Mormon church reports spending $180,000 on Proposition 8

Top officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filed reports today indicating that they donated more than $180,000 in in-kind contributions to Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California.

The contributions included tens of thousands of dollars for expenses such as airline tickets, hotel and restaurant bills and car-rental bills for top church officials such as L. Whitney Clayton, along with $96,849.31 worth of “compensated staff time” for church employees.

The church said the expenditures took place between July 1 and the end of the year. The church’s involvement has been a major issue in the campaign and its aftermath. Individual Mormon families donated millions -- by some estimates more than $20 million -- of their own money to the campaign.

On top of that, some Prop. 8 opponents say church officials violated election law by failing to file campaign disclosure reports outlining church funds being spent on the campaign. Fred Karger, who filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission after the election alleging that church officials had not properly disclosed their involvement, said he thought today’s filing proves that his complaint has merit.

“They said they reported all their travel ... now, when there is a [complaint filed] they disclose 25 Southwest tickets just in October,” he said. “They were required to report this” in an earlier filing, he said. Church officials could not be reached for comment this evening.

-- Jessica Garrison

Comments

[John]

They're finally being exposed, which is everything they didn't want to. Before this election, most people had no idea how a relatively small religious group could have such a strong political arm. There was no public awareness of all this. Well, Mormons: TOO BAD.

[Chad]

One would have to concur that if Jesus were to come back to this plane and see what was being carried out in his name it would take a good year for him to stop vomiting.

[TD]

tell me again why the mormon church is tax exempt?

[Ryan]

Good job at beating a dead horse. I can understand if this church gave out of their coffers to the Prop 8 folks, but to just use their staff on their end doesn't seem to be actively donating to Prop 8; this church just helped out on their end. Move on.

[SVB]

First of all, $180,000 is still a very small amount in terms of money raised for the campaign. Second, these were in-kind donations meaning they were not monetary. And third and most significant, it is perfectly within thier right to donate money, goods or services to whatever campaign they or any other church chooses. That's the bottem line.

[ESTELLA DAVIS]

WOULD IT BE SAFE TO SAY THAT THE WHOLE ISSUE OF GAYS IS TO SAY THAT THIS IS A GROUP THAT IS IN FAVOR OF DYING OR DEATH? EVEN IF WE WERE TO JUSTIFY THE GROUP'S IDENTITY BY SAYING THAT THEY WOULD STILL BE IN THE "CLOSET" IF THE SANCTITY OF TRADITIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND MARRIAGES WERE NOT TO BLAME FOR THE PUBLICITY OF THE GROUP OR THE SURFACING OF THE GROUP, WOULD IT STILL BE SAFE TO SAY THAT THIS IS A TERMINAL GROUP? SAME SEX IS DOING NOTHING IN THE WAY OF FOSTERING OFF-SPRING. AGAIN, WOULD IT BE SAFE TO SAY THAT GAYS ARE A FATAL GROUP? THAT THE GROUP EXISTS TO THE EXTENT THAT TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE IS NOT WORKING.

[Dr. Gary Killen]

The LDS Church has never produced a Financial Statement to its members at any of their bi-annual General Conferences. Why should anyone believe this unprecedented financial disclosure contains the full truth!

[chascates]

Since the Mormons have been 'christening' deceased Jews as Christians can't they simply 'christen' the GLBTs into heterosexuals and be done with it?

[james sutherland-harper]

Poverty, Clean Water, Homelessness, Food Supplies, Rape, Gang Violence, Injustice and Gay People... which one of these have the Mormon Church put the most money towards fighting......

[Calamity Kate]

A relatively small religious group? Well, how about a relatively small group of the population, estimated at 2-3%, that chooses an alternate sexual lifestyle? We should upturn centuries of human societal norms so they can feel good about their perversions?

And why doesn't the pink mafia go down to Watts or Compton to protest? 70% of black Obama voters voted FOR Prop. 8. I'd pay top dollar to sit in the front row for that demonstration of freedom of speech.

[Paul Dieter]

Hey SVB, do you really believe that a church should be able to donate to political causes and keep tax-exempt status? I certainly don't. I believe all churches should be taxed anyway. It's extremely offensive to hard working tax payers like me that any group should be tax exempt because of some ridiculous mass delusion.

