Anti-Catholic bias in Washington state

Washington state regulators have warned a Roman Catholic bishop that his diocese risks running afoul of state campaign finance laws if he follows through with a planned fund-raising effort opposing same-sex marriage on the November ballot.

State law prohibits organizations, including churches, from raising money from individuals to give to political campaigns, said Lori Anderson, a spokeswoman for the state's Public Disclosure Commission.

"It's not because it's a church. It's because it's not a stand-alone individual," Anderson said on Thursday.


The commission was calling into question a recent letter from Bishop Joseph Tyson to Yakima-area pastors urging them to distribute donation envelopes to parishioners during the weekend of September 8-9.

The money would go to Preserve Marriage Washington, the campaign to defeat legalization of same-sex marriage on the state's November ballot.

Tyson's letter instructs parish priests not to open the envelopes once they are turned back in, but to place them into a pre-addressed security envelope to be mailed directly to Preserve Marriage, according to local media reports.

"It's not our envelope," Tyson told local television station KIMA-TV. "We're not collecting the money, and we're not taking the money. Preserve Marriage Washington is doing that. We're going to follow the state law."

Okay, so . . . if all of the envelopes are collected and sent personally to Bishop Tyson, and he?then sent the money to Preserve Marriage Washington, acting as a "stand-alone individual" - is that okay?

And I would like to know if the "organizations" affected by the state includes labor unions, and how strictly are they pressed to uphold the law?

Source: http://digihairshirt.blogspot.com/2012/08/anti-catholic-bias-in-washington-state.html

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