Media Transparency

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Bill Berkowitz
April 18, 2006

Senator Rick Santorum counting on the Pennsylvania Pastors Network

Following the example set by the Ohio Restoration Project, the PPN is organizing Christian conservatives to save Santorum's career

After two-term Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum's book, "It Takes A Family: Conservatism and the Common Good" -- a sort-of rebuttal to Senator Hillary Clinton's "It TakesRick Santorum and the Pennsylvania Pastors Network a Village" -- was published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (website), moaning and groaning was heard from the usual anti-Santorum crowd. But the anti-Santorum folks weren't completely alone; a resoundingly negative review also appeared at the website of Christianity Today, where reviewer John Wilson wrote: "Every Christian on the front lines of the culture wars should read this book -- as an example of how not to go about it."

While the book contains "well-reasoned policy recommendations and telling anecdotes...from the start, [it] has a divided heart," Wilson maintained. "Santorum's contemptuous references to 'liberals,' 'village elders,' and 'the Bigs' (this from a candidate who boasts Wal-Mart as a major donor) are pitched to the right-wing choir. One moment sneering in full talk-radio mode, the next moment sanctimoniously quoting Tocqueville, Santorum wants to have his cake and eat it, too."

Sanctimonious is as good a term as any to describe the embattled incumbent. These days, Sen. Rick Santorum, the 47-year old devout Roman Catholic who was once named one of "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" by Time magazine, is in the fight of his political career.

In November, he will more than likely square off against Pennsylvania State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. -- who still needs to win the May primary -- the son of the very popular former Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey. One of the unusual aspects of this race is that both Santorum and Casey have staked out anti-abortion positions, therefore basically taking that issue off the table.

With the abortion issue neutralized, Santorum, who was elected to the House in 1990 and the Senate in 1994, is aiming to mobilize his Christian conservative base with a slate of other "values voter" issues, including his support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

According to the Washington Times, Santorum "raised more than $3 million in the first three months of the year and has a 2-to-1 cash advantage over his leading Democratic opponent." On April 18, the newspaper reported that Santorum finished the first quarter of the year with more than $9 million cash on hand, compared with $4.5 million for Casey, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission yesterday.

Thus far, Santorum "has raised more than $16 million for the November election [while] ... Casey has raised more than $8 million." Recent polls have shown Casey with a double-digit lead over Santorum.

Santorum's 'Compassionate Conservatism' and hurricane Katrina victims

In September 2005, Santorum gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation's First International Conservative Conference on Social Justice that "outlined the successes and failures, but more importantly the future of conservatism," according to Wikipedia. Two months later, it was turned into an op-ed piece for TownHall.com, outlining "his vision for 'Compassionate Conservatism.'"

Santorum wrote: "What I call 'Compassionate Conservatism' has something unique to offer to the shaping of our future.

"Compassionate Conservatism relies on healthy families, freedom of faith, a vibrant civil society, a proper understanding of the individual and a focused government to achieve noble purposes through definable objectives which offers hope to all."

"Conservatism is based upon the idea of preserving the good in our society, adding to it the wisdom of experience coupled with the courage and optimism of a new generation. This formula inspired Reagan and Thatcher to hope, and to work together to change the world. Let us build upon their example to be a beacon of hope in this troubled world."

Santorum's brand of "compassionate conservatism" was apparently missing in action on September 4, 2005. A few days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, he was asked by Pittsburgh television station WTAE about evacuation warnings. Sentorum said that "people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings...There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving."

A few days later, under a barrage of criticism by many people, including his opponent, Santorum backtracked. He told WTAE that it was obvious that "most of the people here in this case, an overwhelming majority of people just literally couldn't have gotten out on their own," he said. "Many didn't have cars ... And that really was a failure on the part of local officials in not making transportation available to get people out."

