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By ABC News December 23, 2011 ABC News' Shushannah Walshe and Michael Falcone report: DAVENPORT, Iowa - An Iowa Christian conservative leader who bestowed his highly sought-after endorsement on presidential candidate Rick Santorum this week is now at the center of a controversy over whether he asked for cash in exchange for his public support. Less than 48-hours after receiving the backing of Bob Vander Plaats, the head of the prominent evangelical group The Family Leader, Santorum disclosed that the prominent Iowan told him he needed money to make the most out of the endorsement. And sources familiar with talks...

The DeSantis campaign, a super PAC linked to him and a nonprofit group supporting him together paid $95,000 in recent months to the Family Leader Foundation, an Iowa-based nonprofit led by evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, according to campaign finance reports and a document prepared by an Iowa state lawmaker who was helping the Vander Plaats organization raise money for a July 14 presidential candidate forum.

Influential evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats' organization, "The FAMiLY Leader," will be hosting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for a Thanksgiving Family forum. Vander Plaats, a faith leader who has endorsed the eventual winner in every contested GOP caucus since 2008, has not yet said who he'll support – but his coveted endorsement could soon go to DeSantis. On a Monday call with fundraisers, DeSantis told donors he is expecting an endorsement from Vander Plaats' within a week of the roundtable, according to multiple attendees who were...

Bob Vander Plaats, an influential evangelical leader in Iowa, is widely expected to endorse Ron DeSantis in the presidential primary. But now, with Donald Trump dominating the field, he is poised to back a candidate who is running 30 points behind the frontrunner here — testing not only the clout of his own endorsement, but the willingness of evangelicals to abandon Trump. Earlier this week, CBS reported that DeSantis told fundraisers he expects Vander Plaats’ endorsement within a week of the summit, which the DeSantis campaign denied.

Three candidates — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — sat down for a roundtable “family discussion” in Des Moines Friday. Trump did not attend, though he was invited. The candidates shared their personal stories in an unusual forum, as they have rarely appeared side-by-side in such a collegial setting on the campaign trail. The Family Leader reiterated that the event was not a debate after the Republican National Committee’s counsel’s office circulated a letter to campaigns dated Oct. 28 reminding candidates of their pledge not to participate in non-sanctioned debates and...

The Republican National Committee (RNC) threatened to prevent GOP presidential candidates from taking part in future party-sanctioned debates if they engaged in an open-press event in Iowa next week, drawing backlash from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Prior to the agreement over the format of the forum, in an Oct. 28 letter to the respective presidential campaigns the RNC Counsel's Office said that any candidate who participates in the Nov. 17 Des Moines event would violate their pledge to not participate in non-RNC-sanctioned primary debates. "The Forum is NOT a debate," he wrote in a post to X. "Thus, the RNC...

The DeSantis campaign, a super PAC linked to him and a nonprofit group supporting him together paid $95,000 in recent months to the Family Leader Foundation, an Iowa-based nonprofit led by evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, For that money, DeSantis and supporting groups got three pages of advertisements in a booklet distributed at the July forum attended by 2,000 Christian conservatives, and tickets to the summit, lunch and an after-dinner event. Vander Plaats and his group are leaders in the state’s Christian conservative movement, which has enormous political influence in Iowa. “Vander Plaats clearly understands his political power, his kingmaker...

The President and CEO of the FAMiLY LEADER is joined by Robert Cramer and Chuck HurleyHOUSTON, Texas — Bob Vander Plaats, President and CEO of the FAMiLY LEADER, today announced his endorsement of Ted Cruz for President. The influential conservative leader, who has lent his support to the last two winners of the Iowa Caucus, is considered by many to be a key endorsement amongst Iowa Caucus goers, particularly with evangelicals and strong conservatives.Bob Vander Plaats Endorses Ted Cruz for President (Video)According to Vander Plaats, "Today is the culmination of a months long process that was deliberative, intensive, and covered...

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Friday that “Obama-Clinton foreign policy” is to blame for growing threat of Islamic terrorism at a gathering of social conservatives in Iowa.Hosted by the Family Leader Christian advocacy group, the forum provided seven of the remaining GOP presidential candidates a platform to speak to evangelical and born-again Christian activists that can make or break a campaign. And it was much different in nature from the first four GOP debates.Candidates sat side-by-side at a “Thanksgiving table.” Instead of attacking each other, they trained fire at Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton - in particular, over The...

Link to article: Family Leader’s endorsement struggle reflects angst among Iowa social conservatives

At Governor Huckabee’s Gift of Life movie premiere last evening, I had an opportunity to sit down with The FAMiLY LEADER president Bob Vander Plaats. In an earlier interview I heard him suggest that the Family Leader may have to make a pragmatic decision on who to endorse for President. I was concerned that “pragmatic” might mean picking a pro-choice candidate over a pro-life candidate because they have a better “chance” at beating Barack Obama (or Mitt Romney!).When I pointed out that Rick Perry and New Gingrich hold positions that include exceptions on abortion he said:“If I find that to...

A key Iowa social conservatives group announced Tuesday it will not endorse former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney or businessman Herman Cain, but is still evaluating if it would back one of the other candidates. The Family Leader, which hosted a forum that six Republican candidates attended last Saturday, said in a statement that its board had narrowed its choices of an endorsement to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ex-senator Rick Santorum (Penn). The statement said the group would not consider endorsing Romney, who the group criticized for skipping its event. The...

Proposition 8: Governor Schwarzenegger Respect the Voter's Will If you are a California citizen, please act immediately to sign this petition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is urging the California Supreme Court to overthrow the results of the recent free and fair election which passed Proposition 8, defining marriage as between a man and a woman. His actions as governor in attempting to negate this vote are an insult to the voters of California and undermine the rule of law. We will deliver this letter with your signatures to his office as a means of saying that the voices of...

Some issues ought to stay comfortably and securely buried, but the Equal Rights Amendment just keeps rearing its ugly head. It is the tired, but dangerous amendment that refuses to die. This week a bill to restart the ratification process of the ERA was introduced into the House by New York Democrat Carolyn B. Maloney and 194 co-sponsors. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers said he will hold hearings on it and lawmakers backing it say they will bring it to a vote. "We're going to win it now. We've got the votes, Rep. Maloney told a group of cheering...

Should sexual orientation be part of a sex-ed curriculum? Thursday morning on Good Morning America millions of viewers saw a story about a new, controversial sex-ed curriculum now being tested in a handful of middle and high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. The news reporter presented the question, are schools going too far in health class by discussing homosexuality? Click here to watch the report. What the ABC reporter failed to mention is that not only is the topic controversial, much of the actual curriculum is medically misleading or inaccurate. For example, teachers are required to say "sexual orientation is...