After more than a year and a half, the Utah Attorney General's Office forwarded a complaint about Marriage Education Initiatives and Utahns for a Better Tomorrow to Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom.

"This matter is being referred to you as the appropriate agency to review and handle the criminal aspects of this complaint," Deputy Attorney General Thom Roberts wrote in a letter dated July 17.

Two weeks before the November 2004 election, Marriage Education Initiatives filed incorporation papers with the state and then shoveled $170,000 in cash and in-kind contributions into the committee campaigning to amend Utah's Constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

The new corporation's trustees, including controversial Republican operative Neal Blair, refused to disclose any more details. And Utahns for a Better Tomorrow claimed ignorance about Blair and the company.

After Utah voters overwhelmingly approved the amendment, then-Don't Amend Alliance Director Scott McCoy filed a complaint in January 2005. It languished in the Attorney General's Office for about a year and a half before Roberts shuttled it on to county prosecutors for their review.

"This isn't even a resolution," said McCoy. "It's just passing the buck on to somebody else. That decision could have been made a year ago."

McCoy, now a state senator, notes the Attorney General's Office was quick to respond to a complaint about the Truth in Politics Political Action Committee that attacked several Republican candidates the same year.

Roberts said he reviewed McCoy's complaint and concluded it should be handled by the Attorney General's criminal division. Those attorneys referred the case to local prosecutors.

Deputy District Attorney Dahnelle Burton-Lee said she will review McCoy's complaint in the next few weeks.

Marriage Law Foundation attorney Monte Stewart, the spokesperson for Amendment 3 supporters two years ago, said Monday he still believes the amendment's backers followed all the state's fundraising rules.

Meanwhile, lawmakers adopted a new law this year to try to block groups like Marriage Education Initiatives and Truth in Politics from skirting disclosure rules. For example, any corporation formed within 90 days of an election will have to disclose information about its officers and board members with the Lieutenant Governor's Office, which oversees Utah elections. And political action and issues committees that receive money from corporations that do not comply could face criminal charges.

"The hope is it will act as a deterrent, or at least make people think twice before they launder money through these political organizations," McCoy said.