During a September 8, 2005 interview with public radio station WITF in Harrisburg, PA, Santorum claimed that "The weather service gave no warning, or not sufficient warning in my opinion, as to the effects when it came on land in Florida as a Category One hurricane ... Predictions were that it wasn't going to go out to the gulf and affect the western gulf coast, it was going to sort of head up to Florida or go right off the coast of Florida ... I'm not going to suggest when it comes to Katrina that there were any major errors. I don't know. This is something that I think needs to be investigated."

A press release issued a day later by Senator Jim DeMint, (R-SC) said that "After reviewing the actions taken by the National Weather Service, I am convinced that this was one of the most accurate hurricane predictions we have ever seen."

Perhaps it is no coincidence that "Santorum is the sponsor of legislation proposed to prevent the National Weather Service from competing with private sector weather services," Wikipedia pointed out.

Ethical lapses

In October of last year, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW - website), a legislative watchdog group, released a 93-page report (pdf) titled "Beyond DeLay: The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress". According to a CREW press release, the report "document[s] the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted Members of Congress."

Santorum, along with Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), was included on the list of 13 legislators.

According to the report, Santorum's "ethics issues stem from the manner in which he funded his children's education and the close timing between the Senator's introduction of a weather service bill benefiting for-profit weather companies and a donation from a private Pennsylvania weather company [AccuWeather Inc.]" to America's Foundation, his political action committee.

David Girard-diCarlo, a managing partner at Philadelphia-based law firm Blank Rome "serves as national finance director for" Santorum, the Wall Street Journal has reported. "Blank Rome has numerous lobbying clients. Girard-diCarlo oversees a group of more than 40 Washington lobbyists who hope to raise $4 million for Santorum's re-election bid. 'The senator is most appreciative' of such fundraising help, says Mr. Santorum's spokesman, Robert Traynham."

Pennsylvania Pastors Network

Recently, the Senator turned to the newly formed Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN - website) -- a group currently organizing training sessions in order "to enlist Pennsylvania pastors in turning out voters for the November election," the New York Times reported in late March -- for its support.

According to its website, the PPN is a "network of Biblically-faithful clergy and church liaisons whose objective is to build a permanent infrastructure of like-minded clergy who":

"The [training] sessions could test the promises of the tax agency [the Internal Revenue Service] to step up enforcement of the law that prohibits such activity by [tax] exempt organizations," the New York Times reported.

In early March, the first training session was held at Valley Forge. The meeting, organized and sponsored by several groups including Let Freedom Ring, the Pennsylvania Family Institute, the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation & Urban Family Council, was attended by 125 clergy members.

Sen. Santorum was the only candidate to send a videotaped message. "I encourage you to let your voices be heard from the pulpit" on the important issues of the day, Santorum said.

"You are the leaders of the flock," Mr. Santorum said. "You have a responsibility to be informed and to inform" and "to help guide those who seek your counsel," especially about the importance of banning same-sex marriage.

According to OMB Watch, PPN "is comprised of two 501 (c)(3) (non-profit) organizations (the Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Urban Family Council) and two 501(c)(4) organizations [the West Chester, PA-based] Let Freedom Ring and the Pro-Life Federation)." While 501 (c)(3) groups are "prohibited from engaging in partisan activities, directly or indirectly ... 501 (c)(4) groups can endorse candidates, but a joint effort that includes 501 (c)(3)s must be nonpartisan." Additionally, 501(c)(4) organizations cannot have political action as their prime activity.

Former Chester County Commissioner Colin A. Hanna, the founder and president of Let Freedom Ring is also the founder of the anti-immigrant WeNeedAFence.com. Founded in 2004, Let Freedom Ring's activities are heavily financed by its chairman Dr. Jack Templeton, who is the son of John Templeton -- who owned Templeton Funds until 1992.

FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, pointed out that Hanna's Let Freedom Ring, "has been running a pair of ads promoting the idea of building 'a state-of-the-art border security fence' along the US boundary with Mexico. It said it bought $100,000 worth of air time for the ad, which was seen nationally on CNN and Fox News." Hanna "gained some national attention for refusing to remove a plaque of the Ten Commandments from the county courthouse," while he was a member of the Chester County Commission.

