Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 3, 1994 TAG: 9411030094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Christian Coalition will distribute 33 million election guides to voters this weekend and already is facing criticism from Democrats who say their views are being distorted in an effort to help Republicans.
A sampling of guides shows that in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is the Republican candidate whose views are most in line with those espoused by the coalition, the offspring of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson's 1988 presidential campaign.
But coalition leaders vehemently deny picking sides - which would violate the organization's tax-exempt status - and say records are meticulously researched and the choices left to voters.
``We know the rules, and we play by them,'' said coalition spokesman Mike Russell.
The guides and weekend telephone prodding of conservative Christian voters are the final installment of a $5 million Christian Coalition election effort that included 10 million guides for primary races and 17 million congressional scorecards.
The voting guides were shipped to state chapters in mid-October, but the national headquarters has ordered that they not be distributed to churches and Christian bookstores until the Sunday before Election Day. One reason is that the guides are viewed as a timely reminder to vote.
But another is that Christian Coalition leaders worry about candidate complaints.
``You want to hold it until that last Sunday, because if they start raising doubts about the voter guide, you're going to have a real skittish pastor that is just going to pull them,'' Christian Coalition voter education director Chuck Cunningham told a September coalition strategy session with state affiliates.
Where the guides have been seen by candidates in advance, there already are complaints.
In Oklahoma, for example, Democratic House candidate Stuart Price says the guide is full of ``mistruths'' about his views on abortion, school prayer and homosexuality, and he has urged Tulsa churches not to distribute it.
The Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in South Carolina, one of the Christian Coalition's strongest states, have complained that their views on abortion are distorted, and school board candidates in New Hampshire have criticized the guides as inaccurate.
``What we routinely see is candidates who refuse to answer our survey start complaining that we are putting their record out there for people to judge,'' said Russell.
At the strategy session, coalition officials repeatedly warned state leaders not to endorse candidates.
But Cunningham urged that voter guides detail views on gays in the military and other issues that would motivate Christian conservative voters. ``We can make history by putting the brakes on Clinton-style liberalism,'' Cunningham said in the session, according to a transcript that several participants said was accurate.
It is such statements, combined with the makeup of the voter guides, that critics say show the coalition is dancing dangerously close to directly advocating candidates, which would violate its tax-exempt status. In some races, Democrats have complained to federal election officials that the coalition has crossed the line.
``They have a lot of very good lawyers,'' said Arthur Kropp, president of the liberal People for the American Way. ``While they don't come right out and endorse, it's very clear - at least from the perspective of the Christian Coalition - who you should vote for.''
Take the case of 14-term Rep. Andrew Jacobs.
The Christian Coalition voting guide says the Indiana Democrat opposes a balanced budget amendment and supports gay marriages and promoting homosexuality to schoolchildren. And it says his Republican opponent has opposite views.
But back in 1976, Jacobs proposed prohibiting the government from borrowing to pay its bills, and has been a leader of the balanced budget drive ever since. ``I started the movement,'' he said.
Jacobs said he also opposes gay marriages. But when Congress tried to overrule a District of Columbia policy allowing them, Jacobs sided with the district - ``just as I would if Congress tried to overrule something the Indianapolis government or the Chicago government passed,'' he said.
His reasoning is the same on the question of promoting homosexuality to schoolchildren. When a congressman tried to deny use of tax dollars to school districts that teach homosexuality is a positive lifestyle, Jacobs supported an amendment that narrowed the restriction to direct federal funding of such programs and made it clear that Congress was in no way trying to set local curriculum.
The Christian Coalition's Russell defended the guide, saying that whatever Jacobs' reasoning, the guide accurately depicts his votes.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB