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The Battalion
ICCeS! MONDAY
August 5, 1 996
OPINION
Page 5
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Should the Christian Coalition remain tax-exempt?
Group endorses candidates
based on positions, not party
Organization cannot mask
its Republican affiliation
ian Coalition, has called the FEC lawsuit “total
ly baseless,” and that is exactly what it is. While
accusing the coalition of coordinating its politi
cal activities with campaigns of Republican can
didates, the lawsuit does not specify the type of
coordination.
The Christian Coalition should be allowed to
continue its participation in politics without hav
ing to report its expenditures or be subject to
taxation. It does not endorse candidates based on
their party affiliation, but on their stand on the
issues the coalition deems important.
Jenni Howard is a Class of ’96 economics and
international studies major
W ho is using whom?
Sue Wrenn, chairman
of the Democratic Party
of Virginia, said the Christian
Coalition “is nothing more or less
than an arm of the Republican
Party, an arm that has been
used to bend and break the law.”
Taking an initial glance at the
recent political activities of the
Christian Coalition, it is safe to
say that the group leans heavily
toward the Republican Party.
But is it working to promote
the OOP’s interests, or its own?
In a lawsuit filed last Tuesday, the Federal
Election Commission (FEC) accused the Christ
ian Coalition of improperly exhibiting “express
advocacy” for certain candidates in the Republi
can Party. Because it is classified as a “social
welfare” group under the tax code, the coalition
currently maintains a tax-free status. However,
along with the tax-free status, the group must
also stay away from partisan politics.
It is understandable the Democratic Party
would be upset at the Christian Coalition’s over
whelming support of Republican candidates. In
the 1992 Bush re-election campaign, the coali
tion published about 28 million voter guides that
favored Bush over Bill Clinton. The coalition also
assisted in the election campaigns of Sen. Jesse
Helms (1990), Oliver North (1994), U.S. Rep. Bob
Inglis (1992), and Newt Gingrich (1994). All of
these men are Republicans, but is that the real
reason the Christian Coalition supports them?
Although it has a solid history of supporting
Republican candidates through the distribution
of voter guides and the identification of possible
voters for certain Republican candidates, it is
questionable that the coalition is being used by
the Republican Party.
Rather, it is probably the Republican Party
that is being used by the Christian Coalition.
Because the GOP tends to be conservative in
nature, many of its goals fall along the same
lines as those of the Christian Coalition. If the
Christian Coalition does distribute voter guides
telling people to vote for a Republican over a De
mocrat, it is probably because the Republican
will represent the group’s interests more effec
tively than the Democrat.
Sortie may call this partisan politics, but oth
ers may call it a right to free speech under the
First Amendment.
Furthermore, the Christian Coalition has
every right as a non-profit, tax-exempt organiza
tion to engage in direct political activity, accord
ing to Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue
Code. Also, there are other non-profit organiza
tions that are just as involved in voter education
as the coalition, including the Chamber of Com
merce, the National Education Association and
the Sierra Club.
Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christ-
Culture shock leads to
appreciation, assimilation
T hree things are inevitable
in life: losing to the Ag
gies, dying and getting
taxed. Well, not everyone gets
the honor of losing to the Aggies,
but all of us die and pay taxes.
All of us except the Christian
Coalition.
Ralph Reed is the executive di
rector of the Christian Coalition.
Both he and his organization
claim to be strictly educational
and non-partisan. Under the guise
of a religious organization, the
Christian Coalition doesn’t have to report where its
money comes from or where it goes. And since the
coalition is not classified as a Political Action Commit
tee, no federal spending limits are enforced upon it.
The FEC has brought a lawsuit against Ralph
Reed’s group for illegally spending thousands of dol
lars to promote certain Republican candidates. From
the EEC’s perspective, the issue is simple: If the
Christian Coalition is not going to pay taxes, report
its financial records or abide by federal spending
limits, then it sure better remain non-partisan.
Mike Russell, Christian Coalition communica
tions director, claims that the lawsuit “is a complete
ly baseless and legally threadbare attempt by a
reckless federal agency to silence people of faith and
deny them their First Amendment rights.”
Please. The lawsuit is not about the Christian
Coalition’s freedom of speech; it is about government
control of campaign spending.
If Mike Russell and his people of faith don’t want
to abide by FEC regulations, then the Christian
Coalition should not give money to political cam
paigns or spend its own money collaborating with
these campaigns. It shouldn’t rank Newt Gingrich
as “a Christian Coalition 100 percenter.” It shouldn’t
have distributed 10 million “Reclaim America” voter
guides that distinguish between “Good and Misguid
ed” congressmen, and it shouldn’t be planning to dis
tribute 60 million of them for the 1996 elections.
In 1992, it shouldn’t have accepted a $60,000 do
nation under the stipulation that the money will be
spent on George Bush’s campaign, as Coalition book
keeper Judy Liebert claims the group did.
None of these activities is nonpartisan. The voter
guides and money contributions coordinated with a
campaign are illegal if the Christian Coalition wants
to avoid FEC jurisdiction and paying taxes.
The group can do what many other organizations
have done. The Sierra Club and the Chamber of
Commerce have set up PACs that are subject to fed
eral reporting requirements and spending limits,
and they funnel all of their partisan activity through
these committees.
