Some Lawyers Ante Up $25K in Gay Marriage Fray, as Law Prof Stars in Ads
A Pepperdine University law professor is taking to the airwaves to back a California constitutional amendment to bar gay marriage in the state, while other lawyers on both sides of the debate are contributing as much as $25,000 to committees battling over the issue.
Professor Richard Peterson appears in TV ads urging a yes vote on the proposed California Marriage Protection Act, the Daily Journal reports (sub. req.). He is director of the law school’s special education clinic, according to Pepperdine’s website.
Other lawyers are expressing their views on the initiative known as Proposition 8 through donations to committees. Two lawyers making $25,000 contributions are Rowland Day of Newport Beach, who supports Proposition 8, and Irell & Manella partner Eric Webber, who opposes it, the story says.
Three law firms each contributed more than $10,000 to a committee opposing the constitutional amendment. The story identifies them as Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy; Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass; and Stock Stephens.
The contributions are among more than 2,600 donations totaling more than $1.6 million made to Proposition 8 committees, both pro and con, by lawyers, judges and law professors, according to a Daily Journal analysis.
Committees opposing Proposition 8 received 14 percent more money from the legal community than committees that support the measure, the analysis found.
