From its base in New Jersey, the National Organization for Marriage is stepping back into California politics, promoting a Republican running for California Attorney General and four legislative candidates.
The organization was one of the main promoters of Proposition 8, the 2008 initiative banning same-sex marriage that is the focus of a federal court fight in San Francisco.
To sway voters on the weekend before the Tuesday primary, the organization disclosed in a filing today that it is spending $200,000 on phone banks in California.
John Easman, a Republican seeking the GOP nomination for attorney general, is the most prominent beneficiary. The National Organization for Marriage reported that it is spending $44,000 on Eastman's behalf. Eastman was the focus of this column, this profile and this news story in The Bee.
The organization also is phoning voters to help Andy Pugno, who hope to win the Republican nomination for the Sacramento-area assembly seat being vacated by termed-out Assemblyman Roger Niello.
Pugno is one of the attorneys defending Proposition 8 in the federal court trial before U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, but said he would not focus on the single issue of same-sex marriage if he were to win the seat. Here is The Bee's profile of the race and our endorsement editorial.
In addition to helping Eastman and Pugno, the organization is calling voters on behalf of Assemblyman Joel Anderson, seeking a San Diego County senate seat, Sunder Ramni, seeking an assembly seat in Los Angeles, and Chris Lancaster, running for an Orange County assembly seat.
The organization, meanwhile, is crowing about its effort to derail former Rep. Tom Campbell's candidacy for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. The organization targeted Campbell, a socially moderate Republican supports same-sex marriage, in television ads and in mailers, as The Swarm noted here.
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