DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130366

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RON FOURNIER, ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ATLANTA                           LENGTH:  100 lines

ROBERTSON VOWS TO DOUBLE SIZE OF CHRISTIAN COALITION HE HOPES TO PUT ``A PRO-FAMILY CONSERVATIVE . . . IN THE WHITE HOUSE.''

With the Christian Coalition in transition, founder Pat Robertson promised Friday to double the size of his grass-roots political machine and help put ``a pro-family conservative . . . in the White House.''

Opening a two-day ``Road to Victory'' conference here, Roberston issued a scathing indictment of President Clinton and needled congressional Republicans for disappointing Christian conservatives.

``We have been exposed to some of the most terrible corruption at the highest level in our land,'' said Robertson, a broadcaster and businessman based in Virginia Beach. ``There is no way we can tolerate broken laws, the selling of favors to foreign nations.''

``We must return to rectitude in the affairs of this nation,'' he declared.

With House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, an architect of this year's budget-balancing agreement with Clinton, seated beside him, Robertson issued muted criticism of the Republican Congress.

``For too long our politicians have been so fixated on process that they have lost their direction,'' Robertson said. But, he quickly added, ``I won't go into that. That may sound critical.''

Drawing huge applause from the late-night crowd, Robertson promised that after the 2000 election ``we are going to have a pro-family conservative sitting in the White House, so help me God.''

Robertson paid tribute to Ralph Reed, the baby-faced spokesman for conservatism who has stepped down as executive director of the Chesapeake-based coalition to become a secular political consultant.

``There were several people who said I built the Christian Coalition,'' Reed told the crowd of 900. ``God built the Christian Coalition.''

With Friday's ceremonies, Reed turned over to a new team the coalition's $27 million budget, 400,000 dues-payers and potent mailing list. ``What becomes of us now?'' Robertson asked. ``Now it's time to move up the building. In specific terms my challenge . . . is to double our membership, double our budget. . . . We want to double everything we do.''

Don Hodel, who held two Cabinet posts under President Ronald Reagan, was named coalition president by Robertson in June. Randy Tate, a one-term Republican congressman defeated in 1996, is executive director.

The pair will share communications duties, though neither has shown Reed's media flair. Tate, 31, is the lobbyist, but ethics laws forbid him from lobbying his former congressional colleagues until January. Hodel, 62, a longtime businessman, says he will manage the shop.

Nobody expects Hodel and Tate to tinker with a successful recipe. Reed, who will remain on the board of directors, said, ``My sense is the direction of the organization is not going to change in any significant way.''

Three months into the job, the new team has barely made a mark. The team was almost invisible in Washington until Hodel announced a fall legislative agenda.

Reflecting the new team's goals to broaden its mission beyond abortion and institutionalize Reed's success, the package denounces religious persecution, seeks tax cuts for families and embraces inner-city economic initiatives.

Tate plans to blitz talk radio, a critical conservative conduit. Under Reed, the coalition fed talk radio hosts a steady stream of faxes, but he didn't appear on many shows.

``Ralph simply didn't have the time,'' Hodel said. ``We are two people doing his one-man's job.''

At times, two men may not seem enough.

The Federal Elections Commission is investigating whether the coalition made illegal corporate contributions to Republican candidates through its voter guides, get-out-the-vote efforts and other activities. The Internal Revenue Service is studying whether the group's actions run against its tax-exempt status.

The coalition also is under investigation by the U.S. attorney in Norfolk. At issue are alleged irregularities in contracts for printing, mailing and fund raising by an outside contractor. U.S. postal authorities also are investigating the group's mailing practices.

Internally, the organization's outreach efforts have failed to attract large numbers of minorities or Catholics. A philosophical split between moral and economic conservatism threatens to widen with the success of an upstart competitor, the Washington-based Family Research Council.

One-third of white evangelicals voted for President Clinton. Still, this is no time to underestimate the Christian Coalition.

``They're still THE force to be reckoned with,'' said Oliver North, the Virginia-based talk radio host and former GOP Senate candidate. The turnout in Atlanta ``discredits the lies that the Christian Coalition is falling part,'' he said.

Even the coalition's critics refuse to believe Hodel and Tate will miss a step.

``The coalition is always walking a tightrope: Keep the troops fired up without being so extreme that you look like a bunch of nuts,'' said Joseph Conn, spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. ``I think . . . Hodel and Tate can do both.''

The two have shown a knack for political nuance: While their public statements steer clear of hot-button language that might turn off moderates, their fund-raising letters denounce the ``homosexual rights bill,'' condemn ``pornographic, blashemous material'' sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and warn of ``leftist radicals . . . dancing in the streets.''

``Ralph Reed built them up,'' Conn said. ``They have a place at the table in Congress and the Republican Party. The question is whether they can keep a place at the table.'' ILLUSTRATION: Ralph Reed has stepped down as executive director of

the Chesapeake-based Christian Coalition. KEYWORDS: CHRISTIAN COALITION PAT ROBERTSON

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