[Candycane]

this is not a direct donation to the proposition. additionally, prop 8 is not 'political' although it has become 'politicized.' would one care if the church got behind a proposition to support a high speed train connection between san francisco and los angeles?

[Kevin]

180K? That's it? Brad Pitt and Stephen Spielberg/Kate Capshaw together gave more than that. And there's no big revelation here. Everybody knows what the Mormons, evangelical Christians, Muslims, etc. think about traditional values and gay marriage. Looking around, it's hard to blame them. Has the abandonment of traditional ideals of sexual and marital behavior really been good for society? If the anti-8 crowd wants to win, they need to convince society that they really want to affirm and be a part of traditional values. Instead, many if not most anti-8 supporters sneer at the values that most of us have seen the importance of first hand. People are increasingly afraid that this is not just about individual rights, but about left-wing activists trying to shove their agenda down our throats. And if you oppose them openly, they'll try to get you fired.

[Kevin]

"Poverty, Clean Water, Homelessness, Food Supplies, Rape, Gang Violence, Injustice and Gay People... which one of these have the Mormon Church put the most money towards fighting......" Posted by: james sutherland-harper | January 30, 2009 at 07:36 PM

They quietly spend a heck of a lot more on poverty, clean water, homelessness, food supplies, the disabled, and medical care than on opposing gay marriage. Opposing gay marriage may get a lot of press, but it is a very minor issue in the larger Mormon world.

[redplanet]

Imagine...no religion. Oh what a wonderful world that would be. It's way past time to put god(s) in the closet and let everyone else out. Be good for goodness sake..

[Randy]

It seems to me that the gay community is full of crybabies.

You lost, and even if you hadn't lost, your cause is ultimately fighting against God, which you can't win.

Good luck with that fight!

[Denise_90]

And so what! Would there be outrage if they donated to the No on 8 crowd?

This is America, remember - and most, absolutely most of all Americans believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Times, is your way to increase readership - to continue to beat a 'beaten' dead horse?

Get over it and move on...

[notsoandso]

What Hypocrisy in the name of God. Mormons, the same group that not that long ago were killed just for being Mormons. All of these dollars from outside of California from Mormons to promote intolerance.

[Bruce becker]

Prop 8 is unconstitutional.

[cbk16]

Only 180K which is basically travel. What is the big deal?

[Pacific Northwest]

The time has come to tax all churches. If they have this kind of money it will not be a burden on their fantasy, denial, or their gnomes. There are many priorities, health care, that need to be addressed. Two people can live together, never have sex, and be normal as any other combination of people. Again as the republicans, sarah and john they just don't get it.

[John]

Hey LDS: Don't you have a better use for your money than trying to mess up the lives of married people?

[Jesus H. Christ]

LDS should lose their tax exempt status.

[fern]

When the court refused to hide prop 8 donors my comment was "no guts, no glory", my mistake, it should have been "greed and no guts".

[Victoria]

The voters spoke. Majority wins. That's democracy.

[The Mean Guy]

Mormon involvement in Prop 8 ranks among the most well known "secrets" of all time. What are we going to learn next? That gays donated to the "no on 8" effort? And couldn't Ellen have spent $100K on feeding the poor instead of forcing gay marriage on society? Give me a break. It's time to move on, grow up, and realize that democracy isn't always the same thing as getting your way.

[The Mean Guy]

Mormon involvement in Prop 8 ranks among the most well known "secrets" of all time. What are we going to learn next? That gays donated to the "no on 8" effort? And couldn't Ellen have spent $100K on feeding the poor instead of forcing gay marriage on society? Give me a break. It's time to move on, grow up, and realize that democracy isn't always the same thing as getting your way.

[LAplayer]

It is quite clear that the Mormon Church has spent lots more money fighting poverty and disease throughout the world than it did on Prop 8... Prop 8 was a relatively MINOR expenditure for Mormons and their Church, so don't be surprised by the numbers. I've seen figures that the Mormons spend like a billion on foreign aid and welfare and education, etc. But yeah it is too bad that they took this on as a major cause. However, it is not a legal issue. leave it alone and work for progress without fighting back with intolerance.