The anti-immigration ad campaign shows "the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center while claiming 'illegal immigration from Mexico provides easy cover for terrorists," FactCheck.org reported.

Hanna, who described Santorum's book as "thoroughly and soundly grounded in Christian doctrine and Scripture as the revealed word of God," saw to it that the book was part of the swag passed out to clergy at the Valley Forge training session.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the Urban Family Council, "founded by well-known local conservative religious activist William Devlin, ... reaped a $10,000 grant from a controversial charity founded by Santorum, the Operation Good Neighbor Foundation."

The newspaper also reported "In 2003, Santorum and Specter successfully fought to earmark $3.1 million in federal funds for abstinence programs in Pennsylvania, including $126,000 for the Urban Family Council. [Betty Jean] Wolfe, [the president of the group] confirmed that ... [it] later received a second grant of approximately the same amount."

On March 22, CREW filed an IRS complaint against PPN "alleging that [its] ... get-out-the-vote training session ... may have violated IRS rules governing charities," according to the group's press release.

CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan said "it appears that rather than engaging in legal, non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts, the real mission of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network is to assist Senator Santorum in his re-election campaign. This is exactly the sort of political activity prohibited by IRS law." Sloan continued, "the IRS has already taken action against a liberal church in Pasadena, California for much less egregious activities. If the IRS is serious about enforcing the law equally, it will take action against those involved in creating the Pennsylvania Pastors Network as well."

Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring the sponsor of PPN characterized CREW as "a liberal front group masquerading as a non-partisan, non-political organization. The complaint filed today is no different from the one CREW filed against Let Freedom Ring for the work we did in 2004. CREW claimed then (as now) that we were violating the law. The IRS did not agree with CREW's biased assessment. Instead, the IRS dismissed the complaint because Let Freedom Ring had not violated the law."

"We and all our participants have followed, and will continue to follow, both the letter and spirit of the law," Hanna continued. "This demonstrates and reinforces our commitment to informing pastors and religious leaders of their rights under the First Amendment to be involved in their community's public policy debate(s), to educate them about issues of concern to people of faith, to conduct non-partisan voter registration drives and to exercise their rights as citizens."

The Rev. Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life -- one of the most uncompromising Christian right organizations -- spoke at the training session and "invoked the prophet Ezekiel, whose voice brought a field of bones to life," the New York Times reported.

"You and I are standing before a field of dry bones, aren't we?" Pavone told the attendees. "Dead consciences. Destroyed life." Pavone "emphasized how important control of the Senate would be if another Supreme Court vacancy opened soon, potentially tipping the court against abortion rights," according to the New York Times. "This particular president needs the kind of support that he has today but might not necessarily have after 2006," Pavone said.

Later, the newspaper reported that Let Freedom Ring had "posted a notice on its website" calling attention to the fact that the PPN "was hiring 10 full-time organizers to help churches get out the vote, suggesting a sizable and well-financed effort."

"Evangelical or Catholic background is helpful," the site suggested.

In an interview with the New York Times, Hanna said that that the training sessions had nothing to do with the Santorum campaign: "He noted that the training sessions explicitly encouraged the members of the clergy to speak about policies and to avoid endorsing candidates, guidelines within the limits of tax laws. He also noted that one of the speakers was Raymond L. Flynn, a former Democratic mayor of Boston and ambassador to the Vatican who has become a supporter of President Bush and social conservative causes."

Gary Marx, who helped direct the Bush re-election campaign's work with Christian groups in 2004, oversees the get-out-the-vote effort.

In a press release dated March 21, 2006, the Reverend Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, maintained that the Pennsylvania Pastors Network was "an under-the-radar campaign to re-elect Santorum. Pennsylvania pastors are being misled, and they need to be very careful. The Internal Revenue Service is watching carefully for violations of federal tax law this year."

