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Proposition 2 Foes Lead The Fund-Raising A California group funded in large part by billionaire philanthropist George Soros has pumped $126,000 into the campaign for an Alaska ballot measure to legalize the medical use of marijuana. Meanwhile, the campaign fighting a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages - which opponents warned would be funded by well-organized Outside forces - has received only $35 of its $108,000 from out-of-state organizations, the anti-amendment group reported this week. The groups campaigning for and against the Nov. 3 ballot measures had to report their contributions Monday to the Alaska Public Offices Commission. The fund-raising rules that state candidates live by - no individual can give more than $500 and only a few out-of-state residents can contribute - don't apply to ballot measure campaigns. The APOC reports reveal that some of the campaigns are well-funded efforts while others are shoestring operations. By far the biggest is the Alaska Family Coalition, which is promoting the same-sex marriage ban. It reported total contributions of $597,000. As the coalition announced last week, $500,000 of that came from the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City. Another $50,000 came from American Renewal, a Washington, D.C.-based organization run by Christian activist Gary Bauer. The remainder of its contributions came mostly from Alaska sources. Those ranged from a Fairbanks homemaker who gave $300 to the Anchorage Baptist Temple, which gave $3,000. Proposition 2, if approved by voters, would add a sentence to the Alaska Constitution that says that to be recognized by the state, a marriage must be between one man and one woman. The Alaska Legislature decided to put it on the ballot in May, after Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two men seeking a state marriage license. The No on 2 campaign reported contributions totaling $108,000, none of which was larger than $3,000. The variety of donors included a New York consultant who works for the Gay/Lesbian Victory Fund and gave $400, a Juneau building inspector who gave $1,500, and retired Republican legislator Arliss Sturgulewski, who wrote a $250 check. The No on 2 campaign also received $1,000 from Anchorage businesswoman Jo Michalski, wife of Judge Michalski. She said her reasons for giving had nothing to do with the same-sex marriage case still pending in her husband's courtroom. She said she makes her own money and her own decisions. She only told her husband about the donation a week later, she said. Her oldest brother, she explained, is gay and was in a committed relationship for 15 years, until his partner died. "I did it in honor of them," she said. It was at the funeral that her family first met the partner's family, she said. Had circumstances been different, they would have met when the couple married, she said. All but 9 percent of the campaign's money came from Alaskans, a fact the anti-amendment group touted in a press release. "Today's reports clearly demonstrate what's at stake in this election," the statement says. "Do we really want Alaska's constitution, our most precious document, to be rewritten by Outside religious and political groups?" Mary Ann Pease, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Family Coalition, said people are making too much of the contribution from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As she figures it, $500,000 isn't that much, considering that there are some 24,000 Mormons in Alaska. Assume only 10 percent of them tithe to the church, she says. Assume those that give 10 percent of their salary, as the church requires, make an average of $30,000 a year. That comes to $7.2 million. "So what's $500,000? That's nothing," she said. Another group that has a big benefactor is Alaskans for Medical Rights. The group is supporting Proposition 8, which would allow cancer patients or people with chronic debilitating diseases to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. They would have to get written documentation from their doctor saying they might benefit from marijuana and they would have to register with the state. Alaskans for Medical Rights has raised $134,000, all but $9,000 or so from a California group called Americans for Medical Rights. Soros, a currency trader and globe-trotting financier, is a major contributor to the California group. "Considered the most prodigious individual giver in the world, Soros doles out $350 million a year from an estimated annual income of $1 billion," Newsweek magazine reported last year. He has committed millions to foster peace and build open societies in Eastern Europe. He has also funded right-to-die campaigns and medical marijuana initiatives in California and Arizona. "We are happy to take money from George Soros," said David Finkelstein, campaign manager for Alaskans for Medical Rights. "He was essentially Time magazine's philanthropist of the year." The campaign opposing the medical marijuana proposition isn't so well-funded. Citizens Against Ballot Proposition 8, organized just last week, reported only one contribution. Worksafe Inc., the drug-testing lab where the group's chairman and treasurer work, gave a $750 in-kind contribution, consisting of staff time, phone equipment and supplies.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. |
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