Felony stupid in California

[unixronin]

Yahoo News reports on the fight over California Proposition 8.  Lest you be unfamiliar with it, it's a ballot initiative that, if successful, would ban gay marriage in California, overturning the existing law that legalized it in June.  The "No on Proposition 8" organization has been fighting it hard (you may have seen the slogan, "Whose rights will we vote on next?").

Well, it seems the folks backing Proposition 8 — that's the folks who want to ban gay marriage, remember — have screwed up.  Badly.

Leaders of the campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage in California made an offer to businesses that have given money to the state's largest gay-rights group: Give us money or we'll publicly identify you as opponents of traditional unions.

[...]

Certified letters from the group this week asked companies to withdraw their support of Equality California, a nonprofit organization that is helping lead the campaign against Proposition 8.

"Make a donation of a like amount to ProtectMarriage.com which will help us correct this error," reads the letter.  "Were you to elect not to donate comparably, it would be a clear indication that you are in opposition to traditional marriage. ... The names of any companies and organizations that choose not to donate in like manner to ProtectMarriage.com but have given to Equality California will be published."

That, friends, is extortion via the mail.  And that is both a State and Federal felony, and — since it was a planned action by the organization — may possibly even fall under RICO statutes.  And they're not trying to lean on just the small fry, either — they're trying to extort money from companies as big as Comcast, Time Warner, PG&E and AT&T.

FAIL.

Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.

Comments

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

Cool!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

The best part is, by sending certified letters, they created direct physical evidence against themselves.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Sure looks like Felony Stupid from over here . . .

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

with a large side order of self-pwnage.

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

You're joking, right? This kind of thing is SOP with all manner of groups across the political spectrum. This is about as interesting and finding out a politician lied or that someone will whine about being disenfranchised.

[otherbill.livejournal.com]

So, does California have a DA willing to prosecute?

(Gee, I hope so!)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

One can but hope.

[smandal.livejournal.com]

IANAL, but from a legal standpoint this is blackmail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail), not extortion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion).

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

I'd express surprise, but this sort of thing is about par for extremist groups when it comes to being classy.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

I was disheartened to hear some political analyst say that this sort of thing was pretty much "politics as usual," and probably won't get any more than a winking slap on the wrist, if that. I find "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" very topical, currently, despite being released in 1939.

It's interesting that protectmarriage seems to think that it can go into protection rackets along the way, though. Maybe that's just it... "Gee, it would be a shame if anything happened to you for supporting this...if you just see things our way and pony up, we can keep that from happening."