Oct 23, 2009  |  By: Danielle Truszkovsky  | COMMENTS     

ON OCT. 1, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices met to determine if a complaint filed by Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate against the National Organization for Marriage would be investigated. In his complaint, Karger claimed that NOM violated campaign reporting requirements and that the group was actively participating in money laundering. Despite the evidence he submitted, which included NOM e-mails pertaining to fundraising specifically for Maine while alluding to donor anonymity, the commission’s staff recommended that no investigation be conducted due to lack of supporting evidence.

NOM had failed to disclose even its required IRS 990 filings to the public so it is not surprising that the evidence Karger possessed was limited. In my last Blade column published Sept. 18, “Follow the money: Why the federal gov’t must investigate NOM’s financial practices,” I detailed how the group has habitually hidden and revised its records. Uncovering NOM’s secrets has been the focus of my work for many months and as the title of my last column implies, I do believe an investigation into the group is warranted.

So I flew to Maine specifically to attend this hearing, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I missed the first portion of the proceedings. I arrived just in time to hear the testimony of NOM Executive Director, Brian Brown, and a member of his legal team, Barry Bostrom.

Both Bostrom and Brown lavished praise on the staff and the commission for their professionalism. They insinuated that the entire proceeding was a waste of everyone’s time and it was obvious that Brown had thought he had already won. At that point, most of us in the audience believed NOM had won as well — it is rare that a commission overrules a staff recommendation.

Then Brown made an egregious error, saying: “Mr. Karger refers to the fact that we refused to disclose our financial records. … This is simply not the case. We have given our 990s to journalists. They are now publicly available — they’re available on our web site and we did that because we got so many calls and people showing up at the office asking for them that it became quite difficult to work.”

Apparently, Brown had no idea I had entered the room. If he had, perhaps he would have reconsidered that statement, because I am one of only two journalists who showed up at NOM’s office requesting 990s — I know this because Brown told me so when I interviewed him Sept. 1. (The other request came from the Blade’s Lou Chibbaro Jr.)

IRS regulations require charities to release the documents within 24 hours of an in-person request. Brown did not release the documents to me — ever. And his reference to the documents “now [being] publicly available” was laughable because blogger ChinoBlanco revealed that NOM had secretly released the 990s on the web within days of the Maine hearing, presumably to feign compliance in front of the commission.

Brown went on to attack Karger’s efforts and made false claims against the gay civil rights movement in general. Although it was never my intention to speak at this hearing, by the time Brown was finished, I simply couldn’t remain silent and allow his false statements to go uncontested.

ALTHOUGH THE COMMISSION does not allow public questioning of witnesses, they did grant me a few moments to speak. Here’s what I said:

“My name is Danielle Truszkovsky … I’m a political columnist … [and] one of the journalists who have visited the NOM offices to request the 990s. It’s been an ongoing process attempting to obtain the records. I know that the group Californians Against Hate sent an initial request in March and [NOM] had 30 days to release the records, which they did not do, and as far as I know, they have still not sent the records to Californians Against Hate. 

“I also personally visited their national headquarters in Princeton three times to make an in-person request and no one was ever available at that office — it’s basically a barren, empty space. I did speak with Brian [Brown] at his Washington, D.C., office and they did not have the returns available at that point.”

I went on to explain that NOM has also amended its 2007 return numerous times, even though it is extremely rare for charitable organizations to do so. I quoted an e-mail from NOM to its supporters in which the group “takes credit” for the signature gathering and fundraising efforts in Maine. This is a direct ...