The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) is calling for an investigation over a leaked list of
contributors to the group's campaign supporting Proposition 8, the
2008 voter-approved amendment which overturned the California Supreme
Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage in the state.
Gay rights advocate the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC) last week released on its website a confidential 2008
IRS tax return listing 50 contributors to the campaign, including
presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
“It appears that someone with either
the IRS or the HRC may have committed a federal crime by illegally
obtaining and then releasing a confidential tax return of the
National Organization for Marriage,” said NOM President Brian Brown
in a statement. “It's clear that the tax return was stolen, either
from NOM or from the government.”
HRC spokesperson Fred Sainz told gay
weekly The
Washington Blade that NOM, which is currently under fire for
memos
showing it wanted to pit minorities against gay marriage supporters,
was attempting to change the conversation.
“It's the height of hypocrisy for NOM
to claim others are violating the law – since NOM has flagrantly
violated campaign finance and tax laws and is currently under
investigation. NOM is clearly trying to change the conversation away
from their unethical practices as well as the secret memos that we
brought to light last week showing their ugly race-baiting tactics
and their nondisclosure of a contribution from Governor Romney that
was clearly meant for Prop 8.”