Florida Red & Blue, the group behind the SayNo2 Campaign, has filed a complaint with the Florida Election Commission asking for an investigation of Florida Amendment 2 sponsor Florida4Marriage.org. They say the group has avoided disclosing donations, incorrectly informed voters of the source of advertising funding, and filed false or inaccurate campaign reports. They also say Florida4Marriage is improperly running television ads ahead of the Nov. 4 election. Florida Red & Blue has also requested criminal investigations by State Attorneys in jurisdictions where legal violations may have occurred.
Florida Red & Blue says that ads being run by the Florida4Marriage are actually being paid for by Florida Family Action- a separate, non-for-profit organization- to avoid disclosing the names of political donors. There is also a laundry list of apparent illegal activities by the supporters of Amendment 2.
Much, much more after the jump...
The Case Against Florida4Marriage
In a press release, Florida Red & Blue lays out its case against the Amendment backers:
According to the complaint filed by Florida Red & Blue (FR&B) Chairman Jon Kislak, Amendment 2 sponsors Florida4Marriage are intentionally engaged in a scheme to avoid disclosing political donations, fraudulently informing voters of the sources of advertising, failing to register or file required reports and filing false or inaccurate campaign reports.
Last week, Florida4Marriage Chairman John Stemberger announced his campaign was launching a TV ad campaign. Those ads, records show, have been paid for not by the Florida4Marraige campaign but by Florida Family Action - a separate, non-for-profit corporation. Florida Family Action, in apparent violation of state law, does not disclose its donors or expenditures.
Florida Red & Blue's complaint demonstrates this attempt to conceal donors and improperly influence the election is intentional. A confidential September memo by Stemberger obtained by Florida Red & Blue requests support for Florida Family Action over Florida4Marriage in part because donations are "Confidential."
Amendment 2 sponsors are today running TV ads in Orlando and Tampa. These ads, funded with $350,000 from secret donors, also appear to illegally mislead voters by including notice that the ads are paid for by "Florida4Marriage.org" when they were paid for by another entity. Media outlets in these markets report ad buys from Florida4Marriage.org when it appears funding actually came from the secret Florida Family Action.
Because of the ads and the attempt to shield donors from disclosure, Florida Red & Blue also today requested criminal investigations by State Attorneys in jurisdictions where legal violations may have occurred - Leon, Orange, Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.
A review of Florida4Marriage.org campaign financing reports since 2005 show that Florida Family Action, Inc. paid for $775,828 in in-kind campaign expenses to date. All of that money appears to have been purposefully funneled through the non-profit to skirt campaign finance reporting laws.
The Email Proof of Money Funneling
The proof of the illegal activity comes in part from a confidential email Florida Red & Blue obtained that is authored by John Stemberger, Chair of Florida4Marriage.org, which states:
To support efforts for the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, contributions can be made to any of these 3 organizations below. They are listed in the order of preference on which organizations we would like to see the gifts go to, but we can take contributions made payable to any three of these groups to further the cause:
Florida Family Action
501(c)(4) Lobbying Organization under the IRS code
Gifts ARE NOT tax deductible
EIN # 3311008736
Confidential Gift with no public disclosureFlorida4Marriage.org
Political Committee under Florida Law
Public Campaign Contribution
Gifts ARE NOT tax deductible
Gifts ARE publicly reportedFlorida Family Policy Council
501(c)(3) non profit educational organization under the IRS code
Gifts ARE tax deductible
EIN # 522436800
Confidential Gift with no public disclosure but gifts are strictly limited to educational efforts, voter registration and pastors conferences.There are no legal amount limitations on gifts made to any of the above organizations and either individual or corporate checks can be accepted to all 3 of these organizations.
All gifts can be mailed to this address:
4853 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32806 Phone 407-251-1957
Fax 407-251-0023
This email shows an obvious attempt to funnel funds through the non-profit organization, where the donations would be confidential. Even more damning is the fact that Florida Family Action was incorporated by John Stemberger in January, 2005. At the same time, Florida4Marriage.org political committee was formed by none other than - you guessed it - John Stemberger.
A Pattern of Deception
This latest revelation of illegal activity comes on the heels of growing questions around the Florida4Marriage Campaign, including using photoshop ads from other campaigns (which may also be a way of skirting campaign reporting laws) and sending out false press releases with inaccurate numbers of attendees for events.
