Prop. 8 foes file complaint against LDS

Leaders of a California organization that opposed Proposition 8 and the LDS Church's involvement in the campaign against same-sex marriage there filed a formal complaint Thursday with California elections officials, alleging the church failed to detail and report "non-monetary contributions" to the campaign.

Church spokesman Scott Trotter said the allegations are "false" and the complaint — filed by Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate — has "many errors and misstatements."

Other protesters angry with the church are trying to put pressure on Salt Lake businesses and may have hacked into a Web site for church members.

Karger claimed the church's activities went beyond communicating with its own members and targeted California voters. He said that by not reporting "non-monetary contributions," the church violated the state's Political Reform Act.

Trotter said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "has fully complied with the reporting requirements of the California Political Reform Act ...

"Claims that the church has violated the act and failed to report political expenditures made by the church are false. The church has, in fact, filed four reports with California authorities; these reports are a matter of public record. A further report will be filed on or before its due date, Jan. 30, 2009," Trotter said.

Karger filed the complaint with the enforcement division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. He said that among other things the church organized phone banks from Utah and Idaho, sent direct mail to voters, transported people to California over several weekends, used the church's Public Affairs office to send news releases to non-members, distributed thousands of lawn signs and produced commercials supporting Prop. 8.

He said the church also:

• Walked precincts.
• Ran a speakers bureau.
• Organized a "surge to election day."
• Paid church leaders' travel to California.
• Set up Web sites.
• Conducted at least two satellite simulcasts over five Western states.

The day after the election, when Prop. 8 was approved by 52 percent of California voters, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, a California attorney and member of the church's Presidency of the Seventy, said the church did not contribute money to the campaign, other than paying for travel for church officials from Salt Lake City.