The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) last week subpoenaed Fred Karger, founder of Rights Equal
Rights, in connection with a federal lawsuit against the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).
Last year, NOM, the nation's most
vociferous opponent of gay marriage, accused the Obama administration
of leaking its confidential tax return after the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC) posted a redacted version of the group's Form 990.
“[T]his was given to our political
opponents. The head of the Human Rights Campaign was a co-chair for
President Obama's re-election campaign,” NOM President Brian Brown
said during a Fox News appearance. “We need Congress to move
forward, we need a thorough investigation, and we need to know for
certain if this goes, to see how high this goes. It is not at all
encouraging that, again, this was given to a co-chair of President
Obama's re-election campaign. That's just wrong.”
Karger has been a leading opponent of
NOM, filing state ethics complaints in Maine, California and Iowa.
In an emailed statement, Karger claimed
that a 2009 subpoena from NOM was an effort to quiet him.
“NOM subpoenaed me to harass me,
force me to spend money and try and scare me away. That didn't
work,” said Karger. “We fought back successfully against NOM
then, thanks to a great legal team and lots of support. When we see
evidence that NOM is not complying with state or federal election
laws, we report it to the proper authorities.”
Karger said he would reach out to
national LGBT groups for help.
(The
subpoena can be viewed here.)