Derek Newton, Florida Red & Blue campaign manager, had this to say:
I understand why the sponsors of Amendment 2 want to help their donors hide in the shadows. But the law in Florida is clear - you can't do that. If people want to spend that kind of money to take away existing benefits from Floridians, voters have a right to know who's behind it. It's the reason we have election laws.
The actions taken today by Florida Red & Blue do not address the content of Florida4Marriage's advertising - which is flatly false. The ads in question incorrectly say Amendment 2 does "one thing" when the amendment actually threatens existing right and benefits and would block the state from recognizing anything that is "treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof."
First the sponsors of this amendment try to mislead the public by claiming the amendment will not take away existing benefits. But now they have crossed the line between bending reality and breaking the law. Faced with falling support in the polls, Florida4Marriage has resorted to intentionally ignoring campaign finance laws in a desperate last ditch effort to steal the election.
These kind of blatant lies and illegal activities shine a light on the false statements the Florida4Marriage campaign is built on. Groups and experts around the state have come out and said that the deceptive language of the amendment, specifically the phrase "substantial equivalent thereof", would strip away domestic partnership rights and benefits.
It seems the campaign pushing Amendment 2 is being shown on all fronts for what it truly is: a dishonest and deceptive campaign based on lies.
UPDATE 1:
John Stemberger told the Florida-Times Union Newspaper:
Stemberger said having donors contribute to the lobbying group is proper and understandable - especially considering past backlash against donors like Amway Corp. founder Richard DeVos, a major donor.
"Some people want to remain anonymous. It's because of the intimidation of our opponents."
They "want to remain anonymous" because of backlash?? That's not how Florida election and campaign finance laws work, Stemberger.
I do believe he just admitted to purposefully hiding donors and skirting reporting laws...
(crossposted from Bilerico-Florida)
Poor Tony Perkins. He was on the speed dial of the GOP's movers and shakers and the powers that be just dumped on two of his fast friends, Reps. Michele Bachmann and Marilyn Musgrave. Both have had their support rolled back by the Republican Party because, well, they are now considered an embarrassment to the party. The Family Research Council's (FRC) political arm ripped Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) Thursday for withdrawing ad spending on behalf of two endangered Republican candidates.And as The Coloradan notes, the support was substantial.FRC President Tony Perkins said in a letter to Cole, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), that the committee "is abandoning social conservative candidates" by pulling ads from the reelection races of Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) and Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.).
Bachmann has come under fire recently for stating -- then denying -- her concern that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and other members of Congress hold "anti-American" views.
Musgrave is considered to be a reliable champion of socially conservative causes and one of the most outspoken members on the issue of gay marriage. The Colorado congresswoman is in an uphill battle to retain her seat against Democrat Betsy Markey.
The Family Research Council Action Political Action Committee is protesting the National Republican Congressional Committee's decision Wednesday to cancel $400,000 of advertising it had planned over the last week of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's re-election campaign.Check out Tony Perkins' missive to the NRCC below the fold.
Should we hand a box of tissues over to Tony for this tearjerker?
October 23, 2008
Representative Tom Cole
Chairman
National Republican Congressional Committee 320 First Street, SE Washington, DC 20003
Dear Representative Cole:You have made a grave error in judgment by pulling your funds from the Michelle Bachmann race in Minnesota and the Marilyn Musgrave race in Colorado.
The left is attacking both of these outstanding women because they are true conservatives. They vote pro-life and pro-family. Both Congresswomen are against taxpayer funding of abortion. Both oppose embryonic stem cell research, and both are for a Marriage Protection Amendment. These are issues that motivate voters. These are issues they and other conservative candidates have won and can win with.
Reps. Bachmann and Musgrave are both in winnable districts. Pulling funds from their campaigns sends the wrong message to their supporters and gives their opponents a chance to produce headlines that the NRCC has undermined these campaigns. It appears that the NRCC is abandoning social conservative candidates and the issues for which they stand, particularly if they are championed by some of the most promising female legislators in the Congress. This is no time to cut and run from a fight.
I will urge supporters of the FRC Action PAC to stop giving to the NRCC until it starts supporting and fighting for conservative candidates.
You can't call yourself a maverick if your record has you rubber stamping Bush 90% of the time.
