Conservatives Accuse Watchdog Group[CREW] of 'Christianophobia'

A liberal government watchdog group has asked the Secret Service to release its records of prominent conservative Christian leaders' visits to the White House, but one of those leaders called the request "an act of Christianophobia."

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Wednesday. The group said in the request that the records are "likely to contribute to the public's understanding of the influence that conservative Christian leaders have, or attempt to have, on the president in the exercise of his authority."

The Secret Service has 20 business days to respond to the request for records pertaining to James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Gary Bauer of American Values, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, Louis Sheldon and Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition, Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Don Wildmon of American Family Association, and Jerry Falwell of Liberty University.

"These are people that are publicly identifiable as leaders of what I would call the Christian right, and we are interested to know the extent of influence that they may have had on the president and his policies," Anne Weismann, chief counsel for CREW, told Cybercast News Service.

"It's one thing to know that people have influence and have support of the president, but I don't know that that answers the question about the degree to which they have access and influence to the president and his staff on a day-to-day basis," Weismann added.

But Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, told Cybercast News Service that she questioned CREW's motives in not seeking information about other religious groups who visit the White House, calling it "an act of Christianophobia."

Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, said CREW is "targeting people who represent millions and millions of Christians, and this is clearly an attempt to harass and to intimidate."

"They don't want Christians to turn out and vote," she said. "What they really want us to do is turn in our voter ID cards and just say, 'Hey, we're not going to show up at the polls.'

"I think this will only anger the millions of people these people represent," said Lafferty.

She noted that it is not unusual for the nine people listed in the FOIA request to visit the White House.

"Clearly, the White House communicates with a number of us on a weekly basis on a variety of issues," Lafferty told Cybercast News Service.

Lafferty said she and other conservative Christian leaders represent "a constituency that put the president in the White House. The president has a lot of people that he listens to - he cares about every citizen - but our folks are the heart and soul of the Republican Party right now."

Lafferty added that CREW is a "front group" funded in part by billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros.

"Obviously, everyone on the list is considered a threat," she said. "Anyone who is a threat, Soros and his people go after.

"Soros is a very wealthy, manipulative, evil person who is trying to direct the outcome of this election, and he is going after Christians," Lafferty said.

Speaking of Anne Weismann of CREW [and CREW of deFoleyation and Nigerflap fame]... doesn't this look like advance preparation for the historical revisionists' wet dream, the arrival of Sandy Berger ?

<snip>

1 Oral Arguments in Electronic Records Court Case -- On June 27, Judge Paul Friedman of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia heard oral arguments in the case of Public Citizens v. John Carlin, U.S. Archivist -- Case Number 1:96 CV02840. The American Library Association, the National Security Archive, the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, as well as individual researchers are co-plaintiffs in this case. Michael Tankersley, accompanied by Alan Morrison, presented the case for the plaintiffs and Anne Weismann, accompanied by Jason Baron, presented the government's case. The suit challenges the Archivist's promulgation of a "General Records Schedule" authorizing all federal agencies, at their discretion, to destroy the only electronic version of Federal agency records stored on agency electronic mail and word processing systems provided the agency has printed a hard copy of the electronic record on paper of microform. The complaint states that the Archivist has "improperly ignored the unique value of electronic records" and "has abdicated his statutory responsibility to appraise the historical value of such electronic records."

The government rooted its defense in the argument of content versus form, stressing that while the electronic record is not being preserved the content is being preserved in paper form. Additionally, the government's position rested on the assertion that some agencies are not as technologically sophisticated as others and preservation of content in paper format is what is realistic and that saving all electronic mail would clog the system. Judge Friedman interrupted with frequent questions: Would it be all right to destroy all memorandum, regardless of format? How could a plaintiff file an FOIA for electronic material if it has been destroyed? Hasn't the Archivist given a blanket authorization to agencies? Most corporations have record keeping policies that specify specific time periods, and if not this is suspect, why not the same for the government? If the U.S. Archivist doesn't know what electronic records are being destroyed by agencies, is he fulfilling his role as gatekeeper on preservation of federal records? Why does the government have to have one government wide plan, why couldn't it have different plans for agencies that are more technologically advanced?...</snip>

------- NCC Washington Update 3:26, 6/30/97
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1997/06/msg00223.html

And, now that I brought John Carlin up, don't forget he's the same archivist who presided over Sandy Berger and who is a buddy of John Kerry :

Mr. Carlin was appointed Archivist by President William J. Clinton in 1995. He immediately began a comprehensive strategic planning effort that resulted in a 10-year plan to refocus the agency and bring it into the 21st century. -------- "John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States ," January 13, 2005 , http://www.archives.gov/welcome/bio_carlin.html

To: cyncooper; Miss Marple; Howlin
I just phoned the National Archives because when I googled - John Carlin archives - the first hit was to the NARA website - where he is STILL THE ARCHIVIST! What is going on! I spoke to an actual employee who said that his last day will be sometime in March 2005 The Dems had a) an extra year to 'straighten up' some files from the Clinton days; and b) reasons to expect that if Kerry were to be elected, Carlin would stay. Why did the Bush admin not pursue getting rid of him? Weakness? Chess moves?

[* Unfortunately it's more likely because there is way too much Barbara Streisand going on and we're playing catch up, or Heinz Ketchup, as the case may be.]

To: maica; livius Pinging livius to your investigative work. Good job.
The Bush administration did take steps to remove him. In September 2003, after the first visit where Archives employees noticed missing documents after Berger left, the first step was taken.
On December 5, 2003 Alberto Gonzales requested Carlin's resignation.
Now, I figured he was granted the extra months he requested (July 2004 he wanted 4 more months which would have been last November and he obviously was granted a few extra months). I don't think we can conclude at this point he was culpable in the Berger matter so I'm not surprised or bothered that he's still there, and it looks like he'll be gone shortly.
410 posted on 01/13/2005 7:18:45 AM PST by cyncooper

Carlin is also tight with a figure named Thomas Blanton who was exec director for the National Security Archives.

To: livius
When I first read your findings, I, too, thought Carlin tendered his resignation before the Berger business happened. That is not correct. The FBI was brought in in January 2004, BUT the DOJ was aware of what was going on almost immediately.
According to the following, Carlin's letter of resignation was dated December 19, 2003. Berger began visiting the Archives in July 2003 and the staff noticed documents missing in September and set up the sting in October (see my Berger timeline link at post #160).
I can't believe I had missed Carlin's resignation and the dems' intense questioning about it, but thank you so much for bringing that up. Here's the link to the article I just found and the excerpts:

Report on the Hearing on Allen Weinstein's Nomination as Archivist of the United States
Excerpts:
On July 22, 2004, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held a confirmation hearing on the pending nomination of historian Allen Weinstein to become Archivist of the United States. Weinstein is the Bush administration's choice to succeed the present archivist, John Carlin.
~snip~
Senator Lieberman asked whether Weinstein had any knowledge of Archivist John Carlin's December 19, 2003 letter indicating his intent to resign. (That letter was produced by the White House as evidence that Carlin had initiated the replacement search process.) Weinstein stated he had no such knowledge and then described the circumstances in which the White House approached him about the position.
Weinstein stated that on September 23, 2003 he was invited to meet with Ms. Dina Powell, Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Personnel about the possibility of a nomination as the next Archivist of the United States. In late November and early December he was then asked to fill out investigative and ethics forms that precede all presidential nominations. Weinstein stated that he was made aware that he would be the White House's nominee "in early January 2004." Under questioning, Weinstein also stated that he had several "generalized" conversations with White House Counsel Judge Alberto Gonzales and several others but that at no time were there any discussions about issues relating to archival records relating to the presidency.
~snip~
Senator Levin then introduced a bombshell document into the hearing record -- a letter from current Archivist Carlin that was prepared in response to a number of questions posed to him by Levin regarding whether he [Carlin] approached the administration, or had the administration initially had approached him about resigning as Archivist.
(The National Coalition for History and several of its member organizations have repeatedly called on the committee to get to the bottom of the issue relating to the Carlin controversy.)
In Carlin's response (dated July 21-my note: July 21, 2004--) obtained by the history coalition, the Archivist stated: "In answer to the first question, the Administration initially approached me. On Friday, December 5, 2003, the Counsel to the President [Alberto Gonzales] called me and told me the Administration would like to appoint a new Archivist. I asked why and there was no reason given."
Carlin then stated in the letter that he wants to continue as Archivist at least four more months as "there are initiatives I would like to complete before concluding my service as Archivist"...specifically the campaign to raise $22 million to fund the Public Vaults permanent exhibit that will open in November 2004 and since "we are on the verge of awarding a contract for the design of the Electronic Records Archives...I would like to see that budget request through to fruition over the next four months."
Levin and Durbin expressed concern that, contrary to provisions of the Archives independence act, the White House was requesting Carlin's resignation without stating a reason required in the law. Following a cordial but doggedly persistent pursuit of his objective, Levin asked Chairman Collins that the committee send a letter to the White House to explain why Carlin was being asked to resign as these actions endanger "the independence of the Archivist's office." If the committee declined to do so, Levin would do so independently.
~SNIP~
I do indeed think it is extremely likely that the Berger business is at issue here and the tone from Levin is very interesting. Very interesting.
223 posted on 01/12/2005 9:33:56 AM PST by cyncooper

"CREW is also into the tobacco lawsuits- they want money." Robert Montgomery, West Palm Beach, Fl was an important actor in the election recount of 2000 for dems. In fact, he got a black eye fighting about it in the middle of the night. He was also the lead attorney in the huge state lawsuits against tobacco companies.

It is this outfit that has twice tried to take out Rush Limbaugh with bogus charges. I suspect Montgomery is behind the Foley defamation, too. They have used the press to smear Rush too. Sensational press releases take the place of legsal charges often when the court of public opinion is used to circumvent the civil rights guarantees of the judiciary.

Note they tried to shop the story first to Tampa and Miami papers. . ABC was probably extorted into running a non-story, against the better news judgment of all pros by Clintonistas furious about Path to 911.

Montgomery is also active in trying to sue gun manufacturers when criminals use their guns to commit crimes, but his public personna is one of being a patron of the arts, especially the Armory Art Center.

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