Major Prop 8 Donor Honors Marriage by Divorcing Wife of 43 years

HT to San Diego City Beat….

La Jolla Hotelier and real estate developer Doug Manchester gave $125,000 to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign in July 2008, telling the New York Times he did so because of “my Catholic faith and longtime affiliation with the Catholic Church,” which preferred that marriage remain between a man and a woman.

The Yes on 8 people needed that early infusion of cash.  And while Manchester is correct that the Catholic Church opposes gay marriage, Jesus has a lot more to say about divorce that he does about homsecuality (look it up in the Bible).

Manchester, so eager to protect marriage from “the Gays,” filed for divorce from his wife of 43+ years in October last year.  That’s showing them!

From the story:

On Oct. 9, 2008, Doug Manchester ended 43 years, eight months and nine days of marriage to Elizabeth Manchester by moving out of their La Jolla abode. The couple spent the next several months trying to reach a quiet settlement on how best to distribute millions of dollars in cash and other assets. In July, those talks totally broke down, and Doug started playing financial hardball with Elizabeth, allegedly draining the couple’s shared accounts and stealing her mail. On Aug. 6, Elizabeth filed a petition for redress in family court. All of the information in this story comes from those petitions. CityBeat contacted attorneys for both parties, but neither returned calls by press time.

The court records say Doug pushed very hard for a speedy divorce agreement after he moved out, but Elizabeth would have none of it. She insisted on hiring lawyers and forensic accountants to fully assess Doug’s assets. Doug controls the Grand Del Mar Resort, the Manchester Hyatt, the Torrey Executive Center and the Manchester Financial Building. He also has $56.9 million divided among nine bank accounts, though the papers make clear that her accountants believe there’s far more holdings to be assessed. Elizabeth’s petition alleges that Doug has withheld some of the documents needed to make a full accounting. As negotiations dragged on, Doug apparently became impatient.

In March, Doug told Elizabeth he’d no longer maintain the bank account the two shared to pay her expenses, and that she should submit her bills to his office. She followed this procedure, but was surprised to get a call from AT&T saying her bill was past due.

Classy guy! 

And more evidence that the only two people who matter in a marriage are the two who are in it, regardless of whether its a man and woman, two men or two women.