LAist: Will Mormons Fund a Victory for Prop. 8?

erincita

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:01:37 -0800

what's wrong with people supporting causes that are important to them? those who are apathetic and expend no energy or means on causes they believe in rarely draw criticism. i think there is something admirable about anyone who works to support something they sincerely believe in. even if i don't agree with their position- i applaud their efforts to make a difference in the world.

dominique

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:37:49 -0800

Mormon donations are currently up to 42%... and that only counts the over $1000 donations. I find it interesting that the Brigham Apartments (a few blocks from the famed Mormon Temple Square) has donated money. I know at least 20% of their tenants are gay. Nothing like taking gay money and spending it to outlaw the very people who put bread on your table. So typical Mormon, actually. And that in spite of the fact that up until about 1978, it was actually legal in the state of Missouri to hunt down and kill Mormons. One would think a people so hated and discriminated against would be reticent to return anti-Christ hatred so vehemently.

PassatDoc

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:22:35 -0800

I'm not so certain that mormonsfor8.com is a PRO Prop 8 website. Rather, the intent seems to be outing those Mormons who have made large donations to 8, as a way of demonstrating the disproportionate amount of financial support received by 8 from Mormons. Roughly 40% of the donations over 1000 dollars seem to have come from individual Mormons, and if you inspect the spreadsheet on the mormonsfor8.com website, you'll see that some cities and towns have not been perused by people familiar with who is and who is not Mormon. In towns like Carlsbad, where people with intimate knowledge of the local Mormon community have perused the list, it's more like 90%. In 1998, Alaska had a similar ballot issue, and $500K of the $600K raised by the "yes" forces came directly from the Mormon church in Salt Lake City, which they may legally do (as do the Knights of Columbus or Focus on the Family). However, it generated negative publicity for the church when news media reported that 85% of the donations came from one source in Utah, for an election in Alaska. The strategy used for Prop 22 in 2002 in California was to ask individual Mormons to donate directly to Yes on 22. Since most of the Mormon donors are not celebrities, they are mostly unrecognizable by the general public. Only someone from that local faith community would recognize the names. In addition, the Mormon Church conserves its own funds and does not get flack from using its own substantial resources to try to sway an election. A recent Wall St Journal article http://www.wsj.com/article/SB122186063716658279.html documented the degree of involvement by high church leaders. Wealthy donors received conference calls with a church leader in which "$25K" was suggested as an appropriate amount to donate. One man who previously donated 3K coughed up another 25K when called by a church leader to donate more. The folks at mormonsfor8.com seem to be doing what they can to further highlight the clandestine involvement of the Mormon Church to arm twist its members into supporting 8.

torrmoz

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:11:51 -0800

So when will Anonymous be protesting Mormons?