Freedom Writer - January 1994

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Coalition opens doors to public,but forgets the welcome mat

Cloaked in secrecy in 1991 and 1992, this year's Road to Victory conference
was allegedly open to the media and the paying public. So, Skipp Porteous 
and Barbara Simon, of the Institute for First Amendment Studies, paid 
the registration fee and attended the September 9th and 10th conference 
at the Hilton in Washington, D.C. On the afternoon of the second day, 
the group divided  into state caucuses.  By this time, most of the 
media had left.

Simon and Porteous headed for the Massachusetts caucus. On the way, 
however, Christian Coalition security personnel nabbed Porteous and 
barred him from entering, claiming his presence would be "disruptive." 
 Simon eluded them and went into the meeting. n Patricia Hoffmann, 
who conducted the Massachusetts meeting, told Simon to leave. "We're 
here to build our state, and you're not welcome!" Hoffmann said.  
When Simon protested, Hoffmann threatened to have her "removed bodily" 
if she didn't leave promptly.  "That's not very Christian of you," 
Simon replied before leaving of her own accord.

Meanwhile, other security personnel gathered around Porteous.  Soon 
the Christian Coalition's national field director, Guy Rodgers, joined 
them.  Rodgers took credit for barring the couple from the secret 
meetings. Then, Coalition executive director Ralph Reed appeared. 
He freely admitted to issuing the order barring Simon and Porteous. 
When Porteous questioned him concerning his directive, Reed retorted, 
"You're not pro-family!"  Porteous then stated, "I beg your pardon, 
I am pro-family." Reed responded, "Well, you're not pro-family conservative." 
 Porteous had the last word when he countered with, "But I am pro-family 
- just not your brand of pro-family." 

Represented by almost 300 Coalition members from Pennsylvania, that 
state's Christian Coalition chapter was awarded a $10,000 prize for 
having the most delegates at Road to Victory 1993.  This Christian 
Coalition chapter successfully utilized educational issues to rally 
support.

Its success has led the Pennsylvania state chapter to purchase the 
Aristotle voter identification program.   This computer program, which 
is commercially available nationwide, costs approximately $30,000 
(per state list) and identifies every registered voter in that state. 
The Christian Coalition's national office will kick in $5,000 toward 
the purchase price. Christian Coalition state chapters currently using 
Aristotle include: California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and South 
Carolina.  The state chapters provide the local chapters with this 
program so that they can compare  registered voters with the membership 
lists of local conservative Christian churches. These church members 
are then targeted by the Coalition for involvement as Christian political 
activists.

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Copyright 1995 IFAS
The Freedom Writer / ifas@crocker.com

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