[Mb-civic] Movement in the Pews Tries to Jolt Ohio

[Michael Butler]

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    Movement in the Pews Tries to Jolt Ohio
    By James Dao
    The New York Times

    Sunday 27 March 2005

    
The Ohio secretary of state, J. Kenneth Blackwell, has the support of the
state's conservative church leaders.
(Photo: Greg Sailor / The New York Times)
    
    Columbus, Ohio - Christian conservative leaders from scores of Ohio's
fastest growing churches are mounting a campaign to win control of local
government posts and Republican organizations, starting with the 2006
governor's race.

    In a manifesto that is being circulated among church leaders and on the
Internet, the group, which is called the Ohio Restoration Project, is
planning to mobilize 2,000 evangelical, Baptist, Pentecostal and Roman
Catholic leaders in a network of so-called Patriot Pastors to register half
a million new voters, enlist activists, train candidates and endorse
conservative causes in the next year.

    The initial goal is to elect Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a
conservative Republican, governor in 2006. The group hopes to build
grass-roots organizations in Ohio's 88 counties and take control of local
Republican organizations.

    "The establishment of the Ohio Republican Party is out of touch with its
base," said Russell Johnson, the pastor of the Fairfield Christian Church
and the principal organizer of the project. "It acts as if it lives in
Boston, Mass."

    Pastor Johnson's challenge to the party establishment could have
far-reaching consequences in a state dominated by Republican elected
officials but still considered a bellwether in presidential politics.
Conservatives in other swing states are watching closely.

    "In Ohio, the church is awakening to its historic role as the moral
voice in the community," said Colin A. Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring,
a conservative group based in Pennsylvania that trains ministers in
political activism. "Ohio is in the vanguard of that nationally. I very much
want Pennsylvania to be with them."

    The church leaders say they will try to harness the energy of religious
conservatives who were vital not only to Mr. Bush's narrow victory in Ohio
but also to passage of an amendment to the state constitution banning
same-sex marriage. The amendment, known as Issue 1, was credited with
drawing large numbers of rural and suburban conservatives to the polls and
increasing Mr. Bush's support among urban blacks.

    "We're calling people to act, not just wring their hands in the pews,"
said Rod Parsley, senior pastor of the World Harvest Church outside
Columbus, who is considered a rising star in the religious broadcasting
world and will be an inspirational speaker for the project. "We got people
motivated last year, and then the election was over. We don't want folks to
think our work is over."

    Republican officials are watching warily. The chairman of the state
party, Robert T. Bennett, warned that the decade-long dominance of his party
could be jeopardized if it was pushed too far to the right. "This is a party
of a big tent," Mr. Bennett said. "The far right cannot elect somebody by
itself, any more than somebody from the far left can."

    The conservatives point to the governor's race as an example of what
they consider wrong with the state Republican Party. Of the three Republican
candidates, only Mr. Blackwell has the solid support of religious
conservatives. Jim Petro, the attorney general, opposed the same-sex
marriage amendment on the grounds that it would invite litigation against
companies that provided domestic partner benefits. Betty D. Montgomery, the
state auditor, has supported some abortion rights.

    Gov. Bob Taft, who cannot run for re-election because of term limits,
allowed a sales tax increase to close a budget shortfall and opposed the
marriage amendment.

    "We're very confused that you have a Republican Party platform, and yet
people running for higher office pay no attention to it," said Phil Burress,
the leader of the Issue 1 campaign, who is also helping organize the
Restoration Project. "Why don't they just become Democrats?" he asked.

    [On March 22, Mr. Petro announced that his running mate for lieutenant
governor would be Phil Heimlich, a conservative from Cincinnati, and Ms.
Montgomery has asked for a meeting with Pastor Johnson. Conservatives said
that was evidence that the candidates recognized the churches' power.]

    "They understand what happens when 100,000 people committed to our views
are on the same page," Pastor Johnson said. "In their little political
gatherings and cocktail meetings at the country club, they can't build that
kind of loyalty. They can't spend millions to buy what our people will give
for free."

    In a three-way primary, many Republican leaders say, Mr. Blackwell has a
solid chance of winning because conservatives represent much of the party's
base. But moderates worry that he could alienate independent voters and lose
the general election. Some are discussing enlisting the White House to prod
Mr. Blackwell to quit the race.

    In a recent meeting of leaders from some of the state's largest
churches, many of them in booming Republican suburbs, the Restoration
Project issued a blueprint calling for Patriot Pastors to register 500,000
new voters by the May 2006 primary, then inform and energize them with voter
guides, rallies and so-called e-prayer networks on the Internet. The group
hopes to raise $1 million and is considering creating a political action
committee to provide direct donations to candidates.

    The project, which describes itself as nonpartisan and nonprofit, will
not endorse candidates. But Mr. Blackwell will be invited to speak to
pastoral meetings and to a statewide Ohio for Jesus rally next spring, along
with other prominent Christian conservatives like the Rev. Franklin Graham,
Dr. James Dobson and Charles Colson, the plan says.

    Democrats say they are buoyed by the insurgency of Mr. Blackwell. "He's
formidable in many ways, but he's the candidate we'd most like to run
against," said Greg Haas, a strategist for Michael Coleman, the mayor of
Columbus, who is seen as a favorite for the Democratic nomination.

    In an interview, Mr. Blackwell, who is black, said that Ohio had shifted
to the right and that he now represented mainstream voters. He also
predicted that he would draw black religious conservatives into the
Republican Party, breaking the Democrats' hold on urban precincts.

    "I think what's happening is we're seeing a struggle for the heart and
soul of the Republican Party," he said. "And that's healthy."

    Experts said that religious conservatives could bring energy to
campaigns, but that they had mixed results trying to win control of local
political organizations.

    "For short periods of time, they often had successes," said John C.
Green, a professor of political science at the University of Akron. "But it
was very difficult to sustain."

    Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of
Church and State, said the Restoration Project might have greater impact
because it was more homegrown and had ties to a wider array of denominations
than previous groups like the Moral Majority.

    "This represents a new wave in organizing on the part of conservative
evangelicals," Mr. Lynn said. "From my standpoint, as someone who doesn't
agree with their conclusions, this is a more dangerous model."

    Pastor Johnson says the project can sustain political energy. Among
conservative leaders, his church, which draws 2,500 regular Sunday
worshipers in a heavily Republican suburb of Columbus, is considered a model
for activism. In the last five years, a half dozen of its congregants have
been elected to local offices, including a judge, several Lancaster city
councilmen and the Fairfield County sheriff, Dave Phalen.

    Mr. Phalen said he was encouraged by church members to run for office in
2000, when the incumbent was under investigation for corruption.

    Sheriff Phalen's official letterhead now reads, "With God, all things
are possible."

    "These people turn out to vote," he said of Christian conservatives.
"They give money and will become active. And there will always be issues to
keep people mobilized."