Americans United for Change, the progressive issue-advocacy group sponsoring the national Bush Legacy Tour, re-released its latest web video today “I am not President Bush” in response to Senator John McCain’s intensified effort to distance himself from President Bush, “ leveling his strongest criticism [of Bush] to date” in today’s Washington Times piece, “McCain lambastes Bush years.”
Jeremy Funk, of AUFC: "After proudly standing behind President Bush's disastrous policies 90 percent of the time the past 8 years on everything from a costly and needless war in Iraq, to sweeping government deregulation, to blocking healthcare for 4 million children in need, to huge tax breaks for corporations that outsource U.S. jobs, to attempting to privatize Social Security - it's nothing short of a miracle how much clearer Senator McCain's judgment is today in late October 2008."
8 Against 8, an effort by eight lesbian bloggers to raise $8,000 in 8 days for the No On 8 campaign has surpassed our $8,000 goal - we could break $10,000 today with your help! My fellow bloggers on this project are:
- Grace Chu from Grace the Spot
- Lori Hahn from Hahn at Home
- Kelly Leszczynski from The Lesbian Lifestyle
- Sinclair from Sugarbutch Chronicles
- Riese from This Girl Called Automatic-Win
- Renee Gannon from Lesbiatopia
- Dorothy Snarker of Dorothy Surrenders
More below the fold, including an offer from another great artist for those donating $25 or more. Those low-dollar donations make a difference!
Artist Darr Sandberg contacted me to say that while his financial situation didn't allow him to donate money to the cause, he wanted to take part in some way -- he has donated one of his paintings, Desert Spring, placing it up for auction -- starting bid $695 with the proceeds going to fight the hate amendment in the Golden State. The highest bidder will receive is the original work (9" x 12" acrylic, unframed) not a print.
The winner will make a donation through the 8against8 page at EQ CA, and will be told for forward the confirmation info for that donation to me, which I will double-check with you before shipping the painting.
Participants in the auction need to:
1) Make a donation through the 8 Against 8 page at EQ CA.
2) Make an account at Darr's site (it does not ask for any sensitive info)
3) Make the account in the same name that you will use to make the donation.
4) The winner should printout or save the confirmation information of their donation, and pass on to Darr to receive the painting.
And to add to the fundraiser, if the final price is $1350 or more, Darr will make another painting immediately available for an additional auction for No on Prop 8.
***
We have a new promotion/donation, from artist Kristen Ridley, and it doesn't require a high-dollar donation to help out the cause.
Hi Pam,You can contact Kristen at artdyke@gmail.com if you would like a print.My wife and I love your blog. We're in CA and we've been putting in countless hours for the No on 8 campaign phonebanking and canvassing, but we haven't been able to do much financially. When I saw that Mr. Sandberg was donating a painting for charity auction, a light clicked on.
I'm an artist in CA whose art focuses on themes of gender and sexuality (My fine art can be seen here: http://homobonobo.com/fa.html)...What I can do is offer signed prints of some of my pieces to people who donate to No on 8.
..I will offer a signed print of either of these artworks (if you search "butch lesbians" in google image search, the Lino print is the second image that pops up) to the first 80 people who donate $25 or more to No on 8 and forward me the confirmation.
***
If you want to continue adding to the effort, there is a list of promotions offered by these blogmistresses.
In my case, if a business or blog donates $100 or more to No On 8, you receive a week of free ad space on the Blend. If you donate $500 or more, you will get a month of free space on my blog -- and a Pam's House Blend T-shirt or mug. A month-long ad at Pam’s House Blend and Lesbiatopia amounts to 550,000 ad impressions.
In order to receive your free items you will need to contact the individual bloggers that you would like merchandise or ad space from, and in the case of ads, to receive the appropriate free ad codes to enter when you set up your BlogAd:
Grace Chu: gracethespot(at)gmail.com (Grace the Spot)
Pam Spaulding: pam(at)phblend.com (Pam's House Blend)
Renee Gannon: reneegannon(at)gmail.com (Lesbiatopia)
Dorothy Snarker: dorothysnarker(at)yahoo.com (Dorothy Surrenders)
Lori Hahn: lori(at)hahnathome.com (Hahn at Home)
Kelly Leszczynski: goldstardyke(at)gmail.com (The Lesbian Lifestyle)
Sinclair Sexsmith: aspiringstud(at)gmail.com (Sugarbutch Chronicles)
Marie [Riese] Lyn Bernard: marielyn176(at)gmail.com (This Girl Called Automatic Win)
Our first donor via PHB has claimed an ad for the effort - reader Chino Blanco's statement of support will run on the Blend:
If you wish to donate your free ad space to an organization fighting for LGBT equality, please let us -- and your target organization -- know.
