The New Chosen (also linked to by per MrMoonPie above).posted by ericb at 12:35 PM on April 1, 2010 [6 favorites]
Political Ties To a Secretive Religious Group.
Laying it out on the table.
Keeping it in "The Family".
"There's an audience for the story...largely the result of Senator John Ensign's libido...".
The Fellowship's long-term goal is "a leadership led by God—leaders of all levels of society who direct projects as they are led by the spirit."
The Political Enclave That Dare Not Speak Its Name -- "The Sanford and Ensign Scandals Open a Door On Previously Secretive 'C Street' Spiritual Haven."posted by ericb at 12:48 PM on April 1, 2010
C Street: Where Scandal Meets Spirituality.
Another Rachel Maddow video on C-Street | July 16, 2009.
“Despite weeks of media attention paid to the now-infamous ‘C Street’ house owned by The Family, a secretive Christian group, U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak — who lives at the house near the U.S. Capitol — denied any knowledge of the nature of the mysterious Washington, D.C., rowhouse and any involvement with the organization that owns it and uses as a seat of influence on Capitol Hill.posted by ericb at 12:56 PM on April 1, 2010 [5 favorites]
During a conference call with reporters Thursday morning, Michigan Messenger asked Stupak, a Menominee Democrat, about the house where he has lived for many years and his connections to the shadowy organization that owns it. The longtime Upper Peninsula legislator claimed to have ‘no affiliation’ with the group, which is known as The Family or The Fellowship.
‘I don’t belong to any such group,’ Stupak said. ‘I rent a room at a house in ‘C Street.’ I do not belong to any such group. I don’t know what you’re talking about, [The] Family and all this other stuff.’
The C Street house, a former convent, is still listed on official tax documents as a church but it functions largely as a boarding house, with six to eight members of the U.S. House and Senate living there at any given time. Current residents include Stupak, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.).
….When asked if there were any ethical concerns created by living in a house inaccurately listed as a church in order to evade property taxes, Stupak replied: ‘I don’t own the building, I don’t know how the landlord has it listed. I pay rent for a room. I sleep there. I have a room.’
Jeff Sharlet, contributing editor at Harper’s magazine and the author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power,’ lived for a time at Ivanwald, another boarding house owned by the group in Arlington, Va., this one for younger men without political power.
Sharlet said that Stupak’s denial of any knowledge of The Family or its activities is false. ‘When I lived with The Family at Ivanwald, a house for younger men being groomed for leadership, I was told that Stupak was a regular visitor to the Cedars,’ Sharlet said. The Cedars is yet another compound owned by The Family, one that hosts weekly prayer events led by former Reagan-era Attorney General Ed Meese.
Sharlet said that Stupak had much greater involvement with the group than he is admitting, noting that the congressman was ‘a Family-assigned mentor to one of my brothers at Ivanwald.’ That Ivanwald resident, Sharlet said, ‘regularly left for what he and others described as mentoring sessions.’
Another reason to doubt Stupak’s denials, Sharlet said, is that members of the organization and those who live at the C Street house are sworn to secrecy about what goes on there, as fellow resident Zach Wamp admitted to the Knoxville News in the wake of the recent scandals. That makes such denials less credible, Sharlet said.
‘The bottom line here is that Stupak is either being dishonest or confessing dangerous ignorance,’ Sharlet said. ‘The house’s function has been public knowledge since the [Associated Press] wrote about it 7 years ago. Multiple mainstream media outlets have reported on the house’s role as in effect, a lobby in all but name, led by a man who is on video and audio record citing the leadership lessons of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.’
Sharlet’s book describes The Family as a kind of shadow multi-national government, operating in secret through small prayer groups called ‘cells’ and modeled after the organization of mafia and terrorist groups. Doug Coe, the leader of the group, frequently refers to the leadership lessons of Hitler and the example of the mafia as a model for how the group operates.
How far-reaching is The Family’s influence? David Kuo, a high-ranking official in the Bush administration who oversaw the White House’s office of faith-based initiatives, wrote in a recent book: ‘The Fellowship’s reach into governments around the world is almost impossible to overstate or even grasp.’”
"Earlier in the week, Clergy VOICE, a group of clergy from various religious traditions, filed a complaint with the IRS asking for an investigation into the tax implications of accepting lodging at the C Street House. The group surveyed the Capitol Hill rental market and discovered that nearby hotels charge a minimum of $2,400 per month, corporate housing costs a minimum of $4,000 per month and efficiency or one bedroom apartments typically go for at least $1,700 per month. None of these rates include any meals.posted by ericb at 1:06 PM on April 1, 2010
The House and Senate gift rules specifically include 'lodging' as a prohibited gift. There are only two exceptions to the ban on accepting lodging: if it is provided by an individual based on personal friendship, or if it is hospitality in a personal residence owned by an individual. Here, because a corporate entity – C Street Center, Inc. – owns the property, neither exception applies. In addition, members may not accept gifts offered to members of Congress because of their official positions. As only members of Congress appear to live in the C Street House, it seems likely that it is because of their positions that they are permitted to live there and are offered below market rent."
The House and Senate gift rules specifically include “lodging” as a prohibited gift. There are only two exceptions to the ban on accepting lodging: if it is provided by an individual based on personal friendship, or if it is hospitality in a personal residence owned by an individual. Here, because a corporate entity – C Street Center, Inc. – owns the property, neither exception applies. In addition, members may not accept gifts offered to members of Congress because of their official positions. As only members of Congress appear to live in the C Street House, it seems likely that it is because of their positions that they are permitted to live there and are offered below market rent.So.... assuming the price they're being charged isn't below market value as CREW is asserting, there really isn't an issue here, is there? Does CREW see this as a win/win then? Start a baseless, unwinnable lawsuit in the hopes that it will shine a spotlight on the Congressional / Family connections?
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posted by rusty at 10:41 AM on April 1, 2010