Crossposted from the Prop 8 trial tracker. I should note that I am the Public Policy Director at the Courage Campaign.

The Courage Campaign and HRC released a new video ad today asking Californians to call senate candidate Carly Fiorina and demand she reject the extremism of NOM – one of her campaign’s biggest financial backers. The ad – running on the websites of the LA Times, Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Chronicle – features disturbing clips of NOM supporters from rallies, in which they can be seen and heard calling for the murder of gays and lesbians.

Fiorina recently refused to condemn a Spanish-language NOM-backed ad supporting her, despite PolitiFact.com labeling the ad’s content as false. It’s no surprise – NOM has poured more than $220,000 into expenditures supporting her campaign. But confronted with the hateful messages of NOM’s supporters, will Fiorina do the right thing or continue bowing to special interest dollars from outside of the state?

You can help us expand the ad buy by making a $25 contribution to the Courage Campaign, so that more people can learn the truth about the extremism of Carly Fiorina’s supporters.

Here are excerpts from the Courage Campaign/HRC press release:

“Californians deserve to know the truth about the out-of-state extremist group that’s allied itself with Carly Fiorina,” said Courage Campaign Chairman and Founder Rick Jacobs.  “Time and again, the National Organization for Marriage has shown itself to be one of the most toxic elements in the political process, willing to use any means, — including tolerance of hate speech and refusal to comply with federal tax and election laws — to advance an agenda that advocates discrimination against millions of loving families and promotes an environment that leads LGBT teens to take their own lives.”    

“Will Carly Fiorina continue to associate herself with a radical fringe group like the National Organization for Marriage, or will she reject the anti-gay animus NOM stands for?” asked Joe Solmonese, HRC president.

The ad also highlights NOM’s ongoing legal problems, which include refusing to comply with the election and disclosure laws of nearly a half dozen states, including California, as well as funneling charitable resources into political campaigns.  The latter was the subject of a September 20th story in the Washington Independent, as well as an IRS complaint that the Human Rights Campaign and Courage Campaign filed against NOM’s San Diego based tax-exempt arm, called the Ruth Institute, last week.