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Maine Marriage Equality Groups Raise More Than Twice Those Against Marriage Equality

10/14/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
“Today’s financial reports reveal a disturbing but unsurprising reality. Our opponents, while claiming to be the home-grown, locally-supported campaign, have amassed from virtually every state in the nation, a campaign fortune of more than $2 million to destroy traditional marriage in Maine.” Marc Mutty, on loan to the Yes on 1 campaign from the Roman Catholic Church, went on to characterize the supporters of marriage equality as “well-heeled political elite and gay activists from Hollywood, New York and Massachusetts.” He goes on to say that Mainers “won’t be bought” and that Question 1 opponents are spending millions making what he calls “the oxymoronic claim that we are trying to harm children.”

Of course, what Mr. Mutty is not saying is that the amount of money raised by the No On 1 campaigns locally in Maine is greater than the total that their campaign has raised from within and without of the state, and that the majority of the $1.1 million that has been raised comes from two organizations- the Roman Catholic Church’s Portland Diocese and the National Organization for Marriage, an out of state group. In total, the No on 1 Campaigns have raised a total of $2.7 million with the local amount being around $1.35 million. This compares to the fact that the Yes on 1 campaign has raised $1.1 million, with $270,000 and NoM has given $425,000. The number from the Portland Diocese is not necessarily just from within the diocese as other diocese have sent money to support the attempt to end Maine’s marriage law.

Currently, the Stand for Marriage Maine group has burned through almost all of their money and are already just over $400,000 in debt as well. In fact, Stand for Marriage Maine has spent all but $200,000 of the money that they have gathered while Protect Equality Maine has reported no , and has spent roughly $2.2 million of what they have raised. Much of the money has been spent on ad buys which are usually bought in advance of the actual election.

While a recent poll shows that Maine’s population is about evenly split on the issue of marriage equality, this ballot measure may ultimately fail over a number of different factors. To start with, as pointed out by Nate Silver, most ballot measures where people have doubts, they will either not vote or they will vote ‘no’. Another problem is that the fundraising locally shows something of the enthusiasm level. The bulk of the money going into Stand for Marriage Maine is either from NoM or the Catholic Diocese in Portland ($695,000) and not representative of individuals. Protect Equality Maine has raised just under half of their money (approximately $1.35 million) from within the state. Groups that support Protect Equality Maine have donated roughly $500,000 in ‘in kind’ donations. This leaves around $850,000 from the population of Maine itself. This compares to $405,000 going from Maine’s population to Stand for Marriage Maine. PEM’s contributions ranged from $25 to $500, while SMM’s ranged from $100 to $500. It indicates a potential enthusiasm gap between the two sides.

SMM is also under fire for using groups like NoM to launder their donor lists and get around Maine’s laws requiring disclosure of all donors to any campaign.

Making matters worse is that the Roman Catholic Church in Maine is having to fend off accusations of wasting money on a frivolous campaign while they are constantly having to shutter churches and church run schools. There is a feeling that the money could be spent on getting charity and keeping those schools open.

The parishioners of the Catholic Church are also not all unified behind their priests with Catholics appearing in ads supporting marriage equality including this one that follows.

Maine Public Broadcasting
Associated Press