***
And don't forget that we're not only fighting for equality in the Golden State:
Click over to help out our friends in Florida and Arizona
Yesterday we showed you a nutty "newscast from the future" that the far-right fringe is using to scare voters about a potential Obama presidency. But little did we know that this condemnatory clairvoyancy was less of an isolated incident, more of a sweeping new trend. Perhaps if we were as psychic as they, we would've realized that playing fear-mongery soothsayer is apparently the best the social conservatives of '08 can come up with in terms of an "October Surprise."He opens with breathless fearmongering.
Dear friends,And without further delay, below the fold, the insanity from the mind of Daddy D...I can hardly sing "The Star Spangled Banner" any more. When I hear the words,
O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?I get tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. Now in October of 2012, after seeing what has happened in the last four years, I don't think I can still answer, "Yes," to that question. We are not "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Many of our freedoms have been taken away by a liberal Supreme Court and a majority of Democrats in both the House and the Senate, and hardly any brave citizen dares to resist the new government policies any more.
The 2008 election was closer than anybody expected, but Barack Obama still won. Many Christians voted for Obama - younger evangelicals actually provided him with the needed margin to defeat John McCain - but they didn't think he would really follow through on the far left policies that had marked his entire previous career. They were wrong.
What awaits our country as family-destroying homosexuals and their enablers take over the government -- according to James Dobson:
Same-sex marriageShred away, friends...The most far-reaching transformation of American society came from the Supreme Court's stunning affirmation, in early 2010, that homosexual marriage was a "constitutional" right that had to be respected by all 50 states because laws barring same-sex marriage violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Suddenly homosexual marriage was the law of the land in all 50 states and no state legislature, no state Supreme Court, no state Constitutional amendment, not even Congress had any power to change it. The Supreme Court had ruled, and the discussion was over. This was a blatant example of creating new law by the court, for homosexual marriage was mentioned nowhere in the Constitution, nor would any of the original authors have imagined that same sex marriage could be derived from their words. But it just followed the precedents that had been already set by state Supreme Courts in Massachusetts (2003),2 California (2008),3 and Connecticut (2008).4
President Obama repeated his declaration that he personally was against same sex marriage, but he told the nation that there was nothing now that he could do. The Supreme Court had ruled, and it was now the law of the land. The President asked the entire nation to support the decision.
After that decision, many other policies changed, and several previous Supreme Court cases were reversed rather quickly - raising the question, "Is America still the land of the free?"
(1) Boy Scouts: "The land of the free"? The Boy Scouts no longer exist as an organization. They chose to disband rather than be forced to obey the Supreme Court decision that they would have to hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys. (This was to be expected with a change in the Court, since the 2000 decision Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, which affirmed the right of the Boy Scouts as a private organization to dismiss a homosexual scoutmaster, was a 5-4 decision, with Stevens, Ginsburg, Souter, and Breyer dissenting even then.) 5
It had become increasingly difficult for the Boy Scouts to find meeting places anyway, because in 2009 Congress passed and President Obama signed an expansion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which extended federal civil rights protections to people engaging in homosexual behavior. So the Boy Scouts had already been kicked out of all public facilities.
(2) Elementary schools: "The land of the free"? Elementary schools now include compulsory training in varieties of gender identity in Grade 1, including the goodness of homosexuality as one possible personal choice. Many parents tried to "opt out" their children from such sessions, but the courts have ruled that they cannot do this, noting that education experts in the government have decided that such training is essential to children's psychological health.
Many Christian teachers objected to teaching first graders that homosexuality was morally neutral and equal to heterosexuality. They said it violated their consciences to have to teach something the Bible viewed as morally wrong. But state after state ruled that their refusal to teach positively about homosexuality was the equivalent of hate speech, and they had to teach it or be fired. Tens of thousands of Christian teachers either quit or were fired, and there are hardly any evangelical teachers in public schools any more.
Non-Christians found this hard to understand. "Why not just teach what the school says even if it's not your personal opinion? So what? We can't have every teacher deciding what he or she wants to teach, can we?"
But the Christian teachers kept coming back to something Jesus said: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6). And they quit by the thousands, no matter what the personal cost, rather than commit what they believed to be a direct sin against God.