[schaidez]

$180,000 is nothing compared to the total raised by the yes on prop 8 campaign (which raised $ 40 million) . This is just another example the mega liberal LA times riling up the homosexual community to further despise conservatives.

[Larry]

It is time for decent people to start a systematic execution of the liberal scum that infects this planet. So you want to kill babies? How about killing you instead? That seems like a fair deal. You want to tax churches? You want church and its followers out of government? Seems like you should stay out of churches business. It is high time to rid ourselves of the liberal scum cancer that has infected this country.

[V]

All of you people who say that gay is a choice and too bad cause it's ungodly are going to burn in hell. If you are against gay rights then you WILL burn in hell for showing contempt for your fellow human beings. God will smite you for suggesting his creations are not equal to you. God creates all, GOD CREATES HOMOSEXUALS. You will be condemned to hell for defying gods plan.

[Aaron]

The Earth would be a better place without the Mormon Church and their EXTREMELY wacky views. Look up the origins of Mormonism-pure fantasy.
And no, I'm not gay.

[Brian]

It wasn't until 1972 that one could be African American and be a Mormon. Through a "revelation" that magically appeared to the council, this was repealed. Keep the pressure on these folks and I suspect another "revelation" will come to one of the old white dudes that head up the Mormon church.

[Wild Bob]

Why don't these politically correct liberals go after blacks since blacks voted for Prop 8 by a 70 percent margin? Black turn out for Obama passed the anti-gay measure. Liberals are hypocrites. They are just picking on Mormons because they view them to be an easy target.

[Mike]

Never mind $180,000, the church leadership prodded their members into donating more than $20 million. Shame on them for making the continued persecution of a minority near the top of their priority list.

[Tide83]

The Mormon Church donates more than $100M a year to the poor and needy around the country. Where's the coverage on that?

$180K of in-kind travel is a non-issue.

[Sam]

$180k that was "officially" donated by the Church...which is the amount they are "stating". But as EVERYBODY is aware, more than $20 million was donated by Mormons...you think perhaps some money went from the church coffers to private donors to donate?

And as for tax exempt status? Since when are political contributions tax deductible? Well, for these Mormons, who "donate" money to the church in the form of either tithing, or simple direct donation, they get to deduct these amounts on their taxes. The Mormon church then then turns around and uses that money to donate to the fighting of prop 8. This is absolutely ridiculous.

And I'm fully aware of the hypocrisy and oppression Mormons endorse...I am a recovering Mormon, and lived in the state of Utah for over 15 years of my adult life (as a non-Mormon). You think this hindered my opportunities? Well, if you don't, move to the state and try to get ahead.

[Robert]

I'd really be interested to see how much money other churches donated to the NO on 8 side. Have any of you on here been to a Mormon congregation recently? Overflowing. Not nearly enough seats. The press they are getting from this has been a huge boon to their numbers. It has brought more attention to them than a decade of missionary work. Keep it up LA Times.

[mirele]

So, does this $180,000 include the cost of the semi-secret, targeted satellite broadcasted "firesides" put together at the behest of the LDS Church's First Presidency that were beamed to dozens, if not hundreds, of wardhouses across California? The cost of the satellite uplinks, the cost of the people who man the cameras and provide other services, makeup people, lighting, sound, etc.? What about the cost of opening up the wardhouses, making sure the lights are on and the local video systems running? I would bet money that this expenditure list doesn't include that at all. I know of one video "fireside" for sure, but believe there were others. The church didn't expect to have to ever pony up this information, but now it's being legitmately ordered to do so. And, frankly, it's long overdue. Of course, the church could just pay taxes and we wouldn't have to go through this charade, but hell will freeze over first!

[Christian]

Posted by: ESTELLA DAVIS:
"WOULD IT BE SAFE TO SAY THAT THE WHOLE ISSUE OF GAYS IS TO SAY THAT THIS IS A GROUP THAT IS IN FAVOR OF DYING OR DEATH? EVEN IF WE WERE TO JUSTIFY THE GROUP'S IDENTITY BY SAYING THAT THEY WOULD STILL BE IN THE "CLOSET" IF THE SANCTITY OF TRADITIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND MARRIAGES WERE NOT TO BLAME FOR THE PUBLICITY OF THE GROUP OR THE SURFACING OF THE GROUP, WOULD IT STILL BE SAFE TO SAY THAT THIS IS A TERMINAL GROUP? SAME SEX IS DOING NOTHING IN THE WAY OF FOSTERING OFF-SPRING. AGAIN, WOULD IT BE SAFE TO SAY THAT GAYS ARE A FATAL GROUP? THAT THE GROUP EXISTS TO THE EXTENT THAT TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE IS NOT WORKING."

