Jun 26, 2009  |  By: Chris Johnson  | COMMENTS     

Maine activists are seeking help from around the country in defending the state’s new marriage law from a possible referendum.

Last month, Maine became the fifth state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage, but the possibility of a “people’s veto” threatens the new law.

Monique Hoeflinger, an executive committee member for Maine Freedom to Marry, said during a June 11 conference call that opponents of same-sex marriage are “flush with money” and people defending the law in Maine will need resources from the national LGBT community to succeed.

“As we launch this referendum campaign, we need the resources not only to continue organizing around the state and build a strong field program, but also we need to begin to compete in paid media as well,” she said.

Activists fighting the referendum in Maine will need a minimum of $3 million to $5 million to win the campaign, Hoeflinger said.

Recalling the fight last year in California against Proposition 8, which ended same-sex marriage in the state, Hoeflinger said $10 million could be needed to succeed in the Maine campaign.

“Depending on how the campaign evolves, we need to be prepared to … raise and spend upwards of $10 million if we see the similar kind of money coming in from out-of-state from the opposition groups like we did in California,” she said.

Based on “informal accounts,” Hoeflinger said opponents of same-sex marriage already have about $2 million in their coffers.

Maine approved a law granting marriage rights to gay couples, but the measure won’t take effect until September. If opponents of same-sex marriage gather enough petition signatures for a “people’s veto” before that time, the law will be put up for a vote and the electorate will decide the matter.

The threshold for getting enough signatures is so low — just 55,087 names are needed — that activists are expecting to have to protect the law on the ballot.

Supporters of same-sex marriage also are expecting to fight the referendum on Nov. 3, the day of the next general election. A majority vote is necessary to invalidate the marriage law through a “people’s veto.”

Betsy Smith, another member of the executive committee of Maine Freedom to Marry, told the Blade on Tuesday that supporters of same-sex marriage in Maine intend to expand the field operation that helped build legislative support to pass the marriage law.

“We need to have a field operation that is twice as big … because we need to identify three or four times as many voters,” she said. “A core piece of our strategy is to identify as many of the votes we need to win as possible.”

Smith earlier said activists had identified 50,000 in support of same-sex marriage to win the legislative battle. She recently told the Blade that Maine Freedom to Marry needs to identify 250,000 voters to win the referendum.

She also said supporters need to raise money to build a media campaign to reach voters that can’t be personally contacted.

“That’s going to be through TV, through mail, through the Internet and finding that message,” she said. “And being able to flip that out over the airwaves costs a lot of money.”

Since Maine is alone among the states that have recently legalized same-sex marriage to allow referenda, Hoeflinger said opponents of marriage rights for gay couples see “Maine as ground zero in the national fight.”

“We run the risk that the opposition will care more about this than we do and so, ultimately, in addition to being organized with people and money, we have to care about this more than they do and deliver a win,” she said.

The National Organization for Marriage recently completed a two-week tour of the state, Hoeflinger said. Opponents of same-sex marriage are “on the ground” and have paid workers collecting signatures from residents throughout the state, she said.

“They have launched a massive signature gathering effort in the churches and throughout the state,” she said. “They have a huge volunteer push as well as they have employed professional signature gatherers of a top quality.”

And media reports have emerged indicating that opponents of same-sex marriage hired Schubert-Flint Public Affairs to advise the campaign against the marriage law. The firm was responsible for the media campaign in favor of Prop 8. It produced the ad featuring San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in which he is shown excitedly declaring that same-sex marriage will happen “whether you like it or not.”

Jeff Flint, one of the partners at Schubert-Flint, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Smith said the hiring of Schubert-Flint “of course gives us pause” because ...