Amendment 3 foe files a complaint

The Utah Attorney General's Office is looking into a possible violation of the state's campaign finance law by a political issues committee that supported the passage of Amendment 3 and one of its corporate donors. The amendment defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman only.

Scott McCoy, manager of the Don't Amend Alliance, which opposed the state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, has filed a letter of complaint against Utahns for a Better Tomorrow (UBT), and the nonprofit corporation, Marriage Education Initiatives (MEI).

McCoy alleges that MEI was formed solely to circumvent state campaign finance laws by hiding donors to UBT.

"Other than its brief two-day flurry of incorporating and contributing, MEI has had no discernible activity," McCoy said in a letter to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

MEI donated $50,000 an in-kind contribution to UBT on Oct. 18 — the day it incorporated — and $120,000 the day after, according to a report filed with the Utah Elections Office.

Monte Stewart, co-chairman of UBT, said Friday that he had not seen a copy of McCoy's complaint but did say he was confident his campaign had fully complied with the law.

"With respect to Utahns for a Better Tomorrow, the assurance at the time, and the universal consensus and acknowledgement, was that Utahns for a Better Tomorrow was in full compliance with the law in receiving all the donations it received," Stewart said. "Scott is certainly entitled to make any speculation he wants, however well- or ill-founded."

MEI corporate trustee Neal Blair, could not be reached for immediate comment. McCoy's letter questioned Blair's connections to UBT, noting he was a contact on that organization's Web site.

Shurtleff said it was his office's duty to investigate such complaints to ensure that campaign finance laws are enforced "so people will have faith in the system . . . We've got to have an absolutely open, fair, transparent process."

State elections director Michael Cragun, was unavailable for comment. In October, former elections director Amy Naccarato, said it appeared that MEI may have found a loophole, since corporations don't have to report their funding sources, as do political entities such as political action committees or political issue committees.

McCoy told the Deseret Morning news that he didn't know whether or not the two entities had violated the law, but "this certainly violates the spirit of the law.

"It's hard for me to understand why the individuals who gave money to Marriage Education Initiatives, couldn't have just given money to Utahns for a Better Tomorrow," McCoy said. "It makes me suspect this money was from out-of-state conservative interests."