NOM Seeks Undisclosed Spending in N.Y.

As eyes turn toward marriage equality for New York in 2011, the antigay National Organization for Marriage has filed a lawsuit seeking the ability to spend undisclosed sums of money in key state senate races.

The complaint against the state board of elections was filed on September 16, two days after the primary election, in the U.S. district court for the western district of New York, according to a copy provided by the pro-equality PAC Fight Back New York. It reflects a similar effort from the group last year in Maine, where a marriage equality law was repealed.

In the complaint signed by NOM executive director Brian Brown, the group says that it intends to engage in speech including "radio ads, television ads, direct mail and publicly accessible Internet postings of its radio ads and direct mail" in the western district of New York, which includes Buffalo, in September and October 2010.

"NOM does not wish to reveal the legislators' names in this complaint, because it does not wish to divulge its strategy at this early date," says the complaint.

Last week Tim Kennedy defeated state senator Bill Stachowski, a Democrat who voted against the marriage equality bill, in the primary election for the Buffalo area. Now Kennedy faces a tough general election battle against Republican assemblyman Jack F. Quinn III.

Read a copy of the NOM complaint here.