Candidate Queries By Religious Right Spark Controversy.

Christian Coalition voter guides have come under fire in Florida for possibly violating state ethics laws by asking candidates for judicial slots where they stand on political issues.

Two attorneys seeking judicial slots in Brevard and Seminole Counties answered questionnaires mailed by the Christian Coalition and indicated their views on legal abortion, church-state separation and other issues. Officials with the Florida Bar Association raised concerns, arguing candidates for judgeships are not supposed to say how they would rule on controversies that may come before them, reported the Orlando Sentinel.

The two candidates, Jack Greisbaum and Jeffrey Thompson, agree with the Christian Coalition politically. Both insist they have done nothing wrong.

But officials with the Florida bar are not so sure and point to Canon 7, a bar regulation designed to prevent judges from indicating how they would rule in certain cases. Violators face discipline by the bar or, if they are elected, by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, a state agency.

In other news from Florida, a Coalition guide distributed in Sarasota County may be illegal for giving misleading information about absentee voting. The guide was distributed to Republicans in advance of an Oct. 1 runoff election for a state House of Representatives seat. Included was a typed request for an absentee ballot with instructions to return it to Donald Cunningham, head of the county Coalition chapter.

Election officials said state law requires voters or their legal guardians to request absentee ballots. "It doesn't comply with the law," said Elections Supervisor Marilyn Gerkin. "The law was changed so people aren't requesting absentee ballots for someone else."

Meanwhile in California, another Religious Right group, the Traditional Values Coalition, raised eyebrows when it sent a questionnaire to state appellate judges, who are elected to office, asking if they have ever belonged to the American Civil Liberties Union or the National Organization for Women. The judges don't run in competitive elections but do appear on the ballot every 12 years in a yes-or-no retention election.

Of the 40 judges, only 14 replied, and all said they had never belonged to the ACLU or NOW. TVC head the Rev. Louis Sheldon said the group plans to put the information on a voter guide that will be distributed to 14,000 California churches.

In other news about the Religious Right and politics:

* The Christian Coalition of Colorado in September surveyed Republican legislative candidates on a variety of social issues, such as abortion and gay rights. But this survey also contained a twist: Candidates were asked who they would vote for in state House and Senate leadership elections.

Moderates and Religious Right activists have been at loggerheads in the state, and the survey questions didn't help. "There are some extremely liberal Republicans running for leadership," Christian Coalition President Chuck Gosnell told a Denver Post columnist. "Our members want to know if their legislators are supporting them."

Critics say the effort is just one more piece of evidence that the Coalition is little more than arm of the Republican Party.

* Hawaii's Campaign Spending Commission is investigating the Christian Coalition's role in an anti-gay marriage referendum in the state. The probe was launched after gay rights groups filed a complaint asserting that the Coalition may be violating Hawaii's spending laws since it has not filed documents with the state agency yet is soliciting money in Hawaii. State law requires groups working on political issues to disclosure the sources of their funding.

The gay groups believe the Christian Coalition and other Religious Right groups are behind an effort to amend Hawaii's Constitution to ban gay marriage through an organization called Save Traditional Marriage. The referendum question will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.