As long as there are straight people around there will be gay people! How? Gay people are born to heterosexual parents! Want to stop gays, keep straights from having kids!

"Traditional marriage", "centuries of tradition" are simply horse feathers! For many centuries, no one but rich people could marry in a legal way. It was the method to guarantee the transfer of wealth between rich landowners and their off springs. Poor people, peasants, workers had no legal standing. It doesn't mean they didn't copulate! But it wasn't registered on a piece of paper or in a municipality. Civic documentation of a marriage is a new idea and has nothing to do with the bible, book of mormon, or any other bad science fiction masquerading as truth.

BTW, I am not gay. Just hate bigots, homophobes and cowards cloaking their ugly intentions in the name of religion, truth, moral values, family values, etc..

[James]

Religious organizations should not be tax exempt.

Religious organizations that are involved with politics should especially not be tax exempt.

Religious organizations that are involved with politics and fail to properly disclose their financial support of political issues should absolutely not be tax exempt.

[Wade Collins]

The red-diaper babies want to silence religion. If the Mormons spent millions to support Gays, that would be okay in their book. You see they are actually against freedom of speech, unless it's speech which is in agreement with their
viewpoints.

This isn't about human rights or the Civil Rights Movement. The law protects civil unions basically the same way marriages are protected, the real problem is that gays want to throw their perversions in our face & demand for all of us to bow down to their childish like demands.

Can you imagine this bunch of flag-hating, pro homosexual, left wingers had to ever protect this country?. They would run & hide. Stop society's misfires from changing the basic tenants of civilized society.

[at]

TAX THE CHURCHES!! Why should they get a free ride?

[Kevin LA]

The issue is that the Mormon Church is tax-exempt. Tax-exempt organizations shouldn't use that extra money given to them by the government and the country to influence politics. In addition, their involvement in Prop 8 basically funded over a third of Prop 8's campaign through the church's contribution and their members' contributions. That is completely inappropriate for a non-profit. They are acting more like a political action committee (those organizations are taxed).

[Kevin LA]

Steven Spielberg and Brad Pitt gave their own money from their income that they paid taxes on. The Mormon Church does not pay taxes on their income. That is the point. Non-profits are not supposed to get involved in politics. Otherwise, they lose their non-profit status.

[LA Doc]

Religious extremists are used to justifying discrimination by using the Bible. You justify demonizing gay people by quoting Leviticus while the same book says eating shellfish is also an abomination. Historically, these same people used the "curse of Ham" to justify enslaving Black people. It's just bigotry.

[Garner Wainscott]

No matter how one feels about Gay marriage, the implications of the Church's behavior extend FAR BEYOND this particular controversy.

Look at the facts:

1. The Mormon Church is an out-of-state, $50 Billion institution. Many corporations that are common household names are worth less than that!!

2. Under California campaign disclosure law, ALL $50 billion-dollar, out-of-state corporations are required to fully disclose the extent of their involvement in initiative campaigns. (We all know corporations already dominate the system, but that's another posting for another time.)

3. The law does NOT exempt religious institutions from reporting requirements.

4. The Church was required to fully report the extent of its involvement in the Yes-on-8 campaign early in the process and througout the entire election season. THEY FAILED TO DO SO.

5. It is obvious the ONLY reason the Church has finally filed its statements is because the FPPC opened its investigation -- and they waited to file just one day after their members lost a stupid lawsuit in Federal Court that sought to invalidate some of the same campaign disclosure laws.

6. Any other corporation engaged in this type of behavior would be FINED.

7. What does this mean? As a direct result of the Church's failure to disclose sooner, the **voters were misled** into thinking that the entire election was put forth and arranged by families and individuals, when in fact it was really arranged by a large, out-of-state corporation. The Public has been harmed.

I say this: I HOPE THE FPPC FINES THE LYING, OUT-OF-STATE CORPORATION.

