'Faith-Based' Office Pushed GOP Candidates, Former Staffer Says

A new book by a highly placed former staffer in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives details a series of stunning revelations of how the much-ballyhooed "faith-based" initiative was cynically manipulated by Republican operatives to help GOP candidates locked in close races.

David Kuo's Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction also asserts that applications for federal faithbased funds were sometimes rejected by reviewers because they came from nonChristian applicants and that conservative Christian allies of the Bush administration were derided behind their backs and bought off with White House cuff links and other trinkets.

Kuo's allegations first made a big splash when the book was discussed on MSNBC's "Countdown" Oct. 11, but many of his claims were familiar to Americans United. In 2002, Church & State reported on efforts by James Towey, then running the faith-based office, to boost Republican candidates facing close races.

Still, the range of Kuo's revelations is shocking. He writes that 20 events were held, and Republican candidates subsequently won 19 of those races. "We laid out a plan whereby we would hold 'roundtable events' for threatened incumbents with faith and community leaders," Kuo writes. "Our office would do the work, using the aura of our White House power to get a diverse group of faith and community leaders to a 'nonpartisan' event discussing how best to help poor people in their area," Kuo writes.

But while the White House was happy to take evangelicals' votes, it had nothing but contempt for their leaders, Kuo asserts. He alleges that staffers in Karl Rove's office referred to Religious Right activists as "the nuts" and writes, "National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous,' Out of control' and just plain 'goofy.'"

To placate them, the evangelical leaders were given White House cuff links or pens, Kuo writes.

Kuo also maintains that non-Christian groups were systematically excluded from faith-based funding, even though White House officials insisted the money would be available to all.

Kuo quotes one official who rated grant applications. She told Kuo, "When I saw one of those non-Christian groups in the set I was reviewing, I just stopped looking at them and gave them a zero." When Kuo asked her if others had done the same, she replied, "Oh sure. A lot of us did."

In the book, Kuo also debunks the frequent White House claim that widespread discrimination against religious groups exists in the federal government. In fact, he writes, faith-based office staff found very few examples of discrimination. Despite this finding, Bush has continued to claim that such discrimination is common and says his initiative is needed to "level the playing field."

Bush, Kuo writes, also persisted in telling religious groups that $8 billion in new money was being made available under the initiative when in fact it involved no new funding at all. The $8 billion was drawn from existing funds that were to be disbursed in a different way. Even after being told this by Kuo, Bush remarked, "Eight billion, that's what we'll tell them. Eight billion in new funds for faith-based groups."

Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn said the new revelations underscore charges AU made four years ago about the faith-based initiative being used for partisan purposes.

"This is proof that the faith-based initiative was a deplorable sham from day one," said Lynn. "This initiative was never about helping the poor; it was about shameless partisan politicking. It has undercut the constitutional separation of church and state, and it has been horrible public policy."

Copyright Americans United for Separation of Church and State Nov 2006
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