Rep. Archer Goes To Bat With Tax Officials For Christian Coalition.

The powerful Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is using his influence with the Internal Revenue Service to lobby on behalf of the Christian Coalition.

Rep. Bill Archer of Texas brought up the matter of the Coalition's still-pending tax-exempt status during a private meeting with IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti May 19, The Wall Street Journal reported. The political group, founded by TV preacher Pat Robertson, has been operating with a provisional tax-exempt status since 1989. Many observers charge the organization does not deserve to be tax exempt because it engages in too much partisan politics.

Archer met with Rossotti ostensibly to discuss a bill pending in Congress that would restructure the IRS and during the conversation shifted topics to the Christian Coalition. Critics insisted it was inappropriate for Archer to bring up the Coalition's tax-exempt status at a time when sensitive matters such as the IRS's budget were being discussed.

Archer denied he was trying to pressure the federal tax agency, but he did concede that he had spoken with Christian Coalition Executive Director Randy Tate just hours before the meeting.

"There's nothing to hide about it," Archer insisted to The Journal, but the paper reported that the Texas Republican, who received a 100 percent approval rating on the Coalition's Congressional Scorecard, "was annoyed nonetheless that his request had become known."

"Archer brought it up, without bias, to Rossotti and asked him to look into it so the IRS was using its rules and regulations in an absolutely apolitical manner," said Ari Fleischer, an Archer spokesman. "It wasn't a plug. It was making sure the IRS conducts its business in a fair and impartial manner."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State strongly protested the Archer action. In a May 28 letter to Rossotti, AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn charged that Archer's intervention was "outrageous and wholly inappropriate."

Americans United also sent Rossotti further documentation that the Christian Coalition continues to operate as a partisan political group. AU noted that the Coalition's "1998 Congressional Scorecard" shows "an overwhelming bias toward the Republican Party." (See "Tainted Test," June Church & State.) Christian Coalition officials boast that they plan to use the scorecards to affect elections this November.

Wrote Lynn to Rossotti, "The Internal Revenue Service bears the responsibility of ensuring that tax-exempt status is not abused by partisan political groups such as the Christian Coalition. I trust you will carry out this responsibility in regard to the Christian Coalition, despite unconscionable pressures from members of Congress. The American people deserve no less."

In a letter to Archer the same day, Lynn said, "Your intervention in this still-unresolved matter is wholly inappropriate. Accordingly, I urge you to formally withdraw your request to the IRS and to publicly disavow any intention to pressure the IRS to act on this matter."

In other news about the Christian Coalition:

* The Coalition's September "Road to Victory" Conference in Washington, D.C., will feature addresses by major GOP figures who are expected to seek the presidency in 2000. Confirmed speakers include Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), Steve Forbes, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Sen. Robert Smith (R-N.H.), Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio) and Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council. So far, no Democrats are on the line-up.

Other personalities on the agenda include National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston and Focus on the Family President James Dobson.

* Coalition Chairman Pat Robertson told state lieutenants in a closed-door meeting in Atlanta last fall that he would let them know which GOP candidate the group should back in the year 2000 through "personal letters" or "informal discussions." Apparently that message has gone out.

The S.C., State reported May 24 that Coalition supporters packed the South Carolina Republican convention and helped U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft win a straw poll of presidential hopefuls. Robertson and his wife, Dede, have contributed $5,000 apiece to Ashcroft's political action committee, the Spirit of America. Gretchen Purser, who helped the Coalition develop its mailing list, is running direct-mail for Ashcroft, and he has hired Coalition board member Ralph Reed to help with his campaign.

* The Christian Coalition and its allies in Colorado are working to cleanse the GOP of moderates. Working with an anti-abortion organization and a pro-gun group, the Coalition is denying party endorsements to moderate Republicans in an effort to keep them off the ballot in favor of hard-right candidates.

The Coalition has labeled 15 Colorado lawmakers "the Fake 15" for their refusal to support legislation banning late-term abortions.

In Weld County, the Republican assembly passed a resolution earlier this year requiring that candidates go before a screening committee to determine "if they are ethically and morally qualified to serve as role models." According to the Denver Post, the office seekers would also be checked for "moral uprightness, integrity and marital fidelity."

* Over the years, several Christian Coalition staffers have left the group to work for Republican office-holders, further underscoring the close ties between the organization and the party. Most recently, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) hired a former Christian Coalition lobbyist, Heidi Stirrup, to be his senior policy advisor.