The divorce is final - Points of Light Foundation non-partisanship

Common Cause Magazine, Spring, 1993 by Deborah Baldwin

From the beginning, the non-profit Points of Light Foundation has fought a perception problem. No matter how hard it has struggled to prove its political independence, folks have always confused it with President Bush.

Probably has something to do with the name. Not only was the phrase coined by Bush (or rather his celebrated speechwriter Peggy Noonan), but right up until January 11 the former president had his own Point of Light coordinator, who was charged with helping the president identify a Point of Light - a community-service volunteer or group worthy of national recognition - six days a week. Furthermore, Bush was the foundation's godfather, having helped persuade Congress to create the foundation in 1990 and to fund it to the tune of $5 million a year.

But in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies. And the Points of Light Foundation recently said the ultimate "goodbye": It launched a volunteer recruitment drive on behalf of the inaugural celebrations of Bush's replacement.

In December the foundation sent a mailing to some 4,000 potential volunteers in the Washington area, calling on them to help process VIP requests for inaugural events and housing.

Monica Hammock, a foundation staffer who helped coordinate the recruitment effort, seemed surprised to hear some observers were, well, surprised. "I just asked if anyone was interested," she says. "It wasn't a political thing. It's giving the community an opportunity to be involved."

Foundation spokesperson Barbara Lohman traces the momentum for the recruitment drive to a number of foundation board members who were Clinton supporters. Conceding that many outsiders assume the foundation is some relic of Bush's political agenda, Lohman says that once potential volunteers get past the foundation's Bushian name, they roll up their sleeves and lend a hand.

Still, given the foundation's mission to promote such volunteer activities as helping the needy, the inaugural effort does seem like a new direction. But it's no big deal, Lohman says, only "a reflection of our bipartisan nature."