The state ethics commission says it's going ahead with an investigation into fundraising by groups that oppose Maine's gay marriage law, despite a staff recommendation against doing so.
The commission voted 3-2 today to conduct the investigation into fundraising by a group called the National Organization for Marriage, which is a major contributor to the Stand for Marriage Maine campaign, which is leading the effort to repeal Maine's new gay marriage law.
Fred Karger, the founder of a group called Californians Against Hate, accused the National Organization for Marriage of circumventing Maine's campaign finance laws by not naming its individual donors. But NOM's national director says the investigation is unwarranted.
"Look, the fact of the matter is we look forward to the investigation because we're going to be able to prove that we've done nothing wrong, and we've complied with all campaign finance law, and this is nothing more than an attempt to harrass people who want to stand up for traditional marriage," Brown told MPBN.
NOM maintains that it doesn't have to report the names of individual contributors because it asks for donations nationally, and doesn't designate them for specific campaigns.