Dear Friends & Supporters,

This post is from an excellent organization called CC Watch in south
Florida. They monitor the Christian Coalition and the religious right in
general and do a fantastic job. They have been an invaluable source of
information to me over the last few years. They are a very small, but
extremely dedicated and hardworking, group. PLEASE support them by sending
them a response after you read this post and let them know how valuable they
are. If you can please ask them how you can support their efforts with a
donation. We REALLY need to support them; they time and time again come up
with information we can't get from any other source!

Skip Evans, President
Americans United/Atlanta


Return-Path: Watch97@aol.com
From: Watch97@aol.com
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 00:58:43 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Former GOP Official Warns of Rightward Lean

(reprinted for informational purposes only)

FORMER GOP OFFICIAL WARNS OF RIGHTWARD LEAN

By Dan Balz  --  Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 15 1997; Page A08
The Washington Post

The former finance chairman of the Republican Party, in a bluntly worded
letter to major contributors, warned this week that the party's future "is in
jeopardy" because of the influence of the Christian Coalition and the "far
right" and suggested big donors shift their money to a new organization that
will promote a moderate agenda for the GOP.

The letter by John A. Moran, who also served as Robert J. Dole's finance
chairman, called the election of Jim Nicholson as Republican National
Committee chairman a sign of the Christian Coalition's growing dominance and
said the current trend within the party will make it virtually impossible for
the GOP to recapture the White House.

"The Republican Party seems to keep digging a deeper hole among American
women," Moran wrote in the Feb. 10 letter. "Bill Clinton was reelected by the
female vote in this country. . . . Unless we bring back women and moderates
to the Republican Party, it will be a long time before we again see a
Republican president."

"I'm surprised and I'm disappointed that John would send out a letter like
this," Nicholson said yesterday, saying that his goal as chairman is to
"expand this party" by enlarging its coalition.

Moran's letter reflects an increasingly public argument between the GOP
conservatives and moderates over the direction of the party after Dole's
defeat in last November's presidential election. One Republican who had seen
the letter described it as "a huge shot across the bow" of Nicholson and the
party's conservatives.

Clinton's overwhelming advantage among women voters last November, along with
GOP losses in the Northeast and parts of the Midwest, have alarmed party
moderates, whose influence has declined in direct proportion to Republican
gains in the South and West.

Moran's letter reportedly was sent to many of the RNC's Team 100 members, who
contribute $175,000 each over a four-year period, and to some members of the
Republican Eagles, who donate $15,000 annually. It comes on the eve of a Team
100 meeting beginning Wednesday in Palm Beach, where Nicholson will outline
his agenda.

In the letter, Moran, who supported former New Hampshire governor Steve
Merrill for RNC chairman, complained that Nicholson's election reflects the
growing influence of the Christian Coalition and other "far-right"
organizations and represents a "troubling" trend within the party.

"Jim is a very pleasant fellow," Moran wrote, "and has been an active
Republican for many years. Those of us who have discussed his election,
however, feel that he will now be beholden to the far right for their
support. Ralph Reed [Christian Coalition executive director] is actually
taking credit for Jim's election."

Nicholson, who opposes abortion, noted that Merrill also campaigned "as a
pro-life conservative," and an RNC official pointed to comments from Reed
late last year indicating coalition members looked favorably on Merrill and
California Republican chairman John Herrington.

Some Christian Coalition allies on the committee shifted to Texas GOP
chairman Tom Pauken when he joined the race. On the day of the balloting,
Nicholson became the compromise choice, as others dropped out.

Reed said that while religious conservatives "played a pivotal role" in
Nicholson's election, their votes "hardly constituted a majority" of what he
received. He warned against devaluing moral issues: "If those who contribute
to the party can drive particular segments of a winning coalition out of the
party, that's a recipe for disaster."

Mel Sembler, Nicholson's choice as RNC finance chairman, said he was
"distressed" over Moran's letter and blamed it on his friend's disappointment
at seeing Merrill and Dole lose their elections. "He thought he could
bulldoze [Merrill] through just like he thought he could bulldoze Bob Dole
through," Sembler said. "I talked to him the other day and suggested to him
that he take some time off."

Moran argued that the agenda of Christian conservatives runs counter to that
of the moderates, who he said make up the party's fund-raising base. "I am
distressed when I think about the continued financial support we moderates
provide the Republican National Committee, when I know as most of you also
know the funds that we are either donating or raising are going to be
directed toward a political agenda that we do not subscribe to," he wrote.

Sembler responded, "We're a very diverse party, although the press seems to
want to paint us as captive of one part of the coalition."

Moran urged fellow contributors to consider giving money to a new entity that
will promote moderate candidates and ideas, saying the "financial firepower"
of Team 100 and the Eagles could create "a formidable political base" to
advance a moderate agenda. He encouraged them to offer "concrete suggestions"
about the direction in which "we should be moving."

(For more information contact Watch97@aol.com. To receive the timely
reportage/commentary of The "c.c.watch" Electronic News Service -- send
message "Subscribe" PLUS your real name/affiliation/reason for wanting to be
added to our public service list. "c.c.watch" tracks and reports on the
activities of Pat Robertson, his many enterprises [especially the Christian
Coalition], and his fellow travelers -- and then disseminates information
that the public might never otherwise receive.)