Petrelis Files

No on 8 Was Not Incorporated
by CA Secretary of State?

The key architect of the dismal No on 8 campaign, Geoff Kors, who's also the executive director of Equality California, recently wrote to my pal political artist Clinton Fein about who was responsible for campaign, because Kors would sure as hell like to divert attention away from his leadership role that led to Prop 8 passage. Kors said:

No on 8, Equality for All is the organization that ran the campaign. EQCA is not ...
I don’t have the authority to speak for that organization as it is a legal entity that I was never paid by, or a titled officer of, as the corporate records will indicate.

Anyone got copies of those corporate records so we can all inspect them?

Kors' legalese piqued my interest in finding the papers that incorporated No on 8, Equality for All, the organization he claims actually ran the campaign, so I began to hunt for that group's corporate or limited partnership papers on file with the CA Secretary of State.

Click here to use the SoS's business search engine.

After searching many variations on No on Proposition 8, I couldn't find a thing related to this year's Prop 8. I did locate this listing:

Corporation NO ON PROPOSITION 8
COMMITTEE Number: C1027584
Date Filed: 10/15/1980
Status: dissolved
Jurisdiction: California
Address 612 S FLOWER ST RM 309LOS ANGELES, CA 90017
Agent for Service of Process CARY DAVIDSON 612 S FLOWER ST #309 LOS ANGELES, CA 90017

That old committee is the closest I got to finding the 2008 No on 8 committee's filing. What's interesting is the agent for the 1980 committee is now the president of the board of directors of ... EQCA!

I did locate this listing, for half of the organizational name of the committee behind No on 8 that Kors mentioned, and, what do you know. It's the same agent listed, one Cary Davidson! Maybe this is the group Kors believe ran the No on 8 effort, which, is not EQCA but sure has a direct link to it.

Corporation EQUALITY FOR ALL
Number: C2795298
Date Filed: 8/1/2005
Status: active
Jurisdiction: California
Address 520 S GRAND AVE STE 700LOS ANGELES, CA 90071
Agent for Service of Process CARY DAVIDSON 520 S GRAND AVE STE 700 LOS ANGELES, CA 90071

What else turned up in my search? This listing for an organization that I believe transformed into EQCA. The agent for this group, John Duran, is a longtime and current member of the EQCA board:

Corporation CALIFORNIA GAY AND LESBIAN EQUALITY LOBBY, INC.
Number: C2108136
Date Filed: 5/7/1998
Status: suspended
Jurisdiction: California Address 9000 SUNSET BLVD., SUITE 808WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90069-5808
Agent for Service of Process JOHN J. DURAN, ESQ. 9000 SUNSET BLVD., SUITE 808 WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90069

And here are the two listings that were returned when looking for the incorporation papers of Kors' EQCA. The agent named on both listings is the deputy director of EQCA:

Corporation EQUALITY CALIFORNIA
Number: C2093660
Date Filed: 9/18/1998
Status: active Jurisdiction: California
Address 2370 MARKET ST 2ND FLSAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114
Agent for Service of Process JAMES CARROLL 216 HARTFORD SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114

Corporation EQUALITY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE
Number: C2172279
Date Filed: 7/28/1999
Status: active Jurisdiction: California
Address 2370 MARKET STSAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114 Agent for Service of Process JIM CARROLL 2370 MARKET ST SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114

The address for EQCA is also the same one used by a national coalition of similarly closeted-in-name state organizations, the Equality Federation and its affiliated institute:

Corporation EQUALITY FEDERATION
Number: C2792840
Date Filed: 9/29/2006
Status: active
Jurisdiction: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Address 2370 MARKET ST # 386SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114
Agent for Service of Process TONI BROADDUS 2370 MARKET ST # 386 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114

Corporation EQUALITY FEDERATION INSTITUTE
Number: C2792839
Date Filed: 9/29/2006
Status: active
Jurisdiction: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Address 2370 MARKET ST # 386SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114
Agent for Service of Process TONI BROADDUS 2370 MARKET ST # 386 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114

But wait, we're not quite through looking at who else used the EQCA address for another gay corporation:

Corporation MARRIAGE EQUALITY CALIFORNIA, INC.
Number: C2303368
Date Filed: 1/19/2001
Status: dissolved
Jurisdiction: California
Address 2370 MARKET ST 2ND FLSAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114
Agent for Service of Process STEVEN MELE 8581 SANTA MONICA BLVD #504 WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90069

What is this "No on 8/Equality for All" corporation that Kors said was the responsible party for the Prop 8 campaign and why are there no incorporation papers on file with the state for it?

If Kors were a responsible gay leader and holding his own town halls with the CA gay community he is head of, I would ask him about all the groups that have used or still use his EQCA address as their business address or headquarters. I would also try and pin him down as to which corporation actually ran the No on 8.

But he is not organizing any public meetings and the basic question of pinning him down about the corporation behind our failed effort to stop Prop 8 should be addressed in public by Kors and his board of directors.