California To Investigate Mormon Church On Prop 8 Financials

Californians Against Hate is seeing some action on their complaint.

California officials are planning to investigate whether the Mormon church gave an accurate accounting of its role in the campaign that succeeded in getting a same-sex marriage ban approved in the state. The action by the California Fair Political Practices Commission came in response to a complaint filed two weeks ago by a gay rights activist.

Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of the work it did to support Proposition 8. Roman Porter, the agency's executive director, said Monday that the decision to open an investigation does not mean staff members have determined there was any wrongdoing, only that Karger's complaint merits further inquiry. A representative from the Salt Lake City-based church could not be reached for comment.