The Sierra Club doesn’t have to remain nonparti
san when 74 percent of the delegates to the Republi
can National Convention oppose environmental
groups. They would be stupid to remain nonpartisan.
But if they want to endorse candidates who sup
port environmentalism, then they must do it
through a regulated PAC that pays taxes.
Ralph Reed claims “that people of faith have
every right to be involved as citizens and as voters.”
He’s absolutely right.
The people of the faith of Ralph Reed and Mike
Russell can vote for whoever they want. They can
volunteer for the Republicans or even the Democ
rats, but they can’t organize themselves into a politi
cal organization that aids candidates’ election cam
paigns without paying taxes.
The lawsuit is not an attempt to crush these peo
ple of faith and their organization. The Christian
Coalition will eventually die on its own, anyway.
But before it dies, it is going to pay its taxes.
Marcus Goodyear is a Class of’97 English major
L ast week, a cou
ple of friends
and I decided to
meet at one of the
Northgate establish
ments for lunch.
While I was casually
flipping through one
of my school books,
one my friends ar
rived; and as if by in
stinct, I almost got
up to greet him with
a kiss on the cheek.
But then I remembered, as I’ve had
to many times this summer, “You just
don’t do that in Texas.” Or for that mat
ter, in the States — or in any Anglo so
ciety. But you do in a Latin one.
Greeting people by kissing them on
the cheek is as common in Puerto Rico
— where I’m from — and in the rest of
Latin America as saying “Howdy” at
A&M. Women greet their male and fe
male friends this way, and guys greet
females this way too.
This is not common in the States,
and I learned that the hard way. The
first time I came to Texas, nobody
warned me about it. Culture shock is
not something they teach you during
Orientation Week. Trying to stop kiss
ing people when I greeted them was
kind of hard for me, especially when the
cute guys approached.
Things were also different in other
areas: At dinner, everyone used their
forks and knives exactly the way my
mother had taught me not to. Fashion-
wise, people wore socks with their san
dals (a definite no-no back home) and
sweatshirts with shorts when it was
cold (something that is still an oxy
moron to me).
Food was another thing I had to get
used to. It’s a tough transition from rice
and beans, beef steak and plantain-de
rived foods to refried beans, guacamole,
brisket and chicken-fried steak (some
thing I still haven’t dared to try). A bot
tle of Nay a is now my best friend since
the water here tastes way different
from the distilled water at home.
Music was an area where I did not
expect much difference from back home.
After all, I grew up listening to radio
stations that played Top 40 hits — with
a few bits and pieces of salsa and
merengue — and I expected to listen to
Top 40 songs here. Country was not un
known to me, but experience had
taught me to hate it. Little did I know
that College Station was a big branch of
the country music tree. The next thing I
knew, it was like in the movies: the un
usual accent, the boots and the 10-gal-
lon hat, and George Strait blaring from
every other pickup truck.
Yet, slowly and steadily, I became
not only an Aggie, but a hybrid Texan.
Knowing nothing about football, I stood
all through my first Aggie game and fell
in love with the Aggie Band. My view of
the Corps shifted from an idea of an ob
scure organization of “them” to “My
Corps Boys.” A CMC Sierra became my
wish for a graduation present — not a
Lexus like before. “Y’all” became my fa
vorite word in the Texan vocabulary,
and I’m gathering enough courage to
give chicken-fried steak a try.
The thought of home is something
you bring with your suitcase when you
arrive at college, and that stays with
you the rest of your life. I still listen to
my merengue; postcards and pictures of
beaches and emerald mountains deco
rate my walls.
And I can’t wait for the day when I’ll
get a kitchen where I can cook an hon-
est-to-goodness, full-scale, Puerto Rican
meal — real food, for once in three
years. Nuked rice never tastes quite
like homemade.
Although I knew I would encounter
different cultures when I came to A&M,
I expected the local culture to embrace
me; I did not expect to adopt it myself.
Somehow I’ve managed to assimilate
while keeping my original cultural iden
tity, although I’m still a bit disappoint
ed that I can’t greet my closest friends
with a kiss on the cheek.
Rosie Arcelay is a Class of ’98
history major
Mail
Cav Jocks when I ask you not to get Cal
vary and cavalry mixed up again.
Bradley Frye
Class of’97
Bomb calls to mind
cavalry, not Calvary
This letter is in reference to Flay Her
nandez’s column in the July 30 issue of
The Battalion called “Bombing Causes
Reflection.” I am a senior in Parsons’
Mounted Cavalry and am flattered he
thought the Spirit of ’02 had been fired
when he witnessed the explosion at Cen
tennial Park. However, it would behoove
him next time to think about the words
he is using. His quote mentioned “the
Parsons’ Mounted Calvary cannon.” One
thing I can assure you is that Jesus was
not in the cavalry, but he did die on Cal
vary. I am speaking on behalf of all other
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and
will print as many as space allows. Letters must be
300 words or less and include the author's name,
class, and phone number.
We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style,
and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at
013 Reed McDonald. A valid student ID is required.
Letters may also be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: Batt@tamvm1 .tamu.edu
"Worry bends
JimMuyGaoi.cm