New campaign
filings released Monday revealed that supporters and
opponents of California's same-sex marriage ban funneled
more than $28 million into the battle during its final
weeks, according to the Associated Press.
The final numbers
show that the campaign to defeat Proposition 8 and keep
same-sex marriage legal amassed about $43.3 million,
while those who successfully pushed to strip same-sex
couples of the right to marry raised $39.9 million.
The
antigay measure, by far the priciest social-issue
campaign in the nation's history, ultimately passed
with 52% of the vote last November.
According to
records, the Democratic State Central Committee spent more
than $350,000 to defeat the ballot measure. San Francisco
mayor Gavin Newsom and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi each
directed $20,000 from their personal campaign
committees to the No on 8 campaign.
The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put about $190,000 worth
of in-kind donations toward passing the measure by providing
paid staffers and other resources to Yes on 8 as
well as subsidizing travel costs of church officials.
The Mormon Church initially said that it had only
spent $2,000 on the campaign.
The church said
it did not make direct donations to the Yes on 8
campaign, although its membership is believed to have
contributed an estimated $23 million in total
donations to the campaign.
The new report
also details previously unreleased contributions of about
530 minor and late donors to the same-sex marriage ban. The
initiative's sponsors had tried to block disclosure of
the final records, arguing in court that other donors
had been harassed and even threatened after their
identities became publicly known. But last week a federal
judge ruled that all donations must be made open
to the public. (Advocate.com)