[of the earth]

No more tax exemption for churches. Not everyone buys into this whole church thing. Not all Americans believe in God. Religion, churches, and 99% of churchgoers are the scourge of societies.

[william kraal]

OH JEZUS MARIA PLEEZE LETS TAKE AWAY THEIR TAX-EXEMPT STATUS NOW!!

[D]

What the article doesn't mention is that until now, the LDS church has insisted that it only had spent just over 2000 dollars, for travel for one senior church leader. Only after the lawsuit was filed did the church suddenly remember that it had spent over 190,000 dollars. Their financial records are kept secret. I have the feeling that the longer this process continues, the more the LDS church will remember even larger amounts of money it had spent on Prop 8. This is not over yet. The new figure is almost 100 times larger than the old. If a company had misreported earnings or expenditures to the same extent, there would be all sorts of investigations.

[Angela]

It's wrong because they initially LIED about reporting it, just like they always do when something comes up that may make them look bad. If they had reported it when and where they were supposed to in the beginning, it wouldn't even be an issue now. They're only reporting it now because some heat has been applied. The regular Mormon has no idea how morally corrupt their leadership can be when it comes to protecting the church. For some reason the leadership always think they'll get away with it, and most of the time they do at the local level. This includes past leadership as well. This is just a small taste of how they cover up and lie.

Gee, wasn't it only $2800 they initially reported? There is a pretty big gap between $2800 and $180,000. Think they just 'forgot' about that, or didn't believe it needed to be reported? Hmmm...

[JasonJack]

$180,000
Half of which was simply traveling for meetings and having dinners. No one should get mad there.

church leaders fly to California very routinely...They probably just reported every flight, as the leaders might have said something (and probably did) about prop 8 while they were there for other reasons.

The other half they simply used their resources (employees, mainly) to support the work of volunteers on the ground.

Not one penny...except the previously reported $2000+, ever went to protect Marriage.com, or any other sponsor. The Volunteer man-hours in Utah alone surely was worth more than these employees.

The reason it wasn't originally filed is that it wasn't a traditional donation--it was just using resources.

[Jim]

I'm just curious how all of you would feel if a tax-exempt gay and lesbian organization spent $180,000 of members' money to support a successful ballot initiative that, for example, banned Mormons from holding public office.

Would you fight this in court as a violation of your civil right? I would hope so.

Would you speak out against the gay and lesbian organization that did so? I would hope so.

Would you question whether or not it's ethical to use tax-exempt money to directly influence a legislative process (which the CA initiative process is)? I would hope so.

Would you say, "Well, the people have spoken, that's democracy, I'll quietly abide by it"? I would hope not.

The freedoms guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution -- including the religious freedom of fringe religions like the Latter Day Saints -- only stand if we all take a firm stance that we must all be equals in the eyes of the law, and let the debates about morality continue without legal interference.

[John]

Calamity Kate: That depends on one's perpective. For example, you may think gays are "perverted", right-wing evangelicals may think you're a "fake religion" or a "cult which threathens true Christianity"; how about you Mormons complain about this?
I'll take your words as mine: I'd pay top dollar to sit in the front row for that demonstration of freedom of speech. What do you think of this challenge?

[Lisa]

It's amazing to me that there is so much hate on either side of the issue. I'm highly disappointed with the majority of posters for the nastiness and the derrogatory finger pointing either direction. It makes me shake my head.

Let Truth prevail - and the American system find it.. and let all the bickering, nastiness, name calling, attacking, and targetting on either end please.

[scotch9]

It would seem that the right wing conseravtive movement wants America to adopt a Middle easrten Style Government where religion dictates the thoughts and actions of people. For 233 years we have fought aganst this all around the world. I know some are uncomfortable with same sex relationships. So what. There is nothing in our laws that says you can legislate your bias. In the revolutionary war the conservatives were on the side of the British. In the Cilvil war they wanted to keep slaves. In the last century they did not want Women to vote and they fought to keep black people in segragation, and tried to stop them from Voting too. Conservatives have fought against the founding fathers, the constitution and against every American Ideal and have lost every time. We were even attacked on Septemeber 11, 2001 by right wing conservative religious types screaming glory to the god they say is suprior to the God these American Chistains rage for, and they say, makes them superior to gay persons. These poeple seek to devide, inspire violence, murder, hate and create evil. They know all about all, just ask them. They allways loose, allways have and allways will. Conservatives have eventually lost every battle since the day Christ was born. They even killed Jesus himself for goodness sakes. Stand firm against them. Never give up. This is American, not Iran. The Mormans and the Chatholics dont have the power the Taliban has, even know they are fighting for it. You have a clear choice. You stand with good, with freedom, or you stand with the darkness extreme religion wants to force America into. Just like the Middle East. If you think religion and governemnt is such a great idea, then move to Iran.

