LDS Church Amends Prop 8 Spending from $2K to $190K
Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have filed a new report on the church’s spending to pass Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The new report lists more than $190,000 in support for the measure. Earlier filed reports showed only that the church spent $2,078 to take church Elder L. Whitney Clayton to California.
“They said they reported all their travel,” Fred Karger, the founder of Californians Against Hate which filed the initial complaint on Nov. 13. told the Los Angeles Times, “now, when there is a [complaint filed] they disclose 25 Southwest tickets just in October. They were required to report this [in an earlier filing].”
The report, filed with the California Secretary of State’s office, now lists travel expenses for high-ranking members of the church, $20,575 for use of facilities and equipment and $96,849 for “compensated staff time.”
Last November, shortly after the passage of Prop. 8, the California Fair Practices Commission agreed to investigate a complaint against the church filed by gay rights group Californians Against Hate.
Don Eaton at that time told ABC affiliate KGO TV, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put zero money in this [the passage of Prop. 8].”
The church has been under fire by gay marriage advocates for its high-profile role in passing Proposition 8. Church members are estimated to have donated over $20 million after president Thomas S. Monson signed a letter read at church services throughout California and Utah calling for money and volunteerism to the Yes on 8 campaign.
“As I read this report, it seems to raise more questions than it answers,” Karger said.
Karger says he believes the church was involved financially long before the first expenditure it listed in September.
“I think there is still a lot of missing parts of the report because we know they’ve been active since June,” he said.
In the four-page complaint filed in November with the FPPC’s enforcement division, Karger accused the Utah-based church of being “highly secretive about its massive involvement in the campaign” to pass Proposition 8.
“[B]ut we managed to piece together evidence of some of their more visible activities done directly to communicate with California voters,” Karger wrote.
In his complaint, Karger raised questions about operation costs of phone centers in Utah and Idaho, the use of Mormon volunteers to canvass the homes of voters, and the availability of church-produced satellite broadcasts and “very professionally produced” internet commercials.
The complaint was also filed with Calif. Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, though neither office has made a statement that they are investigating the accusations.
If the FPPC determines that the LDS Church violated the law, Porter said that they could face a fine of up to $5,000 per violation and the possibility of facing a civil lawsuit that could end in the church having to pay “three times the amount of unreported or misreported contributions.”
The Yes on 8 campaign filed its own expenditure reports over the weekend revealing that the main arm of the campaign spent more than $39.2 million. Total spending among the various proponents topped $41 million.
Year-end disclosure statements for organizations on both sides of the issue are due by midnight Monday, Feb. 2.
Mormon church officials have not yet made a statement on the revised expenditure report.