Is the Mormon Church Hiding Its Funding of the National Organization for Marriage?

Maggie Gallagher's National Organization for Marriage (NOM) Refuses to
Turn Over Its Federal Financial Records as Required by Law.

Open Letter to NOM President Maggie Gallagher:

Californians Against Hate began requesting your 990s (IRS non-profit tax filings) over three months ago, Maggie. You have not responded as required by law. We visited your national office in Princeton , N.J. twice to view the Form 990s, and sent our requests there by certified mail.

Someone at that address signed the US Postal Service receipt on April 25, 2009. You then had 30 days to comply with our request, but you still have not sent us your federal tax flings for 2007 and 2008.

We have also been to your "office" in Manassas , VA , and no forms there either, Maggie. It looks to be the home of your Treasurer, Neil Corkery. The Corkerys are apparently traveling around the world, and again, the forms are not available for public inspection as required by federal law.

Are you trying to hide all the involvement by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) who we believe created and funded the National Organization for Marriage, Inc.? That is exactly what the California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating (Case # 08/735) right now.

As you are probably aware, the IRS fine for noncompliance is $20.00 per day for every day that you do not turn over your records up to a total of $10,000. For the 92 days so far, you owe the United States Treasury $1,840. While that won't put much of a dent in the national debt, it is what you owe the government so far in fines. Frankly, Maggie, we are tired of waiting, and are exploring other actions to force the release of your filings.

In another very interesting development, we received a letter from the IRS last week in response to the request that we filed with them on May 6, 2009 for your Form 990s. The IRS said that, "we have no record of any organization by the name (National Organization for Marriage, Inc.) or address ( 20 Nassau Street, Ste. 242 , Princeton , N.J 08542). Now, can you explain that?? They do have a record of your Educational Fund, the 501(c)3, but that apparently was just established last year. NOM, Inc. was established in May 2007 to get Prop 8 on the ballot, so there should be 2 annual filings available on NOM, Inc.

Maggie, why don't you do the right thing and release your 2007 and 2008 form 990s? Just what is in there about your funding and expenditures that you don't want people to see?

A recent Washington Post story had this to say about the Mormon Church's involvement in the same-sex marriage battles in six Northeastern States.

Mormon officials have tried to stay out of the controversy that followed the California vote, when the church's prominent role in the marriage fight became clear. A spokeswoman in Salt Lake City declined to say whether the church is involved in debates going on in states such as New Jersey and New York , except to say that leaders remain intent on preserving the "divine institution" of marriage between man and woman. The faith holds that traditional marriage "transcends this world" and is necessary for "the fullness of joy in the next life."

That admission by the Mormon Church raises many more questions.

Who is paying for your multi million dollar TV campaign? Who is funding your $500,000 New York State PAC? Your California PAC? Who is paying for all the direct mail robo-calls and millions of direct connect calls in New York alone? Where did you get the $6 million that you admit to spending as reported this week in your hometown newspaper, The Journal News: www.LoHud.com?

How much are you and your executive director Brian Brown getting paid? Is the Mormon Church paying you directly or through another one of your other organizations like the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy

Is the Mormon Church producing all of your slick new commercials? Your controversial and often-maligned "A Gathering Storm" commercial that was made using actors pretending to be real people was chock full of Mormon actors, mostly from Arizona . Most of the bad actors on your audition tapes appear to be Mormon as well. We have that documented.

Just how much money is the Mormon Church spending now to fight same-sex marriage in at least 7 states? Mormon families spent close to $30 million in California to pass Proposition 8 last year. The Mormon Church has likely spent tens of millions of dollars directly throughout the country on all their efforts to stop gay marriage since they hired the world's largest PR firm, Hill and Knowlton, in 1988. It even appears that the Mormon Church, through its Public Affairs Committee, was monitoring same-sex marriage activities and involved in Canada as well.

We know that the Mormon Church has not been truthful about all of its involvement in opposing same-sex marriage for 20 years. We have seen ample evidence of this in the Church documents that we received.

