Christian leaders facing Soros-funded 'witch hunt'

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Christian leaders facing
Soros-funded 'witch hunt' 
CREW group instrumental in outing Foley
now targeting Dobson, Bauer, Falwell, more


A Washington organization funded by billionaire George Soros has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the U.S. Secret Service demanding information about the visits by Christians to the White House.

The Christians' response?

"Bring it on!"

That's from American Family Association founder Donald Wildmon, who told WND that he's "scared to death. I'm shaking in my boots. I won't sleep a wink tonight. The world has come to an end!"

Seriously, sir, how do you feel about such a group wanting information about your visits in Washington?

"If you go fishing in a pond, and there's no fish in the pond, you won't catch anything," he told WND.

Wildmon was just one of nine Christian conservative leaders who were named in yesterday's FOIA demand by Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington.

Others were James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; Gary L. Bauer, president of Our America Values; Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America; Louis P. Sheldon, of Traditional Values Coalition; Sheldon's daughter Andrea Lafferty; Paul Weyrich, of the Free Congress Foundation; Tony Perkins, of Family Research Council; and Jerry Falwell, of Jerry Falwell Ministries.

CREW said it wanted all records "regardless of format, medium, or physical characteristics" that would relate "to any visit that any and all of the following individuals made to the White House or the residence of the Vice President from January 1, 2001, to the present."

CREW also wants the taxpayers to pay for the costs of records production.

"CREW is a non-profit corporation … committed to protecting the citizens' right to be aware of the activities of government officials and to ensuring the integrity of those officials," the organization announced. "CREW will analyze the information responsive to this request and intends to share its analysis with the public, either through memoranda, reports, or press releases."

Tom Minnery, a spokesman for Focus on the Family, said his organization wasn't concerned, either, calling it just another attempt by "left-wing bullies" to intimidate conservatives.

"They're unhappy when anybody unlike them runs the playground," he told WND.

Wildmon said it was just a "publicity stunt" heading into the midterm elections in four weeks.

"The whole thing is political," he said. "You're going to have some far-left-wing media people making hay out of this. I doubt if anybody else cares."

CREW had been in the news just a day earlier, with a WND report about Radar Magazine raising suggestions that CREW officials may have been involved in trying to publicize the events about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's illicit electronic relationship with an underage former House page at this time.

The site noted that an almost-inactive website was created about the time CREW said it was asking the FBI for an investigation into the Foley case and then with little other activity it suddenly posted the infamous Foley e-mails.

The Wideawakes site noted that CREW is "one of four George Soros-funded 'public interest groups' which endeavors, like the others, to attack and discredit members of the GOP, and along with that agenda, to ensure in what appear to be extreme and underhanded methods, the 'win' for Democrats by default when a Republican takes his fall."

Soros is the liberal billionaire who spent tens of millions of dollars of his own money in 2004 trying to prevent George Bush from being re-elected. Another of his projects is the left-wing www.moveon.org.

[Soldier4Christ]

Soros group disputes FBI's claims on e-mails
Law-enforcement officials insist CREW refused to provide unedited versions

The watchdog group that first provided the FBI with suspicious e-mails from then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said yesterday that FBI and Justice Department officials are attempting to cover up their inaction in the case by making false claims about the group.

Law enforcement officials said the allegations by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) are without merit, and they stood by allegations that the group had refused to provide some information to the FBI.

The dispute is the latest controversy this week for CREW, a liberal-leaning group that has come under attack from House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and other Republicans because it has received money from a foundation funded by liberal financier George Soros.

CREW held a news conference Monday to announce that in July it had provided the FBI suspicious e-mails between Foley and a former House page. The group criticized the bureau for not taking more aggressive action and asked Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to investigate the FBI's handling of the case.

Law enforcement officials said then that the e-mails did not provide enough evidence of a possible crime to warrant a full investigation. In the e-mails, Foley praises the physical attributes of one page and asks another teenager for his picture.

In subsequent days, unidentified Justice and FBI officials told reporters that the e-mails provided by CREW were heavily redacted and that the group refused to provide unedited versions to the FBI. One law enforcement official -- speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation -- also told The Washington Post the FBI believed that CREW may have received the e-mails as early as April and that the group refused to tell the FBI how they were obtained.

Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said copies of the original e-mails she sent to an FBI agent show those assertions to be wrong. Sloan said the agent called to confirm receipt of the e-mails and to ask if one of the parties was Foley.

Sloan said the group sent unedited e-mails to the FBI because "we wanted them to commence an investigation. We're sort of outraged that they're saying anything differently." The group has asked Fine's office to look into the FBI's assertions.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse declined to comment on that issue but defended the FBI's handling of the original e-mails: "The e-mails, while inappropriate, did not contain a criminal predicate to allow the FBI to move forward in an investigation."