Monday, October 15, 2012

Obama for America


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Published on Oct 13, 2012 by BarackObamadotcom

Observations 10.15

Full page ads are nothing special in a Sunday paper and this time of year full page political ads aren't all that unusual. Yesterday's
Seattle Times included a full page ad that was both political and special. Washington is one of the four states that next month will be voting on marriage equality laws of one form or another. The state's Referendum 74 asks people to either approve or reject Washington's law legalizing same sex marriage. The enactment of the law, which was passed earlier this year, is on hold pending next month’s vote.

Yesterday's ad, payed for by Washington United For Marriage, urges voters to approve R-74 which would enact the law and legalize same sex marriage in the state. The ad is signed by a whose who of companies including Amazon, Expedia, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Nordstrum, REI, Starbucks, and T-Mobile. In part it says;

“We don’t want our employees, our customers or our friends and neighbors who are gay or lesbian to have to produce a legal document just to comfort a loved on in the hospital or to lose a partner of decades and be told that in the eyes of the government, they are considered a stranger. We support allowing all loving, committed couples the freedom to marry because it means every employee is treated fairly, it helps our competitive business advantage and is good for our state’s economy.”

If you want you can read the full ad with signatures here and and see a complete list of Washington United for Marriage coalition partners here. If you do read the ad you might notice that it is signed by VP David Zapolsky for Amazon and not Jeff Bezos. I have no idea why but I wanted to note that Amazon founder Bezos and his wife MacKenzie are the campaigns largest contributors having donated $2.5 million so far.

Meanwhile in Maryland, another of the four states, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg quietly donated $250,000 to the marriage equality campaign there. It is the largest individual contribution the campaign in Maryland has received. "I do not believe that government has any business telling one class of couples that they cannot marry," Bloomberg wrote in an e-mail. Earlier in the year Bloomberg donated the same amount to Planned Parenthood.

The election is now 21 days away.

10/16 update - From The Washington Post; "The lead group seeking to uphold Maryland’s same-sex marriage law on Monday announced it had received a $250,000 contribution from Paul Singer, a prominent New York-based hedge fund manager — and a major donor to Republican candidates. The contribution is among the largest that has been made to Marylanders for Marriage Equality...."