(In late March, Bob Casey wrote a letter to the PPN requesting an opportunity to speak at one of their training sessions. "I am sure you are interested in clearly showing that the Pennsylvania Pastors Network does not endorse candidates," Casey said. "I would greatly appreciate being allowed a few minutes to share my values and priorities.")

A mid-April visit to the PPN website found that the organization is readying pastors for the release of the movie "The DaVinci Code," based on the mega-best seller of the same name, by offering free seminars "to help you educate your flocks about the upcoming" movie. "We have assembled a set of resources that Christian leaders will find helpful in refuting the outrageous assertions of this movie. Pastors are rising to the challenge and using this as an opportunity to evangelize the truth."

PPN has trained pastors to help them "learn how to educate their congregations about the Pennsylvania Marriage Protection Amendment; is working to de-fund Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood; and is recommending that "State legislatures should codify appropriate preferences for married couples (where available) in adoption law."

In the Mold of the Ohio Restoration Project

The Pennsylvania Pastors Network is modeled on the success of the Ohio Restoration Project (ORP - website), which is currently seeking to organize evangelical voters in that state to elect Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell as governor this year. At its website, the ORP states that its mission is "to create, fund, and operate a public information program for patriot pastors and the Christian community..."

According to an early April story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the ORP is getting plenty of media attention these days: "The New York Times, USA Today, The American Prospect, National Public Radio and HBO, among others, all have come to Ohio to cover the influence that evangelical church leaders like [the Rev. Russell] Johnson [of Lancaster, Ohio's Fairfield Christian Church] are trying to exert on Ohio politics."

In addition to getting attention for its organizing work among Christian evangelicals, the ORP has been roundly criticized for blurring the lines between church and state.

"In January, 31 ministers from Ohio filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service asking that the agency investigate Johnson's church and the Ohio Restoration Project," the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

"The complaint also names the World Harvest Church in Canal Winchester, run by televangelist Rod Parsley, and its affiliated Center for Moral Clarity and Reformation Ohio.

"The complaint charges that these organizations are promoting conservative officeholders, especially Ken Blackwell, the Ohio secretary of state and candidate for governor. The complaint cites church-sponsored events featuring a single candidate -- Blackwell; partisan voter registration; and biased voter education materials.

Last month about 100 church leaders, including those who filed the complaint, formed 'We Believe Ohio,' an organization to push social-justice issues into the public arena as a way to move the political debate away from such issues as gay marriage."

Supporting Bush's Faith-Based Initiative

Santorum has played a leading role in supporting President Bush's faith-based initiative. His work often revolves around what is termed the "charitable choice" exemption. "Charitable choice" riders -- frequently tucked stealthily into legislation dealing with the provision of social services -- allow religious-based organizations to compete for government funds without having to give up their religious beliefs, including their opposition to state and local anti-discrimination measures.

In 2002, when the president's faith-based initiative was floundering in Congress, the administration called on Santorum and Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) to craft a compromise measure. Although their efforts failed, the faith-based initiative has moved forward through Bush's use of executive orders.

Earlier this month, the Allentown, Pennsylvania Morning Call reported that the El Shaddai Bethlehem Ministries (which is also known as the Bethlehem Christian Training Center), has "received more than $300,000 in federal aid through President Bush's controversial Faith and Community Based Initiative." The church celebrated its move into its newly renovated headquarters with "a week-long celebration" beginning with an inaugural dinner and remarks from Rick Santorum.

The Rev. Marilyn Hartman, the church's executive pastor, insists that the federal grants have gone toward the church's job training programs, its work with former prisoners, and towards preparing folks for home ownership. "Nonetheless, some have complained that faith-based money is being distributed to advance Republican Party goals," the newspaper reported. "Federal faith-based dollars have flowed more readily to areas where Republicans are in tight races, said Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United."

According to a White House news release issued last month, faith-based organizations in Pennsylvania received more than $72 million in federal grants in 2005, the fifth highest total among the 50 states.