[Bud]

Isn't the guy movemont a religon in of itsself. How much did the organization spend again on no on prop 8 ? Should they have something taken away being a religon as well ?????

[Lilith]

"The voters spoke. Majority wins. That's democracy."

You can't have a majority vote on an issue that involves a group of minorities civil rights. It's unconstitutional.

[d.]

Whether they broke any laws or not will come out in the wash. It doesn't negate the value of what they were doing. Prop 8 is a valid and good proposition no matter who supports of doesn't support it. Look at who supported Obama...some of the worst people in the world.

[Bradley Carlson]

I'm amazed by the number of ignorant and hateful comments about gay people here. I thought we were a nation founded on a belief in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Many of these haters write about gay people as if they knew what they were talking about. They don't.

[jonmarct]

What a bunch of uninformed morons. Honestly, do a little research before you spout off some opinion without knowing the facts.
1) Corporations (including churches) can actively lobby for or against PROPOSITIONS in California as part of the political process. They can legally and rightly state their opinions and campaign any way they like for PROPOSITIONS. Not for a candidate but for a PROPROSITION. They are subject to the same campaign donation reporting laws as the rest of us, which leads to . .

2) There are only 3 deadlines for campaign donation reporting. 1st is in July if you've donated more than 10,000 dollars the first half of the year - the LDS Church probably only donated the 2000 widely reported at that time. The second is January 31 for donations made the 2nd half of the year - and voila, they reported on time. 3rd, is a special reporting anytime 1000 or more in cumulative donations are given the last 16 days prior to the election. The "Late Contribution Reports" are due within 24 hours of the donation. The LDS Church probably didn't expend any of it effort the last 16 days to avoid this type of PITA reporting. The satelite broadcast was the beginning of October.

So you can complain that churches shouldn't be tax exempt - fine you hate religion.

You can disagree with the LDS Church and 52.4% of Californians whether gays should marry or not, but that debate will go for a while - it doesn't change the legality of the LDS Church or it's activtivism.

You can be an idiot and claim that the money should be spent elsewhere - ask the folks in New Orleans, or Florida, or San Diego - who were the first folks on the ground to help clean up the mess after Katrina, Andrew or the fires - the Mormons in their yellow shirts.

Don't be an uninformed moron - do a little research - open your eyes and your mind. . .idiot.

[Rubén Fernández]

You Californians have opened Pandora's box and voted our rights away. Now, no right is inalienable any more. Including your precious right to amend the Constitution.

[Matthew - SLC]

It really makes me mad that people think it is ok to discriminate just because voters said so. Voters also used to think it was ok to keep black kids and white kids in separate schools. Clearly it is wrong!!!!!

The issue here is that the LDS church is tax exempt. If they want to be a political PAC that is fine, but then they need to follow tax law regarded political PAC's.

And the fact they did NOT disclose the amount they spent as required to do.

Usually people try and hide things like this when they know they broke a law. It has been pressed and they couldn't hide it.

[Max]

No more free rides for the Christian Taliban.

[W. Garrett Myler]

Ignorant fools! And pathetic reporting by the LA Times. Does anyone bother doing a bit of research before making ignorant claims about a church's 501(c)3 status?

Oh no, $180,000 in IN-KIND contributions...busted! HA! A 501(c)3 can donate up to $1 Million in direct contribution, never mind this in-kind nonsense. The CA Teachers Association's $1 Million donation to No on 8 is a perfect example. And do you think all of the TCA's 340,000 due-paying members support gay-marriage? The ones who should really be pissed are the CTA members who defend the time-honored definition of marriage and who un-willingly donated to No on 8.