THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501180476
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed said Tuesday that the organization will spend $1 million to mobilize its 1.5 million donors behind the Republican ``Contract With America.''
In a speech before the Economic Club of Detroit, Reed said the Chesapeake-based coalition will wage a 100-day campaign for the GOP contract through phone banks, computer bulletin boards, talk radio and direct mail.
After the lobbying, Reed said, the coalition will continue promoting mainstream Republican ideas such as expanding tax cuts to eliminate federal taxes for families earning less than $30,000, downsizing government and reforming welfare to ``shift responsibility to private charities and the faith community.''
Reed called for an end to taxpayer funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, saying those agencies ``promote values contrary to those that we teach in our homes.''
Though the Republican Party platform has called for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, Reed said the coalition's main strategy will be to codify the government's current ban on using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions.
He condemned the recent attacks on abortion clinics, saying ``demented and deranged individuals'' harm the anti-abortion cause.
Arthur J. Kropp, director of the liberal group People for the American Way, said Reed's speech showed that the coalition wants to get attention for its agenda through cooperation on mainstream Republican issues.
``Reed has put everyone on notice that once work on the Contract is done, Americans will see heated debates on all of the right's pet concerns, from curbing reproductive choice to weakening the separation of church and state, to efforts to undermine public education,'' Kropp said in a statement. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ralph Reed, director of the Christian Coalition, said it will spend
$1 million on lobbying.
by CNB