TOP WHITE HOUSE POLITICAL STRATEGIST SPEAKS AT LIBERTY U. GRADUATION

Falwell Is Using Tax-Exempt School To Give Bush A Back-Door Endorsement,
Charges Americans United

TV preacher Jerry Falwell is using his tax-exempt religious empire to
promote President George W. Bush's re-election campaign, according to
Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

On May 8, top Bush political adviser Karl Rove will be the featured

at graduation ceremonies at Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, "Falwell
is using his tax-exempt religious empire to give Bush a back-door

endorsement. It's interesting that Falwell's press release touting the

appearance makes four references to Rove's work on behalf of Republicans
and only one to Rove's 'love for Jesus Christ.' That's an odd accounting
for a Christian school.

"If the Rove appearance on Saturday turns into a Bush pep rally," said
Lynn, "I think it will raise concerns at the IRS. Liberty University is a
tax-exempt religious school, and Falwell should not misuse it to push his
partisan political agenda."

A press release from Liberty University noted that Rove has "served as
chief strategist for the Bush for President Campaign, and for 18 years, he
was the president of Karl Rove and Company, an Austin-based public affairs
firm that worked for Republican candidates, non-partisan causes, and
non-profit groups. His clients included over 75 Republican U.S. Senate,
Congressional and gubernatorial candidates in 24 states." Quoting Texas
Monthly, it credits Rove with "one of the great tectonic political shifts
in American history, the Republicanization of Texas."

The Liberty U. press release quotes Falwell as saying, "I have known Karl
Rove for many years and I am greatly impressed with his wisdom, dedication
to President Bush and his love for Jesus Christ."

Political observers say Rove is giving special emphasis this year to

fundamentalist voters to the polls for Bush. In a 2001 address at the
American Enterprise Institute, Rove complained that four million
"self-identified, white, evangelical Protestants, Pentecostals and
fundamentalists" failed to turn out for Bush in the 2000 election.
According to the Dec. 13, 2001 Newsweek, Rove said "We failed to marshal
the support among the base as well as we should have."

Rove's appearance at Liberty University is believed to be part of his plan
to do better this time.

"Rove is out there seeking the lost," said Americans United's Lynn. "He
wants to get those missing four million evangelicals to the polls for

and Falwell is helping him do it."

Lynn noted that Falwell is skating on legal thin ice. Federal tax law
forbids tax-exempt groups, including churches and church schools, from
intervening in campaigns on behalf of candidates for public office.

had to pay $50,000 in 1993 after the Internal Revenue Service found that

had improperly used Old Time Gospel Hour funds for political purposes in
1986 and 1987 and the ministry's tax-exempt status was retroactively
revoked for those years.

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in

D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the
importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.


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Beth Corbin
National Grassroots Organizer
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
518 C Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
AUcorbin@aol.com
www.au.org