Rights Equal Rights

FPPC Complaint Against NOM

Rights Equal Rights — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:15:44 +0000

A copy of the Fair Political Practices Committee complaint against the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is now available to view.

To see the full document filed by Fred Karger, please click below:

NOM FPPC Complaint Cover merged 5.17.12

Leaked Secret Documents – Brian Brown’s Two Depositions in Maine Investigation of NOM. Looks Guilty as Charged!

Rights Equal Rights — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:31:23 +0000

Click on link below.

Brian Brown Maine Deposition

Complaint Filed Against The National Organization for Marriage (NOM)

Rights Equal Rights — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:28:42 +0000

COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE (NOM) WITH THE CALIFORNIA FAIR POLITICAL PRACTICES COMMISSION (FPPC) BY FRED KARGER – APRIL 13, 2012

National Organization for Marriage did not report Governor Mitt Romney’s Contribution to its “Yes on Proposition 8 Campaign” in 2008.

Recently unsealed documents by a federal judge from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) indicate possible illegal campaign activities by the National Organization for Marriage in California. It appears that NOM attempted to hide a $10,000 contribution from Governor Mitt Romney in 2008.

NOM, acting via “National Organization for Marriage California – Yes on 8, Sponsored by National Organization for Marriage” is a primarily formed recipient committee that supported Proposition 8 in 2008. As a primarily formed recipient committee, NOM is required to report all receipts and disbursements.

Exhibit 1 is a copy of the 2008 Federal Tax Return (Form 990) of the National Organization for Marriage. It shows a $10,000 contribution received from Governor Romney’s Alabama PAC “Free and Strong America.” That $10,000 was not reported on NOM’s filing with the California Secretary of State.

Exhibit 2 is page 3 of Governor Romney’s 2008 filing of his Alabama Free and Strong America PAC, as required by Alabama law. It shows a $10,000 contribution to the National Organization for Marriage on October 14, 2008, less than three weeks before the 2008 election.

NOM did not report that contribution on any of its filings with the California Secretary of State in 2008 or 2009. Contributions larger and smaller received by NOM earlier and later in October 2008 appear to all be reported, but the Romney PAC contribution was not. There is also no record of NOM filing the mandatory 90-day election cycle report triggered by Governor Romney’s PAC contribution.

Exhibit 3 is the link to NOM’s 2008 report with the California Secretary of State that shows that the National Organization for Marriage did not report the Romney PAC contribution.

It appears that the National Organization for Marriage attempted to hide the Romney PAC contribution because of the significant attention that it would have received.

I hereby request that the California Fair Political Practices Commission investigate this irregularity to determine if the National Organization for Marriage conspired with Governor Romney’s Alabama Free and Strong America PAC to hide his $10,000 contribution to its Yes on Proposition 8 Campaign.

Exhibit 1

The National Organization for Marriage reported the Romney Alabama PAC contribution on its 2008 Federal Tax Return which was recently discovered as a result of unsealed NOM documents by a Federal Judge:
http://thinkprogress.org/progress-report/revealed-mitt-romneys-secret-donation-to-race-baiting-nom/?mobile=nc

Exhibit 2

Alabama PAC: http://arc-sos.state.al.us/PEL/SOSELPDF.001/E0090860.PDF

Exhibit 3

NOM did not report the Romney PAC contribution on its final 2008 report or any late filing with the California Secretary of State: http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1303282&view=late1&session=2007

New York Times Editorial: April 2, 2012

Rights Equal Rights — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:57:38 +0000

For link to story, CLICK HERE.

When a light is shined into the dark corners of American politics, it’s never pleasant to see what scurries away. Last week, a federal judge in Maine unsealed memos from the National Organization for Marriage, one of the most prominent groups fighting against same-sex marriage.

They relate to a case filed over whether the group must disclose the donors that helped underwrite a 2009 ballot initiative that overturned the state’s legalization of same-sex marriage. The group uses its designation as a social welfare organization to avoid federal disclosure, but the memos dispel any notion that the claim has any legitimacy. National Organization for Marriage is a political group, through and through.

The documents brag about its “crucial” role in passage of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage that was overturned by a federal appeals court. They describe the group’s use of “robo-calls” to scare residents in different states away from supporting marriage equality. They talk of a plan to “expose Obama as a social radical,” but the most appalling portions deal with the group’s racially and ethnically divisive strategies.

“The strategic goal of the project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks — two key Democratic constituencies,” says one memo.

