Maine-ly Store Bought

Perhaps the effort to overturn legal same-sex marriage in Maine is really a hidden jobs stimulus. Unfortunately, much of the money raised by the anti-equality side comes from and is paid to out-of-staters.

The anti-gay types have often claimed, falsely or truly, that Equality Maine gets its money from dreadful and distance places like Massachusetts. Apparently, getting their money from New Jersey and such is OK. Huh?

The bluebird-bearing Turn Maine Blue blog has been doing a nice job reporting developments here. For example:

• James Dobson's Focus on the Family (in Colorado) just gave $31,000 plus to Stand for Marriage.
• At least $190,000 went to National Petition management to collect the 55,000 necessary signatures to put the issue on the ballot this year. "People's" veto, indeed.

The Portland Press-Herald continues its coverage as well. Today's piece tracks and specifies the money raised so far on both sides. By the bye, it stands at $343,000-plus reported by the anti-equality side and only $138,640 for the pro-equality folk. The veto side includes $160,000 from the National Organization for Marriage (basically a wash for the bought signatures), $100,000 from the Portland R.C. diocese, plus $50,000 from the Knights of Columbus.

The article gets a guess from the two sides that this campaign will waste cost $4 million to $6 million. I suspect Mainers could use that amount much better than trying to hurt or defend one minority group.

Maine Freedom to Marry takes contributions here.

---

Tags: massmarrier, same sex marriage, Maine, People' Veto, TurnMaineBlue, Focus on the Family, Equality Maine