The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) has lost another legal round in Maine.
The group, which has led efforts to
repeal gay marriage laws in California and Maine, challenged Maine's
campaign reporting law.
NOM claimed that the state's law, which
requires groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence
elections to register with the state and disclose donors who make
contributions in excess of $100, was overly burdensome and
unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock
Hornby disagreed.
“I conclude finally that this Maine
law is constitutional,” Hornby wrote in his 22-page ruling released
on Friday, the Kennebec Journal reported.
In 2009, NOM spent more than $1.9
million to repeal the state's gay marriage law.
Previously, Hornby, who was appointed
to the federal bench in 1990 by President George W. Bush, ruled that
NOM could not conceal its donor list.
Fred Karger's Californians Against Hate
had asked the Maine Commission on Government Ethics and Election
Practices to investigate the group. Karger, who is now considering a
bid to run for president in 2012 as a Republican, claimed that NOM
was not following the law's reporting requirements. He's previously
called the group a front group for The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).
“They [the Mormon Church] have
created front groups that can do their bidding in banning same-sex
marriage throughout the United States. The Mormon Church gave $1.2
million to ban gay marriage in Alaska and Hawaii, and got caught.
Ever since they work through front groups to try and hide their
direct involvement,” he said.
NOM has yet to announce whether it will
appeal the ruling.