Federal govt must investigate NOMs finances

Guest post by Danielle Truszkovsky.

BEFORE WRITING THIS column, I sat and stared at my computer screen for what seemed like ages trying to figure out a way to make the topic of IRS regulations seem a bit more interesting.

Lets face it, most people just dont want to read about a subject as dry as tax law. Unfortunately, one of the only ways to detect questionable practices by organizations like the National Organization for Marriage is to first acquire the groups tax return, research it in detail, and make public the findings. Not surprisingly, NOMs initial return generated more questions than answers.

Obtaining the return has been an ongoing process spanning many months. On March 25, 2009, the group Californians Against Hate sent a certified request to NOM at their headquarters (20 Nassau St., Suite 242, Princeton, N.J.) for a copy of their 2007 tax return (Form 990). Under IRS regulations, NOM was required to release this information to the group within 30 days or face penalties of $20 per day. As of this week, NOM had not turned over their return to Californians Against Hate.

Back in April, I personally visited the NOM headquarters in Princeton to request a copy of the 990. Although I visited suite 242 numerous times during normal office hours, no one ever answered the door at the tiny, one-room space. It was surprising that a supposed national organization that donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in elections around the country and ran multi-million dollar media campaigns did not have even one person at their tiny office to manage this huge effort. If the national headquarters is essentially empty, then who is doing the work and where is all of the money coming from?

I made another attempt in May to reach someone at the NOM Princeton office to no avail the only reason the groups 2007 return is currently available to the public is because the IRS released a copy at the end of August.

After reviewing the 2007 return, there were several questions I had, so once again I decided to visit NOM, this time at their new office at 1100 H St., N.W., Suite 700 in Washington, D.C. As in Princeton, this office also is shared space. In fact, NOMs name doesnt appear at all on the list of tenants or even on the door. Unlike in Princeton, when I knocked on suite 700 someone actually answered. I was greeted by NOM Executive Director, Brian Brown.

WHAT INTERESTED ME most was the fact that the 2007 filing that I possessed was an amended return stamped as received by the IRS on June 11, 2009 more than a year after the initial 990 should have been filed. Would Brown be willing to release the original filing?

Brown: No. Theres no sense in releasing an original return because this is now the return.

Me: But, if its dramatically different than the original …

Brown: Well, you may be interested in knowing what it is, but were not releasing it.

Me: OK. Is it dramatically different than the original return?

Brown: No, I know that for example there were changes in addresses … We changed addresses, I know there were also changes to some … some vendors I think had been incorrectly put in as independent contractors when they should not have been put in as independent contractors. There were errors like that that are that are relatively common and we corrected them and we gave them back to the IRS and thats why the return is amended but were not going to be releasing the original return.

Me: Is there any reason why you went back over [the return] a year later?

Brown: We constantly are checking through them and making sure there there arent any errors.

Upon further inspection, Brown revealed that the 990 I possessed was not the final return, there was another amendment. So what was changed on this newest form, which remains unavailable? Apparently, the itemization of highest paid independent contractors is deleted because they were the aforementioned miscategorized vendors. This section included a $166,000 payment to Common Sense America for consulting services. Not surprisingly, Common Sense America is one of the groups that is listed as sharing office space with NOM in Princeton. Brown admitted that he was president and volunteer for the organization, but denied that NOM was funneling money to its board members. The return also listed the NOM salary for Brown as $57,292.

AS IF THE NOM tax filings werent confusing enough, Brian indicated that there were actually a total of three amendments to the 2007 return. If this information is correct, it brings the total of NOM filings for the tax year June-December 2007 up to a whopping four returns one initial and three amended. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, less than one percent of returns received by the IRS are amended at a later date.

And how many returns are amended three times? Unfortunately, it is so rare that a foundation amends its return three times that neither the IRS nor NCCS provide these statistics. More importantly, why would an organization need to amend its filing so many times unless it was either purposefully attempting to conceal or revise potentially damaging information or numerous egregious errors? Either way, this raises the questions: Where is the oversight and why arent there more compelling regulations for charitable organizations to make their records transparent and available to the public?

