$1.7 Million in Damages If MCM Must Start Anew
Gov. Swift, Sen. Birmingham and 143 Legislators Would be Liable; Could Judge Triple the Amount?
Sidebar:
Mass. Citizens for Marriage spent $1,761,086.54 over three years to fight the millions that are poured into the state by homosexual groups every year, says its President, Sarah McVay Pawlick.
This is much less than is spent on GLAD alone with its 15-person staff, including five lawyers, whose budget is estimated at $1 million each and every year.
Of the money spent by MCM, most of it came from its President and her husband, Atty. J. Edward Pawlick, who contributed $1,560,398.22. Another $100,000 came from the Traditional Values Coalition and $100,688.32 came from small contributors.
"They say that everyone has a gold chain running from their heart to their pocketbook," says Atty. Pawlick.
"If that's true, they certainly have our chain ringing. We beat them soundly, but they cheated. As a former trial lawyer, I expect a little of that, but what happens on Beacon Hill is simply outrageous. But we will prevail because the people do not like what they see on Beacon Hill and are solidly behind the Amendment. We are much smarter and wiser than we were three years ago. We never had any plans to change the political structure of the state but it looks like they plan to push us into that. We will accept their challenge if that is what they want."
Sidebar:
Bay Windows Would Be Funny
If This Weren't So Serious
As a sort of comic relief, Bay Windows breathlessly reported last month that MCM received $100,000 from the Traditional Values Coalition, in its January 16 edition. That isn't all they reported. They also wrote: "Much of its money comes from out of state."
• Traditional Values Coalition - The Bay Windows 'scoop' on TVC was pretty dull because this was reported by the Pawlicks last year in MassNews in its edition of January 2002, with the following: "Another large contributor [besides the Pawlicks] was the Traditional Values Coalition, a group of over 43,000 churches across the country. They gave $100,000 to the effort."
• "Much of its [MCM's] money comes from out-of-state." This is about as accurate as most of the other tall tales and falsehoods that have come from the opponents for the last three years. The Pawlicks contributed 88.7% of the money for MCM. The "outside" group, TVC, gave 5.6% and small Mass. donors gave 5.7%.
Regardless, lesbian Rep. Liz Malia told Bay Windows last month, "It's pretty clear, from what we know, that much of [MCM's] money comes from out of state. I think that shows they have a lot less support for the [amendment] here in Massachusetts than they present to the public. I think they use smoke and mirrors."
Josh Friedes, political director for the Freedom to Marry Coalition of Massachusetts said, "The anti-gay ballot initiative campaign was brought into Massachusetts from out-of-state organizations like the Traditional Values Coalition … Outside resources are the only reason that the anti-gay movement in Massachusetts remains somewhat viable."
Arline Isaacson, lobbyist for the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, breathlessly revealed that the TVC money was used to pay the signature gatherers. Of course, it was, says Atty. Pawlick. "The activist blockers, who were trained by the ACLU, were harassing voters in violation of the U.S. Constitution as they were attempting to sign the petitions. Because they feared for the safety of volunteers at shopping malls, MCM had to hire professionals and that expense was an added burden they did not count upon. The TVC contribution did not even cover all those extra expenses that were incurred only because the opponents violated the law."
