the church in support of California's gay marriage ban, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Mormon leaders had previously recorded only $2,078 in contributions towards Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that yanked back the right of gays and lesbians to marry in the state.

In November, the California Fair Political Practices Commission agreed to investigate a complaint by Californians Against Hate, a gay rights group that pushed for full disclosure of monetary support of Prop. 8, that alleged numerous contribution violations to the campaign to ban gay marriage by the Utah-based Mormon Church.

Church leaders have previously denied any monetary involvement in the campaign, saying their members acted of their own accord in sending millions – by some estimates more than $25 million – to fight for the gay ban.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put zero money in this [the passage of Prop. 8],” Don Eaton, a Mormon Church spokesman, told KGO TV, an ABC affiliate in November.

The Californians Against Hate complaint underlines numerous violations in California law by the church. They allege that the costs of get-out-the-vote phone banks in Utah and Idaho, various mailings to voters, transportation services, marketing materials – professionally produced commercials hosted on websites available to the public included – and at least two satellite broadcasts over five western states were not reported to the state.

The church filing lists tens of thousands of dollars for expenses such as airline tickets and hotels for its leaders, along with nearly $97,000 paid to church employees.

“They said they reported all their travel,” Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, told the Los Angeles Times, “now, when there is a [complaint filed] they disclose 25 Southwest tickets just in October. They were required to report this [in an earlier filing].”

It's also interesting to note the Mormons who were reimbursed by the Yes on 8 campaign for their efforts:

Expenditures made:

http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1302592&session=2007&view=expenditures

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 Eddings Brown (Protectmarriage.com communications director): $41,844.00

Zion Multimedia Corp.: $2,000.00

Robb Wirthlin: $768.18

These kinds of campaigns are cash cows for the "grassroots organizers" and Prop 8 no doubt helped Gary Lawrence, Bart Marcois, David Parker and their LDS buddies to position themselves to be even bigger players the next time a similar initiative comes around. I've heard in comments over at my place that these guys were overheard gloating in the ward (church) hallway about the awesome lists that they now have in hand because of the Prop 8 effort.

There could very well be other Mormons in that list of payees, but I've mentioned the ones I recognize.