When we filed our complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission last November, Mormon Church officials first said they spent "zero dollars on Prop 8." Then 3 months after the election, they finally admitted to have made $190,000 in non-monetary contributions. Nearly all of that was supposedly spent the week before the election.

They later changed their story again, saying that the $117,000 reported in Salt Lake City staff time ($96,000) and facilities' usage ($20,500) was not actually spent just on election day as they had reported to the California Secretary of State. According to Church spokesman Scott Trotter, the staff time included work between August and November. Well, then shouldn't there have been other expenditures in August or even July and September? Come on Maggie, tell the truth!

The Mormon Church announced its active participation to pass Proposition 8 in the now famous letter read from Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church. This rare act took place on June 29, 2008, and was read to every Mormon in the Western United States. President Monson called on all Mormons to give of "your time and your means to pass Proposition 8."

Well, it worked. As we now know, the Mormon Church took over every aspect of the Yes on 8 campaign, and was largely responsible for its passage.

Please, Maggie, tell America the truth for once about where your millions of dollars are coming from. We are a country of laws, and we have the right to know.

Comments

[JustJoy7]

The question is, "IS THE MORMON CHURCH HIDING ITS GAYS?" Of course they are! Gays are everywhere whether out or in hiding. Check!

Around the world. Check!

[WolfLady]

"All religions are poisonous, but some are more poisonous than others."

~WolfLady~

[carsntrucks]

"Please, Maggie, tell America the truth for once about where your millions of dollars are coming from. We are a country of laws, and we have the right to know."

Who is "we", exactly? Would it be the same lot who were whining and crying about Obama upholding the law (you know, the one you're apparently a fan of?) and defending the Defense of Marriage Act? Or is that totally different?

Yeah, that's different.

[BeninOakland]

And finally, yes, it was so-called wisdom that supported slavery, racial segregation, women as property, war, ignorance, as it currently supports the oppression of gay people. Wisdom said and says that all of these things are good, until compassion comes along and indicates that maybe it is not.

[BeninOakland]

Likewise, you seem confused about children raised in gay homes. Study after peer reviewed study shows that children raised by gay parents fare no worse than children raised by hetero parents. Nearly every major professional organization has stated the same thing. This is not a social experiment-- it is a reality that has bene going on for decades, if not centuries.

40% of the children born in this country are born out of wedlock. 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Fathers not paying for the support of their children is an epdemic. Talk to heteros about that, and stop pretending this has osmething to do with gay people getting married. some communities, vociferously anti-gay, are PLAGUED by this. No gay couple ever had children by accident, to keep theior love alive, or because someone forgot to use protection, or think that babies are just so cute. Every gay-parented family I've ever seen exist because those parents really want cihldren-- or have them from previous hetero relationships.

Are the orphanages just not full enough for you?

[BeninOakland]

Jeremiah-- part of my posting seems to be missing. maybe it will show up.

Regardless, I would suggest that you do a little thinking and self-education. for example, there are all sorts of things parents can't opt out of-- including, making sure their children are educated. Parents do have some say over curriculum, but the anti-gay parents in alameda failed to make their case. And this would be no different than a parent saying their children should not be in history classes, lest they learn that the majority of the people of the world do not buy the christian story. they are still free to teach their fchildren whatever bigoted nonsense they wish, but they are not free to make sure that everyone is tauhgt the same bigoted nonsense.

[BeninOakland]

BTW, reagrding Mary Magdalene, I suggest you do a little reading there. Pope Gregory VII DELIBERATELY conflated several women in the bible ot make MM into a hooker. Try goggling "Apostle to the Apostles" and see what you get.

[BeninOakland]

part 2: read the first Amendment. The government MAY NOT INTERFERE with religious practice. EVER. No synagogue need marry Christians. The CatholicsC not marry a couple who are not Catholic. Find one case in Massachusetts where a church has been sued because they refused to marry a gay couple. find one anywhere in the 7 countries of the world where gay people can marry. It hasn't happened.