Another stated aim is to manipulate Hispanic voters by making the exclusion of gay people from marriage “a key badge of Latino identity.”

These are not the musings of a marginalized group. The day after the memos became public, National Organization for Marriage’s co-founder and chairman emeritus, Robert George, was appointed by John Boehner, the Republican House speaker, to a United States commission focused on addressing religious intolerance and extremism around the globe.

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have publicly aligned themselves with the group and signed its pledge to work aggressively from the White House against same-sex marriage.

Now that the group’s poisonous political approach is out in the open, Mr. Romney and the others should be racing to make clear their disapproval.

We detect no stampede.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on April 3, 2012, on page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: Divide and Discriminate.

Frank Schubert to Fight Marriage Equality Full Time?

Rights Equal Rights — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:50:08 +0000

From: Frank Schubert
To: Distribution
Sent: 4/3/2012 10:30:18 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Announcement

Dear Friend – I’m writing to let you know of my decision to leave the firm I founded, Schubert Flint Public Affairs, to concentrate my future consulting activities on conservative issues and causes. Attached is a press release that was distributed today.

I am very excited to be pursuing this new opportunity. While I will miss working every day with Jeff Flint and the outstanding team I assembled at SFPA, it was a very amicable decision and one that will benefit all concerned. I know Jeff will successfully lead a new iteration of the firm going forward.

Until 2008, my entire career in public affairs consulting was devoted to assisting the business community deal with challenges it was facing, including successfully managing dozens of ballot initiative campaigns in California and many other states. As you know, in 2008 I took on the Proposition 8 campaign to restore marriage in California as the union of one man and one woman. I did so as a lifelong Catholic because it reflects my own beliefs about the issue as well as those of my faith. I was honored to have won the Prop 8 campaign, despite conventional wisdom. My colleagues in the political consulting profession found it to be the best-managed initiative campaign in the nation that year. In 2009, I also won a marriage fight in Maine, and in 2010 I helped remove three Iowa Supreme Court judges from office after they imposed same-sex marriage in that state.

The marriage issue obviously is a highly-controversial one, with strong passions on both sides. My involvement in marriage and other conservative issues has never resulted in any problems for my clients, and no client has ever stepped away from the firm due to my work on those issues. However, being involved in those issues has resulted in a reluctance by some in the general business community to hire my firm for new work. Additionally, the media focus on my marriage work has overshadowed the work of others in the firm who are accomplishing a lot of great things for our clients.

It has become clear to me over the past year or so that if I wanted to be in a position to successfully compete for future work with the business community I would need to step away from working on social conservative issues, regardless of what my faith teaches me about those issues.

At the same time, there is a tremendous need for accomplished consultants to work on issues like marriage, life, religious liberty, and similar subjects – all issues that I care deeply about.

I have carefully and prayerfully considered the pros and cons of the conflicting paths, and I have decided to focus my work on the issues I care about. Accordingly, I will leave Schubert Flint and have opened a new firm focused on conservative issues – Mission: Public Affairs, LLC.

Again, I am very excited about my future direction. If you have any questions about this decision, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your friendship and support over the years. I look forward to visiting with you personally in the future, and to sharing more information about my new firm. In the meantime, you can reach me at info@missionpublicaffairs.com.

Frank Schubert

President

Schubert Flint Public Affairs

1415 L Street, Suite 1250

Sacramento, CA 95814

We Deliver Results!

www.schubertflintpa.com

Explosive NOM Documents Now Available to View

Rights Equal Rights — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:02:42 +0000

Karger Responsible for Maine Investigation Which Produced Treasure Trove of NOM Documents

On October 1, 2009 Fred Karger and Danielle Avele took on Brian Brown and his army of NOM attorneys from Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom before the Maine Ethics Commission in Augusta. They took on NOM, charging them with money laundering in that state’s Amendment 1 election after filing a 72 page sworn complaint. The Commission then voted to investigate the National Organization for Marriage. Then NOM sued Maine to invalidate its election law that requires donor disclosure. Over two years later, the results of NOM’s lawsuit and that investigation have produced documents, revealed by the HRC, that show the underhanded and likely illegal ways in which NOM, its Board of Directors and its supporters operate.

To read these documents, CLICK HERE.

MSNBC: Thomas Roberts’ Show

Rights Equal Rights — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:46:45 +0000

Host Thomas Roberts of MSNBC had Maggie and Fred on his March 30, 2011 morning show talking about the NOM confidential documents unsealed last week. Click on image below to watch and to read the corresponding Advocate article that covered this latest story.