In addition, many private Christian schools decided to shut down after the Supreme Court ruled that anti-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation extended to private institutions such as schools,6 and that private schools also had to obey the law and teach that homosexuality and heterosexuality are both morally good choices.
(3) Adoption agencies: "The land of the free"? There are no more Roman Catholic or evangelical Protestant adoption agencies in the United States. Following earlier rulings in New York 7 and Massachusetts,8 the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011 ruled that these agencies had to agree to place children with homosexual couples or lose their licenses. Just as the Catholic Charities adoption agency had closed down for this reason in Massachusetts in 2006,9 so all the agencies across the United States have now closed down rather than violate their consciences about the moral wrong of homosexual behavior.
Christian parents seeking to adopt have tried going through secular adoption agencies, but they are increasingly excluding parents with "narrow" or dangerous views on religion or homosexuality.
(4) Businesses with government contracts: "The land of the free"? All businesses that have government contracts at the national, state, or local level now have to provide documentation of equal benefits for same sex couples. This was needed to overcome "systemic discrimination" against them and followed on a national level the pattern of policies already in place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle.10
(5) Public broadcasting: "The land of the free"? The Bible can no longer be freely preached over radio or television stations when the subject matter includes such "offensive" doctrines as homosexual conduct or the claim that people will go to hell if they do not believe in Jesus Christ. The Supreme Court agreed that these could be kept off the air as prohibited "hate speech" that is likely to incite violence and discrimination. These policies followed earlier broadcasting and print restrictions that were already in place prior to 2008 in Canada11 and Sweden. 12
(6) Doctors and lawyers: "The land of the free"? Physicians who refuse to provide artificial insemination for lesbian couples now face significant fines or loss of their license to practice medicine, following the reasoning of a decision of the California Supreme Court in North Coast Women's Care Medical Group v. Superior Court of San Diego County (Benitez), which had been announced August 18, 2008. 13As a result, many Christian physicians have retired or left the practices of family medicine and obstetrics & gynecology. Lawyers who refuse to handle adoption cases for same-sex couples similarly now lose their licenses to practice law.
(7) Counselors and social workers: "The land of the free"? All other professionals who are licensed by individual states are now also prohibited from discrimination against homosexuals. Social workers and counselors, even counselors in church staff positions, who refuse to provide "professional, appropriately nurturing marriage counseling" for homosexual couples lose their counseling licenses.14 Thousands of Christians have left these professions as a result.
(8) Homosexual weddings: "The land of the free"? Church buildings are now considered a "public accommodation" by the United States Supreme Court and churches have no freedom to refuse to allow their buildings to be used for wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples. If they refuse, they lose their tax exempt status, and they are increasingly becoming subject to fines and anti-discrimination lawsuits. 15
(9) Homosexual church staff members: "The land of the free"? While churches are still free to turn down homosexual applicants for the job of senior pastor, churches and parachurch organizations are no longer free to reject homosexual applicants for staff positions such as part-time youth pastor or director of counseling. Those that rejected homosexual applicants have already had their tax-exempt status revoked, and now the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has begun to impose heavy monetary fines for each new instance of such "discrimination" which, they say, is "contrary to the U.S. Constitution as defined by the Supreme Court." These fines follow the pattern of a precedent-setting case in February, 2008, in which the Diocese of Hereford in the Church of England was fined $94,000 (47,000 UK pounds) for turning down a homosexual applicant for a youth ministry position.16
(10) Homosexuals in the military: One change regarding the status of homosexuals did not wait for any Supreme Court decision. In the first week after his inauguration President Obama invited gay rights leaders from around the United States to join him at the White House as he signed an executive order directing all branches of the military to abandon their "don't ask, don't tell" policy and to start actively recruiting homosexuals.17
As a result, homosexuals are now given special bonuses for enlisting in military service (to attempt to compensate for past discrimination) and all new recruits, and all active-duty and reserve personnel, are compelled to take many hours of "sensitivity training" to ensure that they demonstrate positive attitudes toward those with different sexual orientations and practices. Any who seem hesitant or who object are routinely passed over for promotion. In addition, any chaplain who holds to an interpretation of Scripture that homosexual conduct is morally wrong and therefore does not espouse "mainstream values," is dismissed from the military.18
This is not "the land of the free" for them.
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