President Bush names new head of
faith-based office
Beleaguered initiative is 'stalled on the track,
will need more than a new conductor,' says AU's Lynn
from Americans United for Separation of Church and
State
Contact: Joseph Conn or Steve Benen 202-466-3234 telephone
http://www.au.org
Dated 2/1/02, posted here on 2-4-02.
In an effort to get his beleaguered "faith-based" initiative
moving again, President George W. Bush has picked Jim Towey as the new
director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives.
Towey, who has headed the Florida-based Aging With
Dignity since 1996, was named today at a White House ceremony. Towey
replaces John J. DiIulio, who left the office in August.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State,
which has led the opposition to the president's initiative, said the new
appointment does not change the serious problems that have burdened the
proposal since its introduction.
"The faith-based initiative is stalled on the
tracks," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of
Americans United. "It will take more than a new conductor to get it
rolling again."
Lynn said that the White House can go a long way
towards alleviating the plan's problems by changing its focus away from
government-funded religion. "Bush's only chance for progress on
this issue is to move away from the divisive and unconstitutional
provisions of his plan as it was introduced last year," Lynn said.
"By emphasizing areas of agreement, a faith-based proposal may
still be able assist people in need without violating the First
Amendment or rolling back civil rights protections."
Towey, who identifies himself as a Democrat and a
devout Roman Catholic, has political experience outside of his work with
Aging With Dignity. He was an aide to former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles
(D), but then endorsed the GOP candidacy of Chiles' successor, Gov. Jeb
Bush. He also worked as an aide to former Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.)
and was legal counsel to Mother Teresa in the late 1980s.
The White House office Towey will be leading may be
less significant than it was when created by executive order a year ago
this week. On Wednesday, Bush announced that the faith-based office will
be part of a new White House national service office headed by Bush aide
John Bridgeland. That is a dramatic change from a year ago, when Bush
said DiIulio would report directly to him.
AU's Lynn believes this shift further demonstrates the
struggling nature of the president's faith-based plan.
"A year ago, this initiative was the signature
domestic policy of the Bush administration," Lynn concluded.
"After 12 months of criticism from the right, left and center, it's
been down-graded to part of an office on volunteerism. With all of these
problems, it looks like Towey will have his work cut out for him."
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog
group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization
educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in
safeguarding religious freedom.
To check AU's full coverage of the White House
faith-based initiative, visit our online report at http://www.au.org/faithbased.htm
The L.A. Times offers a
longer report on Jim Towey's background, and on current efforts
to work out a compromise in Congress that would move the President's
"faith-based initiative" toward approval without the more
controversial provisions that would allow faith-based organizations to
discriminate in employment, and to include religious teachings and
practices in their social service programs. [See an earlier report
on efforts for a compromise.]
The report quotes one supporter of "charitable
choice," Stephen Lazarus, senior policy associate with the Center
for Public Justice, as saying, "You take half a loaf of bread when
you can get it, realizing that you'll just continue to work for
more."