Regarding alameda. This is an anti-bullying program. It tells children that not every family is alike. some families have two daddies, some two mommies, AND THAT IS NOT A REASON TO PICK ON THOSE KIDS.

Here is the whole discussion, including a link to the actual text of the curriculum. read it. http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/05/29/11729#comments

Your bias is showing. The gay parents I have met are wonderful parents to their children. these families aredifferent, not inferior.

Finally, you wrote about the wisdom of thousands of years being replaced by compassion. The wisdom of slavery, war, tyranny? That wisdom? The wisdom that has oppressed gay people for 2000 years, making our lives as difficult and unpleasant as possible, if not outright hell, for the crime of being different?The wisdom of a church embroiled worldwide in a pedophile scandal?

We have progressed because of compassion, not the so-called wisdom of the ages. and certainly not becuase of organized religion.

How about this bit of wisdom: Love one another as I have loved you.

[JeremiahA]

Parents are held legally responsible for their children until a child reaches the age of 18. However, parents are not allowed to opt-out of the Alameda program. If parents do not have any say in their children's education or whether a medical procedure is performed on the child without their consent, then we should release parents from their legal responsibility and raise all children in government sponsored homes.

But of course this will not happen because it would be detrimental to the children.

No one is saying that homosexual families are inferior. They are much like divorced or single parent households. But does that mean that we should be promoting divorce and homes with single parents when all studies show that, sadly, these environments are not ideal for the child. Should we support children, who from no choice of their own, are raised in less than an ideal environment? Yes, but should we try a social experiment where a child will be guaranteed to never have a father and a mother? Probably not.

And the wisdom of the ages has gotten us this far. And I am not sure how you can equate "wisdom" with slavery, war, and tyranny. These do not appear to be wise acts to me.

[JeremiahA]

I am not sure who to believe, though I tend to lean toward a church that professes to follow the teachings of Christ. If more people did that (especially me), this world would probably be a much better place.

I find Mr. Karger's comments a bit paranoid. He believes that the Mormon Church created and funded the National Organization for Marriage. On the church's website, they do list a link to ProtectMarriage.com and other sites with information on marriage, but they do not list NOM. Does Mr. Karger really believe that the church would need to secretly create an organization to support California's proposition 8 when there are so many others already working and involved?

Also, Mr. Karger misquoted the produced by the church leadership. Mr. Karger wrote that President Monson called on all Mormons to give of "your time and your means to pass Proposition 8."

Actually, the letter reads, "We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage."

If Mr. Karger cannot get a quote right, what else is he wrong on?

And isn't it interesting how the people at the Californians Against Hate website are willing to supply information about supporters of Proposition 8 but refuse to supply any information about themselves?

[ReedYoung]

1.
"your time and your means to pass Proposition 8."
vs.
"... your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage."

Was the letter not intended to assert that "to preserve the sacred institution of marriage" required passage of Proposition 8? So even if I grant you the benefit of the doubt and assume that the text never appeared in any LDS propaganda exactly as it appears in Mr. Karger's article, he conveyed the meaning correctly and you're whining about nothing.

2.
"Does Mr. Karger really believe that the church would need to secretly create an organization to support California's proposition 8 when there are so many others already working and involved?"

Of course the church didn't "need" to, it CHOSE to organize a bigoted conspiracy against the rights of homosexuals.

When did those "so many others" get involved? Before or after LDS funded them? And how much did the others cough up themselves, and how much came from Utah, the LDS itself, and from other Mormon communities outside California?

Considering the lies in the ad campaign for Prop 8 -- for example, the lie that homophobic churches could be required by law to perform marriages for gays unless Prop 8 was passed -- Karger has much more rational basis for suspicion of all Prop 8 supporters than you have for any suspicion of him.

[ReedYoung]

"I am not sure who to believe, though I tend to lean toward a church that professes to follow the teachings of Christ. If more people did that (especially me), this world would probably be a much better place."

