Christian Coalition sued - political campaign assistance

Christian Century, August 14, 1996

THE FEDERAL ELECTION Commission filed suit July 30 against the Christian Coalition, accusing the political organization of breaking the law by giving improper aid to Republican candidates for office. Citing examples of the coalition's work with prominent Republican candidates such as former President George Bush, former U.S. Senate candidate Oliver North and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the commission alleged that the coalition spent money on voter guides and other get-out-the-vote efforts in conjunction with particular candidates' campaigns.

"During the campaign periods prior to the 1990, 1992 and 1994 federal elections, Christian Coalition made expenditures, directly from its corporate treasury and/or through its subordinate state affiliates, to influence the election of candidates for federal office," according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The FEC is an independent agency, made up of three Republican and three Democratic commissioners, which oversees compliance with federal election laws.

The Washington Post reported July 31 that two Republican members of the FEC, Chairwoman Lee Ann Elliott and Commissioner Joan Aikens, joined with two Democrats, Scott Thomas and John McGarry, to support a suit against the Christian Coalition. The other Democratic member was absent; the third GOP position currently is vacant. According to the complaint, the coalition consulted with candidates' campaigns before making the improper expenditures, which the commission considers "in-kind contributions." Such contributions violate the law prohibiting corporations from making contributions from corporate treasury funds to federal elections. Corporations often circumvent these regulations by making contributions through partisan political action committees.

The coalition, however, is what the tax code considers a "social welfare" organization, whose primary purpose is to promote the common good rather than partisan politics. Such an organization does not have to pay taxes, but contributions to it are not tax-deductible. To retain its tax-free status a social welfare organization must also refrain from endorsing or promoting individual political candidates. The FEC action stems from complaints filed since February 1992 by the Democratic Party of Virginia, which claimed that the coalition violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.

Officials of the coalition, which was founded in 1989 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and is based in Chesapeake, Virginia, said the government is trying to stifle its free speech. "We've got the heavy hand of government coming in trying to prohibit citizen involvement in elections . . . through nonpartisan, issue-oriented publications that don't endorse candidates," said Jim Bopp, a Terre Haute, Indiana, attorney who has been hired to defend the coalition in the case. "I think it's an overt attempt on the part of the Federal Election Commission to intimidate citizens."

Ralph Reed, executive director of the coalition, which claims 1.7 million members and supporters, contended in a statement that the group has 'abided by both the letter and the spirit" of the law. "We are absolutely and totally confident that we will be fully vindicated and the courts will affirm that people of faith have every right to be involved as citizens and voters," Reed said.

The 13-page complaint cited cases in which the election commission alleges the coalition spent money"expressly advocating" the election or defeat of a specific candidate. It cited a 1994 "Reclaim America" direct-mail package that included a cover letter from Robertson and a scorecard grading members of Congress on how their votes related to coalition positions. "This SCORECARD will give America's Christian voters the facts they will need to distinguish between GOOD and MISGUIDED Congressmen," the complaint says the letter stated. The complaint also cited a letter from the coalition's Georgia chapter prior to Gingrich's 1994 primary election that called the candidate "a Christian Coalition Inc. 100 percenter."

The complaint also accuses the coalition of consulting with the Bush primary and general election campaigns in 1992, North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms's 1990 campaign and North's 1994 Senate campaign in Virginia for a U.S. Senate seat. The FEC is seeking a ruling that the coalition has violated election laws, should be fined, should stop making corporate contributions that violate the law and should begin reporting its independent expenditures.

Coalition critics said the suit does not surprise them. "We have found a consistent pattern over the years of carefully rigged efforts to back the candidates that the Christian Coalition favored through voter guides and other means," said Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based advocacy group. Jill Hanauer, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance, another Washington-based group that has sought to counter the Religious Right, said she doesn't expect the coalition to change its ways unless the court determines the group has broken the law. Coalition members "need to identify what are the issues they want to educate voters about and fairly represent where candidates stand on those issues," she said. "There's no way Ralph Reed can look himself in the mirror and claim that his voter guides are fair. They absolutely skew the issues."