Common Cause files fundraising complaints against same-sex marriage ban proponents
The watchdog group Common Cause filed two complaints with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board Wednesday against groups lobbying on behalf of the same-sex marriage ban amendment.
Common Cause alleges Minnesota for Marriage and one of its backing groups, the Minnesota Family Council, failed to comply with Minnesota's campaign finance laws.
Common Cause Director Mike Dean says Minnesota for Marriage named only seven individual donors, meaning most of the money it raised can't be traced to individuals.
"I just I find it hard to believe with all these emails that have been sent out, with all the work they're doing online, with all the probably direct mail that they're doing, that they've only found seven individual donors to the campaign," Dean said.
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Amendment opponents disclosed 773 individual contributors during the same period.
"Minnesota law requires disclosure of campaign contributions because the public has a right to know what interests are behind political speech," Dean told MPR News. "Our democracy is threatened if people don't have the political courage to stand behind the political ads that they support."
Chuck Darrell, a spokesman for Minnesota for Marriage, said the complaint is baseless.
"Minnesota For Marriage complied with the guidance provided by the Campaign Finance Board," Darrell said in a written statement. "In fact, Jeff Sigurdson of the Campaign Finance Board said he saw nothing in our filing that indicated any violations of the board's rules."
Read the complaints: