A fundraising letter sent out by a group that supports banning gay marriage in Tennessee claims that its opponents will spend upwards of six million dollars to fight the issue.
This November, voters will decide on an amendment that bans same sex marriages in Tennessee. Former State Senator David Fowler heads up Family Action of Tennessee, the organization that sent out the letters. He says he heard the six million dollar amount through word of mouth.
“When we heard those numbers and began to look at what was going on in other states and how much had been spent there the numbers seemed a reasonable estimate of what could be spent, particularly in view of the fact that there are no individual limits to what can be spent in campaigns like this, and corporations could contribute, so that did not and does not seem to be an unrealistic figure.”
But Vote No On One – a statewide group that is campaigning against the gay marriage amendment says Fowler’s claims that money is pouring in from out of state are just not true. Randy Tarkington is Vote No On One’s campaign manager. He says their donations total between 50 and 60 thousand dollars – a far cry from six million.
“It’s very much a grass roots campaign. Our money’s coming from everyday Tennessee voters a hundred dollars at a time and that’s how we’re going to continue to do it and we’ll work with what we have.”
Fowler is unwilling to disclose how much money his own group will spend supporting the amendment, saying only that they have enough funding to get their point across.
(written with help from Nina Cardona)
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