Maine Moving Forward With NOM Campaign Ethics Investigation

Poor NOM. After being practically laughed out of the courthouse for requesting a last minute stay, they learned yesterday that Maine will proceed with an investigation into their violations of the state's campaign finance laws.

Barry Bostrom, an attorney for the group that contributed $1.9 million to a campaign to repeal the state's gay marriage law, told the commission that NOM feels its 1st Amendment rights are being violated by requests for information about donors. He said because the state law is being challenged in federal court, it would be better to hold off on the state-level ethics investigation until that is resolved. But with a 4-1 vote, most of the commission members disagreed. "I understand concerns about duplicate efforts, but that's part of the hand we are dealt," said ethics commision member Margaret Matheson. "We're charged with ensuring that voters have that information and that's the crux of this investigation."

NOM has refused to submit their financial reports for their successful campaign to repeal same-sex marriage in Maine, saying that the state has no need to know where they got their money.