| WASHINGTON
- August 2 - A federal court ruling on the Christian Coalition's political activities
is disappointing, but not surprising, says Americans United for Separation of
Church and State.
Americans United
says the decision confirms the partisan character of the Christian Coalition even
though it failed to punish most of the group's partisan politicking.
Said Americans
United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn, "This decision is disappointing,
but not surprising. The courts have been lax in enforcing federal election law.
Pat Robertson and his Christian Coalition have slipped through a legal loophole.
"The decision
still provides plenty of evidence that the Christian Coalition is a hardball partisan
political operation," Lynn added. "The judge paints a detailed portrait
of the Coalition's long track record of blatantly partisan electioneering on behalf
of Republican candidates."
Lynn pointed
out that churches should remain very wary of the Coalition and its voter guides.
"Federal
tax law is much stricter that federal election law," Lynn said. "Churches
that join the Coalition's partisan political machine still risk losing their tax-exempt
status."
The decision
is not a total victory for the Coalition. Judge Joyce Hens Green ruled that Coalition
illegally advocated the re-election of Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in 1994, and
improperly shared the group's mailing list with Oliver North's campaign for the
U.S. Senate, also in 1994. Because of these transgressions, the Christian Coalition
will have to pay a "civil penalty."
However, Green
ruled in favor of the Coalition on all other counts, including charges that the
Religious Right group coordinated efforts with Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), President
George Bush, Rep. Robert Inglis (R-S.C.) and Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.).
Green acknowledged
that the Coalition's voter guides "made clear which candidates the Coalition
preferred," but her decision was based on a narrow reading of federal election
law.
The case, Federal
Election Commission v. Christian Coalition, was originally brought in July
1996, after a unanimous bipartisan vote of the FEC commissioners. The FEC charged
the Coalition with improperly coordinating its activities with Republican campaigns.
Americans United
is a national church-state watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in
1947, the organization represents 60,000 members and allied houses of worship
in all 50 states.
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