The Gospel says give to God what is God's and to Caesar what is Caesar's, so one way for you to be a better Christian is by supporting a wall of separation between church and state by protesting any political activism by your own church, and by disputing any theology within it which asserts a valid role for Christianity in politics. Christ would be rolling in his grave if he knew his name was being invoked in SUPPORT of Prop H8.

Remember, Mary Magdalene was a hooker. Who do you think you are to cast the first stone at any for any sex between consenting adults?

[JeremiahA]

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. So far all we have our Mr. Karger's version and accusations, a conspiracy theory, and a misquote. It's just difficult for me to imagine that the resources of one church was able to convince supporters to support Proposition 8, when they had already voted several years before to prevent the redefining of marriage in California.

Mr. Karger did convey the general idea of the letter produced by church's presidency, but his misquote shows that he either did not read the letter or is not interested in accuracy which puts into doubt his other quotations and facts. He may be found to be correct in his accusations someday, but until further evidence is available, such a misquote creates a lack of confidence in his words.
Karger's article, he conveyed the meaning correctly and you're whining about nothing.

2.
"Does Mr. Karger really believe that the church would need to secretly create an organization to support California's proposition 8 when there are so many others already working and involved?"

Of course the church didn't "need" to, it CHOSE to organize a bigoted conspiracy against the rights of homosexuals.

When did those "so many others" get involved? Before or after LDS funded them? And how much did the others cough up themselves, and how much came from Utah, the LDS itself, and from other Mormon communities outside California?

[JeremiahA]

I am really sorry. I screwed up my last response to you by accidentally pasting your previous comments. I am sorry about that. I could not find a way to edit so I guess that is not allowed here.

About the campaign ads for Proposition 8, I have not seen all of them so there may have been some lies given, but the "lie" given as your example is only, I think, a rational prediction of the most likely future outcome. For example, in New Jersey, a church was sued for not allowing a gay couple to use a chapel for their wedding though another building was offered. In Alameda County, California, a new program for grades 1-4 will offer 1-4 lessons per year stating that a family with a mother and a father is in no way different from a homosexual couple, and the parents will not be allowed to opt-out their children from these lessons.

I do want America to become a theocracy, but I also do not want the wisdom and knowledge of the thousands of years of human history to be tossed out the window, either. Until now, no secular or religious moral philosophical system has advocated any coupling of anybody of any sex as marriage, so maybe we should all take a moment and consider whether we really want to supplant wisdom with compassion as the supreme guide in forming our values and laws.

[JeremiahA]

(And according to Christainity, Christ cannot roll in his grave because he is not in it anymore. Plus, Christ said, "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife." Also, Mary Magdalene wasn't a hooker.She had evil spirits driven out of her. I used to think she was a prostitute until I found out she was mistaken for another woman.)

[LintLass]

"I am not sure who to believe, though I tend to lean toward a church that professes to follow the teachings of Christ. "

I hope, then, you'll "forgive" those of us in the LBGT community to have *absolutely no reason in the world to assume anything but the opposite.*

When people lie and cheat to *hurt you,* you do notice the pattern.

[LintLass]

Yaknow, something stinks *this* bad about people overtly hostile to our lives, and who sleep well at night going into other states spending lots, collectively and/or individually at clergy direction, to deceive voters in order *to cause us misery and create bald-faced injustice* in the name of their idea of 'God,' ...

We don't have the luxury of assuming there's anything trustworthy about them.

Not when it's this dodgy, certainly.

[JeremiahA]

No organization of people is infallible since we all make mistakes or do even worse. I am sorry if you feel so negatively about Christians (and possibly other religions). It's sad to admit that a lot of wrongs have been done by people professing to be religious. I guess what I was trying to say is that I think Christ had some good ideas about how we should treat each other and any person or group that dilligently strives for that cannot be all bad.

