THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996                TAG: 9608040046
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

GROUP SAYS IT ACCEPTED $60,000 BUT WOULDN'T EARMARK IT FOR BUSH

The Christian Coalition accepted a $60,000 contribution from a wealthy Ohio businessman in 1992 who told the group he wanted to support a ``massive drop of literature'' to help re-elect President Bush.

Coalition spokesman Mike Russell said Saturday that the organization told the benefactor it could not honor his request but still received permission to cash the check as a general donation.

The check, a copy of which was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, is the latest chapter in a growing debate over whether the coalition is illicitly helping Republican candidates. The tax-exempt coalition is required by law to be nonpartisan.

The Federal Election Commission sued the Chesapeake-based coalition last week, charging that it illegally promoted Republican candidates for president and Congress.

FEC documents allege that the coalition illegally funneled almost $1 million to the Bush campaign in 1992. Much of it paid for literature and guide ballots distributed in churches that compared Bush favorably to Bill Clinton on social issues that are important to conservative Christians.

The benefactor, John W. Wolfe, was the head of an Ohio family that owned the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. He died in 1994.

Wolfe sent the check, dated July 23, 1992, along with a letter to religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, the founder of the coalition.

Records show that Wolfe had already contributed that maximum $2,000 that individuals were allowed give to Bush.

Wolfe wrote that he was told by Lyn Nofziger, a former political director for Ronald Reagan in the White House, that the coalition ``is very supportive of President Bush and that you will be doing a massive distribution of literature on his behalf.''

``It is my understanding that you could use some financial help for the president and therefore . . . I am sending you a contribution of $60,000,'' Wolfe wrote.

``I feel President Reagan has been very good for our country, good for Ohio will.''

Russell said he does not know exactly how the coalition informed Wolfe that his request could not be honored. But as a rule in such instances, he said contributors are contacted by telephone by ``someone very high in the organization.''

``We explain to them that we are nonpartisan,'' Russell said. ``Obviously, in this case, the contributor told us to keep the money anyway.''

Judy Liebert - suspended since May as the coalition's chief financial officer - said in an interview that she recalled coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed ordering her to record the gift as an anonymous contribution. She said she complied. Russell called Liebert's accusation ``absolutely false.'' He said the coalition's tax forms show the contribution listed in Wolfe's name, and therefore Reed could not have told Liebert to record it as an anonymous donation.

Liebert was suspended, with pay, after she complained to federal authorities about alleged financial irregularities by a private firm that oversees the coalition's direct mail operations.

KEYWORDS: CHRISTIAN COALITION FEDERAL ELECTIONS

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