FEC Files Lawsuit Against Christian Coalition

WASHINGTON (July 30) -- The Federal Election Commission today sued the Christian Coalition, claiming its political support for specific candidates violated campaign finance rules.

In the civil suit agreed to by two Democrats and two Republican commissioners, the campaign finance agency charges the Christian Coalition, in 1992, helped Republican President George Bush's re-election campaign.

The assistance came in the form of voter identification, get-out-the-vote efforts and the printing and distribution of 28 million voter guides.

The commission says such help was a violation of federal election law by an organization that claims to be non-partisan, dedicated to political education.

The coalition is also charged with improperly promoting House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1994, with a widely distributed letter and a so-called congressional scorecard that termed him a Christian Coalition 100 percenter.

The same year, according to the lawsuit, failed Republican Senate candidate Oliver North benefitted from almost two million coalition voter guides in Virginia, along with voter identification and get-out-the-vote activities. And in 1990, says the FEC, Republican Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) got the same kind of help.

Acting on complaints by the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic party of Virginia, the commission says the group's expenditures should have been reported to it because they advocated the election of chosen candidates.

In his book on corruption in American politics, the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato says from its founding in 1989, the Christian Coalition has had all the appearances of a campaign group.

Sabato says that Ralph Reed, who heads the organization for televangelist Pat Robertson, works with a leadership manual that is a handbook for political action.

"I think the Federal Election Commission shows definitely that the Christian Coalition is a partisan political organization," Sabato said, "and its intent is to help Republican candidates...That doesn't come as a suprise to anybody who has been watching the Christian Coalition since it was founded in 1989."

The Christian Coalition reacted angrily to the FEC action, promising a court fight.

In a printed statement, the group said: "This is a completely baseless and legally threadbare attempt by a reckless federal agency to silence people of faith and deny them their first amendment rights."

The FEC is asking the U.S. District Court in Washington to enjoin the Christian Coalition from making similar unreported contributions in the future and to levy fines for each alleged violation in the past.

This story originally appeared on CNN's "Inside Politics."

FEC Files Lawsuit Against Christian Coalition

Related Stories: