COLUMBIA--The once-influential Christian Coalition
has struggled to raise money and pay its bills, but the group's executive
director says it will survive.
Once a voice for traditional family values, the group has moved its
headquarters to Charleston, where national Executive Director Roberta Combs
spends most of her time. The group had as many as 25 paid full-time staffers at
its headquarters in Washington in its heyday in 1994 but now has 10 there.
"The coalition as we knew it doesn't exist," says Lois Eargle, former
chairwoman of the Horry County Christian Coalition.
Earlier this summer, Pitney Bowes sued the coalition and said the group owed
$13,649 in unpaid postage. The issue was settled out of court, said Pitney Bowes
attorney Robert Bernstein of Charleston.
While the group agreed to make monthly payments to erase the debt, the issue
is a sign of ongoing struggles.
Combs wouldn't say the coalition is in trouble but acknowledged money has
been hard to raise since the group's founder, religious broadcaster Pat
Robertson, stepped down as coalition president in February 2002 and turned
control over to Combs.
"It hurt fundraising," she said. "There's never enough money."
The 16-year-old organization has been in decline since 1997 when Executive
Director Ralph Reed, one of its most effective leaders, left to form a political
consulting firm in Atlanta.
"He was a great media figure, able to convey his particular message," says
Corwin Smidt, professor of political science at Calvin College, a Christian
liberal arts school in Michigan. "But he was also a very bright young man and
was able to articulate and make arguments effectively on behalf of the
coalition."
During Reed's tenure, the coalition began distributing millions of voter
guides containing candidates' records on issues such as abortion and gay rights.
In 1994 alone, the group mailed 30 million postcards opposing President
Clinton's sweeping health care proposal and made more than 20,000 phone calls to
urge support for a balanced budget amendment. Those issues helped Republicans
win control of Congress that year.
The coalition is looking for a media spokesman -- someone of Reed's caliber
to put the organization back on the map.
Eargle thinks that's a waste of time.
"I don't see anyone stepping up to the plate that could revitalize the
coalition," she said.
