Internal brouhaha at Family Research Council/American Renewal
Friday's Los Angeles Times included an op-ed piece by Richard Lessner, executive director of American Renewal (the lobbying arm of Family Research Council), about Bush and religious conservatives. "Bush owes his victory to born-again and religious conservatives," Lessner wrote. "The question is: Will any of these religious folk be invited to the Bush party? Early indications are not encouraging. ... It appears the religious conservatives have their reward. And that's as much as they're likely to get." In today's Times, Lessner gets chewed out by his boss, Kenneth L. Connor (president of Family Research Council and American Renewal). "[I] write to repudiate the commentary, which was never submitted to me for review or approval," he says in a letter to the editor. "Lessner was correct when he noted that religious conservatives contributed substantially to Bush's electoral victory. He was wrong, however, to castigate Bush for allegedly already abandoning those voters. The reality is that the Bush-Cheney administration is not yet underway. My hopes and expectations are that the new administration will be faithful to pursue the pledges and promises made during the recent campaign. If it does, the Family Research Council and American Renewal will praise it. Where it does not, we will exhort it. Only time will tell how the Bush-Cheney team treats religious conservatives and the issues close to their hearts. So we at American Renewal and the FRC intend to give them timeﾗand our helpﾗwithout rushing to judgment."

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