Marriage Opponents: Knowledge Base

We’re in the home stretch in Maine’s battle for marriage equality, with eight days to go. I don’t usually make this kind of post, but a mountain of information on Stand for Marriage Maine (SFMM) and National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has been shared in the last several days from multiple sources.

As usual, following the money has produced some insight into the campaign. Here’s a list of what you need to know for the vote in Maine and the in next battleground state.

• Jeremy Hooper of Good-As-You ran a 13-part examination series on NOM.
  Volume 1: Unhinged billboard campaign
  Volume 2: Oversimplified reduction of pro-gay comments
  Volume 3: Ridiculous Vaclav Havel/Soviet empire comparisons
  Volume 4: NOM board member wants to overthrow pro-gay governments
  Volume 5: NOM’s general counsel = quite extremist
  Volume 6: Heated attack from NOM”s founder, Robert George
  Volume 7: Mid-90s version of Maggie found DOMA too timid
  Volume 8: Brian Brown’s words: Why doesn’t the “yes” campaign say truth-bearing stuff like this?
  Volume 9: Maggie’s highly Catholic take on your “sinful” lives
  Volume 10: Marriage equality = Vietnam?
  Volume 11: Maggie’s unfair reduction of Iowa ruling vs. the actual Iowa ruling
  Volume 12: Maggie unfair take on Maine (detecting a theme here?)
  Volume 13: Gay unions = “grassfire,” per NOM guest star Rick Santorum
• Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight further analyzes donation data, finding that an alarming 83% of SFMM’s funding is from organized and out-of-state funding.
• Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin discovers a(nother) false claim from SFMM’s website that “vast network of wealthy homosexuals” from out-of-state are spending millions in Maine.
• This after BTB’s report NOM, based in New Jersey and Washington, DC, is SFMM’s biggest donor with 58% of total funding.
• In the same post, we find that NOM is refusing to release their financial records, instead challenging Maine campaign finance laws, just as they have in other states.
• Did I mention that NOM is being investigated by the Maine Ethics Commission? Louise at Pam’s House Blend has the story.
• Louise also examines the closing of Catholic churches in Maine, a direct repercussion from the Catholic Church’s $529,666 (so far) investment in SFMM this year.
• Over at The New Republic, Seyward Darby tells us that SFMM has employed the chief strategist of last year’s Prop 8 Campaign in California. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, as they’ve followed the California playbook to the letter.
• Finally, Sara Whitman of Bilerico talks about SFMM’s favorite tactic, Protect the Children fearmongering.