If lies were told, then this is of course wrong (unless someone is a moral relativist.) Personally, I still don't know what lies were told and what injustice was performed.

[deeter131]

yes the church DID create NOM..because they are currently under investigation for the 30 million dollars they lied about using to win prop 8...if they are caught doing that they lose their tax exempt status....thus they HAD to create NOM and pretend it was a different group.....but NOM gets its money from the church....I defy you to find proof that NOMS millions is coming from "personal" donations...you won't. And they will be brought down as well...and sadly...these churches are the people that YOU aspire to be like.....

[bkbzipper]

Why isn't the press all over this? Such a big organization... tax fraud and lies... When a religious group lies, you have to start questioning everything they preach.

[ReedYoung]

Have you read anything about how the Church of Scientology responds to negative press? I'm pretty sure that LDS is even bigger and less scrupulous. Power corrupts, etc.

Also, any network or major newspaper that did cover this story well would probably be subject to a lot of snide, baseless innuendo from competitors, to the effect that it is "anti-religion," a tactic I've seen work for Republicans more than enough to understand why no major press interests want to paint that particular target on their backs. It's cowardly but easy to understand.

[KriTiKiT]

of course they are, the Mormon church or LDS as they like to be called, have many business and benefactors, they run everything across the board they own stock in tobacco companies, Morton salt, alkali resources, Kennocott gold mine, they dump toxic waste with state approval for 3 cents a pound in poor communities that are not Mormon. Why would a church own stock in "vices" that they ex communicate members of there church over? they should loose the tax benefits.

they also give every good little lds member a - Patriarchal Blessings, which is a assignment from god... so yes I think they are conspiring all non Mormons. look at the structure of the church and you will see how they get away with it... also Mormon conference (which is televised) gives you there agenda.

[scottowego]

I'm guessing we can contact Mr. Cuomo here in NY and ask his office to investigate???

[ibwilliamsi]

It would be wonderful if their tax exempt status was threatened. You haven't seen intimidation until a taber_nacle is built in your town. That's where the jobs go to. Not ille_gal al_iens. Except for the ille_gal al_iens that mow their lawns and clean their houses.

[Maui4Fun]

The mormons are true hypocrites when it comes to "traditional marriage". Their theology teaches polygamy is the correct marriage. They just don't practice it in "this life" because it is against the U.S. law. They gave up the practice under threat of the US Army in the 1880's. But they do practice it in the "hereafter" concept still. In other words, if your first wife dies (whom you have been sealed to for time and all eternity) you can go into the temple in Salt Lake City and be married to your second (or third etc.) wife also for time and all eternity and have all these wives in the hereafter. And of course the first wife doesn't really have a say-so in this sharing of her husband in heaven. It's the male perogative. Women of course can't have multiple spouses in heaven - only the male gender! How do I know this?? I grew up mormon. Yes Salt Lake City Utah type mormon. Not one of those notorious polygamist splinter groups. My own married sister passed away and now her husband has remarried for time and all eternity to a second woman and he will presumably have both wives in the hereafter. Not sure my sister will be happy about that. Who knows? Just don't tell me the mormons aren't hypocrites when it comes to "traditional marriage". Jesus had nothing to say about gays. But he had plenty to say about HYPOCRITES !!!!

[havegonedc]

Someone's going to expose these nuts sooner or later.

A cult is a cult is a cult.

[StevenKeirstead]

I think all religions are cults!

[havegonedc]

Well, that's a fair point.

But not all churches have the kinds of rules of secrecy that the Cult of Mormon does.

To me, a definition of a "cult" is an assembly that never opens itself to the "outside" because of a very significant dichotomy from it... and a huge insecurity about what's "inside."

And, having read parts of the Book of Mormon (former roommate had been sucked into their world, and I had to see what was up), I can say that, yeah, that book has some scary stuff in it.

[MrVinegar]

I know all religions are cults!

[eternalkerri]

If we catch them can we take away their tax status. That way they can be just like those unmarried gays....