LEWISTON — Focus on the Family, a 31-year-old national Christian group based in Colorado Springs, Colo., formed a Maine political action committee in support of the effort to repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law on Monday, according to state records.

The group describes itself as a “global ministry” whose radio broadcasts by Dr. James Dobson are heard by more than 230 million people around the world each week, according to its Web site. The group has more than 9,000 households on its Maine mailing list, according to a spokeswoman.

The newly formed PAC has received $22,000 in contributions, according to filings with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. Last Thursday, it made a $10,000 contribution to the Maine Marriage PAC, which is headed by Bob Emrich, according to state records.

The contribution came as a surprise to Emrich, who said last week he was teaming up with Marc Mutty of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and others to form a coalition behind the StandForMarriageMaine PAC.

“No, that’s incorrect,” he said Monday, of the $10,000 contribution to his Maine Marriage PAC. “We definitely did not receive money from them in the Maine Marriage PAC, that much I can tell you for sure. There’s obviously some sort of reporting error.”

Emrich said he had approached Focus on the Family earlier in the year asking for money. He speculated that the group was confused by all of the groups seeking to repeal the law. He also speculated that because his own name is listed on two different PACs, Focus on the Family contributed to the ‘wrong’ one.

“I don’t want to be accountable for that on the wrong PAC, that would mess everything up,” Emrich said, adding that he planned to make calls on Tuesday to straighten out the situation.

“I was not expecting a contribution, I was hoping; I was actually hoping that there would be one larger than that, but every bit helps,” Emrich said.

To further confuse the situation, a spokeswoman for Focus on the Family said its contribution was made to the Maine Marriage Alliance, another anti-gay marriage group with which Emrich is associated. That group does not have a PAC.

Focus on the Family has participated in many political campaigns nationwide. The group made contributions in Maine in 2003 to the now-defunct Maine Christian Action League PAC; in 2005 and 2007 in support of anti-gambling efforts; and in 2005 to the failed effort to repeal a state law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, according to state records.

Jesse Connolly, who is in charge of the Maine Freedom to Marry campaign in support of the new law, said he wasn’t surprised by the involvement of Focus on the Family.

“This is coming on the heels of what we found out last week of a California-based public relations firm, Schubert Flint, coming into the state,” he said.

Connolly said he expected his side to be “heavily outspent” during the campaign.

“We’re going to really rely on our grassroots activism,” he said. “There was a lot of money that was poured in on both sides during the California race, and I don’t know if all that money is going to come back here or not.”

Last fall, California residents voted to repeal a similar same-sex marriage law. Petitioners in Maine are working to gather the 55,087 valid signatures necessary by early August to get a repeal question on the November ballot.

Bowdoin College professor Chris Potholm, an experienced pollster who has worked on many Maine referendum campaigns, said he expects lots of outside money, and influence, to take place in this effort.

“The odds are very overwhelmingly against the local people having control over these two gigantic mastodons who are coming to do battle in Maine,” he said. “The outside forces will make this a very, very bitter and a very, very divisive campaign, so that in November, no matter who wins, there will be scorched earth on the other side.”

State PAC filings due on July 15 should provide a clearer picture of how fundraising is going for each side.

rmetzler@sunjournal.com

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