The Battle of Concord 2011

Rights Equal Rights — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:09:12 +0000

Fred Karger vs. Brian Brown and the National Organization for Marriage
(video: FredKarger at YouTube)

The National Organization for Marriage finally surrenders its 990′s for 2009

Rights Equal Rights — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:37:18 +0000

Rights Equal Rights founder, Fred Karger, pays NOM a visit

Yesterday, Rights Equal Rights founder Fred Karger paid a follow-up visit to the Washington, DC office of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). While the anti-gay organization’s 2009 tax filings had still not appeared on the group’s website, a worker surrendered a hard copy of NOM’s long-awaited 2009 tax filings. Karger noted that, since NOM’s founding three years ago, their income and spending has at least tripled every year.

Find copies of NOM’s documents at the link.

News Releases: National Organization for Marriage Late Again With Federal Tax Returns

Fred Karger — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:37:16 +0000

WASHINGTON, DC – The four year old National Organization for Marriage (NOM), and the National Organization for Marriage Foundation (NOMF) has once again failed to file its required Federal Income Tax Returns. Their IRS 2009 returns for both of these non-profits, their 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 were due on May 15, 2010. If they received an extension, then they were due October 15, 2010. Now they are 2 ½ months LATE!

How do you say, “Front Group?” I went again to the NOM National Office at 2029 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 to see their 2009 Tax Returns. Notice the UPS delivery slip on the doorknob. Neighbors said they never see anyone there, yet they are leading the fight against gay marriage in 14 states.

I recently visited their new National Office in Washington, DC twice during regular office hours to view the returns. No one was there. They must make them available to anyone during regular business hours. We also have checked online repeatedly for their 2009 returns, and again, nothing. What is NOM trying to hide? Why do they not file their tax returns every year?

Déjà Vu

 I went through the identical exercise in 2009 when I attempted to view NOM’s 2007 and 2008 990’s, but they never filed those either. We visited their then National Office in Princeton, NJ many times and no one was ever there either.

One set of 990’s was 5 months late. The other set was 17 months late, when finally, the night before NOM President Brian Brown was to testify in front of the Maine Ethics Commission last year, all of their delinquent tax returns magically appeared on the NOM web site.

It was too late to stave off a State of Maine investigation of NOM, because in spite of threatening to sue the State of Maine (which NOM eventually did), the Maine Ethics Commission voted to investigate the National Organization for Marriage for election “Money Laundering.”

NOM is not above the law. They need to file their Income Tax Returns like everyone else and every other organization. We are entitled to see just how much money they raised and spent in 2009. Whom are they trying to protect?

NOM President Brian Brown getting questioned by reporters right after Maine Ethics Commission voted to investigate his organization for alleged money laundering.

NOM has sued 14 states to invalidate those state’s campaign finance laws. 12 of those lawsuits were in 2010 alone. NOM hopes to invalidate those state’s election laws, so when they spend their millions in those 14 states, it would not have to be reported.

NOM goes into these states and attacks anyone and everyone viciously that dares to support marriage equality in this country, and they do it without obeying election laws. They even subpoenaed me last year as soon as I filed the complaint against them in Maine. They are relentless.

Congressional Investigation of NOM — Now a “Hate Group”

We have tried repeatedly to get the Congress to investigate the National Organization for Marriage. There are numerous active complaints filed against NOM with the IRS. We need to get to the bottom of this highly questionable organization, now officially designated a “Hate Group,” by the prestigious Southern Poverty Law Center. CLICK HERE

Where’s Doug Manchester? He’s Not on Bust the Blacklist!

NOM now has a new web site up to defend its multi-millionaire and billionaire contributors. Their most famous donor of all is missing, hotel owner Doug Manchester. Manchester’s own people have admitted that they are losing $1 million per month from the boycott that Californians Against Hate (now Rights Equal Rights) launched on July 17, 2008, because of Doug Manchester’s $125,000 early donation to qualify and pass California’s Proposition 8. Here’s NOM’s new site, Bust the Blacklist: CLICK HERE

Manchester’s close friend, fellow San Diegan Terry Caster, who gave $693,000 to qualify and pass Proposition 8, is on NOM’s list. Guess the last thing Doug Manchester wants is any more publicity. He got a lousy return on his $125,000 contribution to take away marriage equality in California – at least $30 million in lost business to the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel alone!