From: Watch97@aol.com Date: Tue, 6 Aug 1996 12:41:50 -0400 Subject: PAT & RALPH CONTINUE THEIR REPUBLICAN SHENANIGANS NOTE : Following this "c.c.watch" report, we have appended a startling excerpt from Time Daily (8/4) about the Christian Coalition's future and a CC webpage announcement regarding its San Diego "state-of-the-art Communications Command Center," etc. PAT & RALPH CONTINUE THEIR REPUBLICAN SHENANIGANS -- While Pat Robertson sat safely (sort of) in Virginian Beach, Christian Coalition (CC) Executive Director Ralph Reed stormed San Diego to take what they both feel is rightly theirs: control of the pro-life wing of the Republican Party. According to Robertson, 570 delegates to the GOP national convention beginning next week are members of the CC. A CC survey shows that 57% of the delegates are adamantly pro-life. Last Saturday, Iowa state CC chairperson, Ione Dilley -- herself a member of the Rules Committee -- told "c.c.watch" that CC members would be meeting as a group in San Diego. Reed appeared on Larry King Live last night (8/5) to talk about San Diego news and also the alleged illegal $60,000 gift to his organization. Reed was characteristically muted/smug about the GOP platform subcommittee on individual rights (??) vote to strike the tolerance language from the abortion plank. But he admitted to being "out here all day, whipping delegates, talking to delegates"-- and concluding that pro-choice Republicans probably don't have enough delegations to go to the floor with their issues. As for the gift, he denied any wrongdoing on the CC's part: "We did report it. We did comply with the law. And , Larry, it has always been my policy at the CC to instruct all of our employees to abide by the law in every respect." Furthermore: "It is certainly our belief that we recontacted that [now deceased] donor and made it clear." Reed admitted to personally signing off on the report, words that may come to haunt him later. Was banned CC CFO Judy Liebert's claim that the gift was falsely recorded a lie? "Sometimes people may have different recollections of the same event," her former boss answered. Earlier in the day, The 700 Club ran a report which claimed that the KS primary race today would be a key indicator of where the GOP was heading. Sam Brownback -- a self-proclaimed "mainstream, pro-family" freshman Congressman, who has the backing of Jack Kemp, Jim Dobson and Bill Bennett (via radio ads!) -- is running against newly appointed Senator Sheila Framm. A Brownback victory "would mean that Christian conservatives have finally arrived, by demonstrating power and influence in KS politics, and that reality could energize other conservatives, and send a strong message to Bob Dole that they will not be brushed aside in San Diego." Following the report, Robertson started to say that the KS state GOP chairman is a member of the CC, but suddenly fumbled over further comment and cut his KS commentary short. On today's 700 Club (8/6), Robertson had this to say about the pro-life platform victory: "The prospect of a floor fight now seems over, which is precisely what I have been telling people...That spared a floor fight and, uh, that language, what it did, it put tolerance language in a, in a separate plank... If they'd put it in, uh, specifically abortion there would have been floor fight. And, and, uh, Mr. Dole doesn't need that. So, the people on the platform committee dealing with this matter, gave him, uh, really a, a, a present, despite what Ann Stone has to say." (The last two 700 Club broadcasts included four extensive GOP-oriented reports, one on Hillary Clinton and the travel office scandal, and an exclusive report on a "secret meeting" in Savannah, GA, last weekend between Steve Forbes, Margaret Thatcher, Colin Powell and Casper Weinberger.) Copyright 1996 Public-Spirited Enterprises. All rights reserved. ****************************************************************************** TIME Daily: August 4, 1996/TIME Magazine: Coalition Chameleon "The Federal Election Commission last week filed suit to stop the 1.7 million-member Christian Coalition from working hand in glove with the Republican Party to promote its candidates. In its August 12 issue, TIME reports that the conservative religion group is considering a significant transformation in the face of the legal action. Publicly, officials of the coalition, which raises $25 million a year, deny the FEC allegations. Privately, however, the coalition is considering elemental changes to its structure. During the negotiations to settle the suit, the coalition offered to form a political- action committee. It may go even further if pushed and convert itself into a more political organization, a move its leaders claim would actually strengthen the group. But outsiders have a hard time believing the coalition really wants to abide by the strict rules that apply to purely political entities: disclosure of contributors, prohibition of corporate gifts and a $5,000-a-candidate donation." ****************************************************************************** * Christian Coalition Readies Communications Center in San Diego, Releases Results of Delegate Survey (8/5) "Christian Coalition will operate a state-of-the-art Communications Command Center and a war room at the Republican National Convention in San Diego to allow the pro-family organization to communicate with more than 1,000 pro-life delegates on the floor of the convention. Personal computers, digital pagers, and message runners will link the pro-family delegates through a network of 102 floor whips to the command center. The goal is to communicate effectively on issues of concern, particularly the pro-life language in the party platform, with its members and other pro-family supporters who have been elected as delegates to the convention. "The command center will be directed by D.J. Gribbin, national field director, with the assistance of Chuck Cunningham, director of voter education. A 'message of the day' and news operation will be supervised by Mike Russell, director of communications. A daily publication distributed to delegates and alternates will be edited by Mike Ebert. Fifty staff and volunteers will man the communications center and the war room, the latter acting as the hub of the floor whip operation. "The Coalition also released today the results of a survey concluded on July 30, of 1,915 of the 1,990 delegates to the convention. It reveals that 1,087 of the delegates support a constitutional amendment protecting unborn life and oppose efforts to change the existing pro-life plank. A conservative running mate is favored by 592 delegates, not a moderate-to-liberal, pro-choice vice-presidential nominee. " 'We look forward to being an effective voice for conservative and pro-family values at the Republican convention; we will have a presence at the Democratic convention as well,' said Ralph Reed, executive director of Christian Coalition. 'The large number of pro-family delegates and the state-of-the-art communications network and floor whips linking them together suggests that the convention will be highly successful.' "The high point of the coalition's activities during the GOP convention will be the Faith and Freedom Celebration, to be held Wednesday, August 14, at 10 a.m. in Balboa Park. Confirmed and invited speakers include Speaker Newt Gingrich, J.C. Watts, Bosnian war hero Scott O'Grady, and Elizabeth Dole. Between 3,000 and 4,000 pro-family supporters are expected. The Christian Coalition Communications Command Center will be at 5th and Market streets." ______________________________________________ (For more information or to subscribe to the complete, unique and timely reportage/commentary of The "c.c.watch" Electronic News Service, call 305/751-5001. We track and report on the activities of Pat Robertson, his many enterprises [especially the Christian Coalition], and his fellow travelers...and then we disseminate information that the public might never otherwise receive.)