HRC: Stick A Fork In NOM

The Human Rights Campaign today issued a press release roundly mocking NOM for their failures to make good on their threats.  An excerpt:

Opponents’ financing is drying up. They were outspent almost three to one last year, $12 million to $34 million in the ballot campaigns. More broadly, tax documents obtained by HRC last fall show that NOM’s funding declined by one-third for 2011 – and that a whopping 75 percent of the anti-gay organization’s funding came from just two donors. It’s not surprising then that NOM is unable to follow through on the threats the group makes to Republicans supportive of marriage equality.

NOM promised, for instance, that it would spend $2 million to defeat the four Republican State Senators in New York who backed the legislature’s same-sex marriage bill in 2011. NOM then backpedalled, saying it would spend $250,000 in the primary fights. According to NOM PAC NY’s campaign finance reports, it only raised $45,000 and only spent $40,000 in 2012 – nowhere near what it claimed it would spend.

Beyond funding, NOM’s pressure campaigns – which the group insists have been successful - have produced little return on investment. A new HRC fact check piece makes clear the effort to oust the four Republicans strictly because of their votes on marriage did not work. “NOM’s threats to kick Republicans out of office – whether in New York two years ago or in Illinois earlier this month - are empty,” said Nix. “It’s nothing but bluster aimed to instill fear in lawmakers. NOM’s become nothing but a paper tiger.”

Read HRC's debunking of NOM's claims about the 2012 NY Senate elections.