Mormons Get A Slap On The Wrist

I haven't studied the teachings of the Mormon Church, but I had always assumed that it taught, just like the other christian sects do, that lying and breaking the law was wrong. I guess I was mistaken about that, or maybe it's only wrong for members and not wrong for the church itself.

A few days ago the California Ethics Commission found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church) guilty of 13 counts of late campaign reporting. The charges had concerned the Mormon Church's involvement in campaigning for Prop 8 in California's last election. Prop 8 was the proposition that denied gays and lesbians the right to marry (a right enjoyed by all other Americans).

Right after the election, the Mormon Church said they had spent $2078 in the campaign for Prop 8. That was a lie, and lying about campaign expenditures is a violation of California law. Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, did not believe that and filed a complaint with the California Ethics Commission. The church instantly labeled Karger's charge as "false" -- which was another lie by the church.

Months later, the church finally admitted they had actually spent over $190,000 of church money in the campaign. But that was only the beginning. The church also raised over $30 million from Mormon families that was also spent on the Prop 8 campaign. That's a huge difference from their initial claim of spending only $2078.

According to the San Francisco Examiner, "The Mormon Church ran phone banks, sent out direct mail, had well designed web sites, produced 27 slick commercials, bussed people in from Utah and had lots of travel expenses by high ranking Church officials." (it's amazing that they expected people to believe all that was done on $2078).

So what was the penalty for all this lying and law-breaking? The California Ethics Commission fined the Mormon Church $5538. That's right. They were fined a whopping 0.00018% of the money they actually spent on the campaign. Think that will convince them not to lie and break the law in another campaign?

To be truthful, that's not even a real slap on the wrist. If anything, it's an affirmation of their right to play fast and loose with campaign laws.