NOM is an organization with a mission to pass discriminatory legislation in all states that propose that same-sex couples have the same civil rights as opposite-sex couples. Currently NOM is under an active investigation by California to determine if the group was set up by the Mormon Church to pass Proposition 8. Nearly 75 percent of the money used to help pass Prop 8 in California came from Mormon donors mostly from outside of the state.

NOM has been accused of money laundering in Maine and the states Commission on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices is considering an investigation into NOM to see if it has violated Maines campaign finance laws by purposefully attempting to conceal donor names. Currently, 99 percent of the money being used in Maine to support anti-gay legislation has come from NOM and three major religious contributors: James Dobsons Focus on the Family, the Knights of Columbus and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. The Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board also is questioning NOMs practices for attempting to conceal out-of-state donors in violation of the states campaign finance laws.

NOM also is now working in D.C., New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. Although individual states are doing their part in oversight, they are limited by their boundaries and resources and, unfortunately, the anti-gay legislation that NOM backs is extremely time sensitive. Meanwhile, the group is allowed to operate virtually unmonitored by the federal government. NOMs agenda involves an important public issue swaying elections state by state and its practices have come under fire in every state in which they operate.

Since the group seems to be pioneering the way to circumventing the democratic process, one can only wonder when the federal government will take notice.

Originally published as “Follow The Money.” Republished with permission.

Previously by Danielle Truszkovsky: “Deception, Denial and Opus Dei” and “Meet your anti-gay adversaries.”

Chino Blanco

--- We are men of action, lies do not become us. ---

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9 Responses

  1. Hellmut says:

    Wow! Please, post this story to your Facebook profile.

    Thanks a lot, Chino and Danielle.

  2. LdChino says:

    Done – it’s been posted to FB.

    Orson Scott Card, you patsy. Matthew Holland knew better and got off the NOM board this past April.

    Another NOM headline: Don’t like what’s on your tax return? Just change it!

    http://justinmclachlan.com/2009/09/1912/dont-like-whats-on-your-tax-return-just-change-it/

    The October 10/11 National Equality March in DC is just around the corner and will be a perfect opportunity to get a crew together and drop in on Brian Brown at his H Street office.

  3. visitor says:

    Are these something that could be had from the IRS under the Freedom of Information Act?

  4. profxm says:

    Fascinating. Thanks for posting! Anything we can do to facilitate and investigation?

  5. LdChino says:

    To file a 4506-A request to the IRS:

    The blank form –

    http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506a.pdf

    The filing instructions –

    http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i4506a.pdf

    The IRS contact info is on the instruction sheet.

    You’ll be dealing with their Ogden (Utah) office.

    If you’re interested in requesting a copy of NOM’s 2008 Form 990 from the IRS, here are their details:

    National Organization for Marriage, Inc.
    EIN: 26-0240498

    Nobody has seen their 2008 return yet, but NOM says they’ve filed it, so it’s very much worth taking a few minutes to put in a request.

  6. LdChino says:

    A couple of updates re NOM and the Maine campaign:

    1) Brian Brown, the Washington, DC based Executive Director of NOM (National Organization for Marriage), the top funder of the Stand for Marriage Maine PAC, is flying in with his Indiana attorneys (Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom) for a meeting with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

    The commission is meeting to consider Fred Karger’s request for an investigation of Stand for Marriage Maine PAC re violations of state campaign finance laws.

    Meeting time: 9:00 a.m., Thursday, October 1st

    Location: Room 208, Burton M. Cross Office Building, 111 Sewall Street, Augusta

    I’m looking forward to reporting on the outcome of that meeting.

    2) The latest Democracy Corps poll shows No on 1 taking a 50-41 lead. There are plenty of reasons to take that poll with a huge grain of salt, but it’s still encouraging. If you’ve ever considered contributing to the No on 1 campaign, for the next few hours, a donor has offered to match your contribution here:

    http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/13253/go-maine-go

  7. chanson says:

    Im looking forward to reporting on the outcome of that meeting.

    Thanks, I’m looking forward to the updates!

  1. December 15, 2009

    […] it’s right there in the pedestrian-friendly shopping district of Princeton. According to an earlier post, it’s in the same building (20 Nassau Street) as the shop where we got our kids their […]

  2. November 17, 2013

    […] And take a look at this very revealing interview with Brian Brown that appeared on Maine Street Plaza on this very subject when he was new to NOM:  CLICK HERE […]

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