Posted on 07/22/2006 7:44:20 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
MADISON, WI (AP) -- A Madison philanthropist has given $275,000 of her personal fortune to try to defeat a state ban on gay marriage and civil unions, according to a filing made public on Friday.
Dale Leibowitz was the largest donor to Fair Wisconsin, the political action committee leading the charge against the constitutional amendment that appears on the ballot on Nov. 7, according to the group's campaign finance report.
Other major donations to the group included $80,000 from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, and $25,000 from the state teachers' union, the filing with the state Elections Board shows. Esmond Harmsworth, a Boston literary agent, also pitched in $25,000.
Overall, Fair Wisconsin raised $1.3 million between March 1 and June 30. After expenses, the group has $1.08 million cash on hand.
Leibowitz, whose Purple Moon Foundation donates hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to various causes, chipped in $150,000 in March, $75,000 in May and $50,000 in June, the filing shows.
Fair Wisconsin spokesman Josh Freker emphasized that Leibowitz was one of more than 5,000 donors to the cause, 90 percent of whom were from the state.
"We're happy that we are able to get some larger support like that," he said. "We are happy to have more resources to be able to communicate to voters at community events, on their doorsteps and on the airwaves."
The group, which began running its first television ad earlier this month, is trying to make Wisconsin the first state to defeat a referendum banning gay marriage. Nineteen states have approved similar amendments and five others will vote on them this year.
The amendment would declare that marriage is between one man and one woman and that unmarried individuals cannot be granted a legal status similar to marriage such as civil unions pioneered by Vermont.
The group's TV ad, running in media markets in western, central and northeastern Wisconsin, emphasizes its argument that the amendment threatens benefits and legal rights of unmarried gay and straight couples living in domestic partnerships.
Supporters of the amendment say those fears are unfounded and that the amendment would simply protect traditional marriage. Their political action committee, Vote Yes For Marriage, reported raising $2,500 and ending with $1,900 cash on hand but those numbers do not tell the whole story.
Amendment supporters are spreading their message through related organizations, the Family Research Institute and the Coalition for Traditional Marriage, which do not have to report their contributions and expenditures, said Julaine Appling, who heads both state-based groups.
That's because those efforts, including 4,000 DVDs sent to churches last year and brochures being handed out at county fairs, are educational in nature and stop short of urging voters to vote yes, she said.
"We'll have the money we need to do what we want to do," Appling said. "But Wisconsin voters aren't going to be bought because of how much money a campaign raises. They understand that marriage is about a man and a woman and children need mothers and fathers."
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)
i wonders if she'll ask for the money back if she loses
$25,000 from the state teachers' union,
I wonder if the teachers approve of the way the unions spend dues?
Wow, what a loser!
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)
Incredible.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)
"...and $25,000 from the state teachers' union..."
Wonder if everyone in the union agreed with the donation?
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)
Don't give to cancer research... we've got to get fruits married, that's more important.
That is a darn shame..and to think..I had a bridge in Brooklyn and/or property in certain parts of Florida that I could have sold her..shucks..
Two homes for that? In Southern CA? You might be able to put forth a nice down payment on two homes with that but buy? I'd like to know what area!
It's Dale Leibowitz's money to do with as he/she pleases. Why does anyone care about this donation?
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)
Cool. That's $275,000 wasted on the sodomites that probably would have gone to the Democrats. Oh wait.... It DID go to the Democrats. D'oh!
You could get the two homes, but it'd cost extra to take the wheels off. :)
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)
You'll note that most of the replies on this thread object to the $5,000 given by the teachers union - - money that originated with taxpayers.
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