ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 19, 1996 TAG: 9607190061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Christian Coalition has suspended its chief financial officer after she uncovered financial irregularities in the group's business dealings and reported them to federal prosecutors, the woman's attorney said Thursday.
Judy Liebert, an $85,000-a-year employee of the conservative religious organization who has worked in its Chesapeake offices since it was founded in 1989, was told to turn in her keys and identification card in early June. She has since been barred from the coalition's compound. =rf ``It has to do with her conversations with federal authorities concerning some irregularities she discovered in her official capacity,'' said Moody Stallings, Liebert's attorney. ``I am in contact with attorneys for the Christian Coalition to ascertain her future employment status.''
Liebert has remained on the payroll and collected her salary since she was suspended, according to Stallings.
Calls to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Norfolk were not immediately returned.
Christian Coalition spokesman Mike Russell declined to comment directly on Liebert's status, saying ``This is a personnel matter and it is confidential.''
However, he did say that the coalition is auditing its books and investigating a major vendor, ``looking into his billing practices and expenses associated with the services he was providing.''
Russell declined to provide details, but sources said the investigation involves contracts for millions of dollars worth of direct-mail services such as writing, design, printing, postage and list brokering.
Asked why Liebert was suspended if the problem involves an outside vendor, Russell said, ``She was charged with financial responsibility of overseeing this process.''
Claiming 1.7 million members nationwide, the coalition has grown into one of the most powerful proponents of religious right political views and has been deeply involved in the debate over how this year's Republican platform deals with the abortion issue.
Stallings, Liebert's lawyer, is a former Virginia state senator who was defeated in 1991 by a Republican challenger who got substantial campaign help from the Christian Coalition.
Coalition director Ralph Reed cited Stallings' defeat in a 1994 speech to grass-roots lobbying professionals as an example of what the group's computerized voter identification system could accomplish.
Stallings had aspired to run for attorney general, ``and we figured it'd be a lot cheaper to move him back to his law practice in a state Senate race than in a statewide race,'' Reed said in the speech.
Liebert said she hired Stallings to represent her not because of his past run-ins with the Christian Coalition but because he had been recommended by her husband, whom Stallings had represented in a legal matter several years ago.
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