Let The Sunshine In

Maine Court Tells NOM It Can’t Hide Its Donors

The ongoing decline of the National Organization for Marriage just sped up a little. The Maine Supreme Court has ruled that NOM can’t hide its donors from the state election oversight commission.

NOM likes to operate under cover of darkness by hiding the sources of its money. In the case of Maine, NOM contributed $1.9 million to the $2.5 million campaign to ban marriage equality but decided normal election rules didn’t apply to it and failed to register as a political action committee. Under Maine law, if NOM asked for money specifically for the Maine ballot measure it would have to reveal the names of its donors.

The Supreme Court ruling upholds a lower court ruling appealed by NOM and its president Brian Brown. Federal court rulings have also told NOM that political donors need to be revealed by name publicly. Sunshine being the best disinfectant, NOM has done its best to skirt the law. It gave the election commission a list of donors, identifying all individual donors as “John Doe.”

NOM’s troubles in Maine are far from over. The elections commission is conducting an investigation as to whether NOM has broken state law. Apparently for NOM, ethics are something only gay people violate.

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