 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mormons Give Big to Fight Same-Sex Marriage in Hawaii Total donations in Hawaii: $600,000 By Jean Christiansen and William Kresnak, Advertiser Capitol Bureau October 24, 1998 The Mormon Church has given $600,000 to the campaign to stop the legalization of same-sex marriage in Hawai`i, according to campaign spending reports filed yesterday. The money was contributed in four installments to the Hawai`i group Save Traditional Marriage '98 between Sept. 24 and Oct. 12, according to church filings with the state campaign Spending Commission. Save Traditional Marriage is campaigning in support of a proposed constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the power to ban gay marriage, sidestepping a 1993 [sic] Supreme Court [sic] decision that said denying same-sex couples marriage licenses violated the state constitution's protections against sex discrimination. Opponents of the amendment expressed shock and anger at the degree of the church's involvement in the campaign, which is proving to be one of the costliest and most contentious of the 1998 election. There are about 50,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hawai`i. "If people were worried about separation of powers, people ought to be worried about separation of church and state," said Jackie Young, campaign director for Protect Our Constitution, the primary group fighting the amendment. Jennifer Diesman, a public relations consultant for Save Traditional Marriage, said the group has had to match the fund raising efforts of the other side. Of the $600,000 from the Mormon Church, Save Traditional Marriage reported receiving $191,563 of it in the latest campaign finance reporting period ending Oct. 18, bringing the total amount it has raised so far to $845,224. Save Traditional Marriage spent $326,852 during the reporting period and $837,722 to date, leaving $7,502 in cash on hand. Protect Our Constitution and its national affiliate, Protect Our Constitution/Human Rights Campaign, raise a combined $317,099 in their reporting period our of a total of $1.14 million raise to date. The local and national chapters spend a combined $448,130 during the recent reporting period and a total of $1.03 million to date, leaving $274,725 in cash on hand. More than half of Protect Our Constitution's contributions to date - $637,370 - have been for amounts of $100 or less. Save Traditional Marriage has received $39,543 in contributions of $100 or less to date.
HONOLULU ADVERTISER |
www.affirmation.org