NOM Seeks to End Maine Investigation

The antigay National Organization for Marriage, which made significant contributions to the effort to pass Question 1 in Maine last year and repeal the marriage equality law, will ask the state ethics commission this week to dismiss an investigation into its fund-raising tactics.

According to the Kennebec Journal, NOM donated more than $1.9 million to Stand for Marriage Maine, the PAC that defeated the marriage equality law. State investigators say that NOM should have registered with the state and disclosed its donors when it crossed the low threshold of $5,000, but NOM lawyer Barry Bostrom disagrees and will ask the state to drop the case on Thursday.

"Bostrom said NOM did not raise more than $5,000 specifically for the Maine campaign but instead took money from its general operating budget to help the Maine repeal effort," reported the Journal. "Further, he said, the group does not want to reveal the names of donors because they fear harassment."

NOM has sued the state of Maine in state and federal court. In the federal case, a judge ruled that NOM had to hand over the names of its donors, but that decision is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.