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UPDATED: Has Tim Gill, the Colorado gay rights activist, poured more money into Rhode Island than we knew?

This morning: confirmation that the Tim Gill who plunked down $20,000 for gay marriage advocacy group People for Rhode Island's Future is the same Tim Gill who poured $15,000 into Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island's efforts. Gill has filed a document with the state's Board of Elections saying so.

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Among the campaign finance reports filed in recent days: several from Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island. No big surprise there. As I reported in June, the abortion rights group has long promised a more vigorous electoral effort this year than usual.

But one name sticks out among the donors: Tim Gill, who plunked down $15,000 of the $18,000 the group has collected to date. The report lists Gill's address - and that of the group's other six donors - as 111 Point Street in Providence. That's the address for Planned Parenthood's Rhode Island clinic.

I'm guessing, though, that Gill's real address is Denver, Colorado.

Tim Gill, a reclusive technology magnate from the Centennial State, is the leading figure in a nationwide network of gay rights activists who have been funding state-level legislative races for years now in a bid to tip the balance on same-sex marriage and other gay rights issues. He recently poured $20,000 into a group called People for Rhode Island's Future that is backing six pro-gay marriage state senate candidates.

The Planned Parenthood dollars are backing a couple of those same candidates - Adam Satchell (who is up as I write) and Laura Ann Pisaturo (who is not faring well).

I've been suggesting for a year-and-a-half now that Gill might make a concerted play in Rhode Island politics. It looks like that's happening. We'll get a sense, tonight, for whether it can yield results. Gay rights activists probably need to pick up a half-dozen seats in the state senate if they hope to pass a same-sex marriage bill next year. Winning some key Democratic primary races will be central to that effort.   

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