n Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed the contents of an internal Salvation Army document concerning secret, behind-the-scenes efforts to have the Bush administration issue rules that would permit religious charities to accept federal money, and still circumvent state and local laws against discrimination in the workplace.

   The revelations are jeopardizing the current legislative "fast track" for H.R. 7, the "Community Solutions Act" sponsored by Reps. J.C. Watts (R-OK) and Tony Hall (D-OH) which would expand the range of "charitable choice" funding for faith-based social programs. The measure is the first in a series of entitlements that would pour billions of dollars into the coffers of religious groups engaged in social service outreaches, and still permit them to retain their sectarian character and use religion as a test in hiring practices.

   A house of worship accepting such funds, for example, could circumvent civil rights protections and hire only applicants who fit a certain religious profile.

   Funding for Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, though, has stalled over concerns that religious organizations could use federal dollars not only to promote sectarian religion, but trump civil rights statutes in the process.

   Tuesday's expose in the Post are not helping the administration's efforts to fast-track legislation. Prior to the story, the White House had made a "firm commitment" to shelter religious groups from local and state anti-discrimination ordinances. The document obtained by the paper provided "a rare glimpse into the private dealings of the Bush White House, and it suggests President Bush is willing to achieve through regulation ends too controversial to survive the legislative process..."

   Conservative groups have often accused liberal and Democratic opponents of using executive fiats to achieve their goals.

   Among other findings:

   ¶    The Salvation Army already receives $300 million a year in government funds. "But the report indicates the administration is eager to use the Salvation Army's clout to pass the legislation, offering the charity something it wants in return," notes the Post.

   ¶    Sounding more like political operatives than impoverished, altruistic doers-of-good, Salvation Army officials wrote: "It is important that The Army's support for the White House's activities occur simultaneously with efforts to achieve The Army's objectives. The White House has already said that they are committed to move on The Army's objectives when the legislation carrying the charitable choice provisions passes the House of Representatives."

   The Salvation Army and other religious groups which obtain government funding for their programs, though, already have some legal protections when it comes to discrimination. The 1996 welfare reform act which created "charitable choice" and allows houses of worship to compete for federal funding in order to operate social services permits these groups to retain their "religious character" as long as they presumable do not use the funds directly for worship or proselytizing.

   Even under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, religious groups -- unlike private individuals, businesses and secular organizations which receive public funding -- were empowered to discriminate in their hiring and firing practices on the basis of religion.

   Complicating the matter is the latest re-write of H.R. 7 which says that faith-based charities may not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex, age, color or disability. Sexual orientation is not mentioned, though, and religious belief can still be a factor in employment policies.

   Behind the scenes, the Salvation Army was quietly networking with the White House to propose new regulations which would have revised a standard known as "Circular #A-102." These would have prohibited government entities from awarding grants if those religious charities were compelled to "adopt terms or practices" which were "inconsistent with the beliefs and practices" of the charity involved."

   ¶    SA strategists noted that "(The White House officials involved) first want to move the charitable choice provisions in the legislation and use the political momentum in this effort to push forward religious exemptions to domestic partnership benefit ordinances and municipal contract clauses that protect against any form of sexual orientation discrimination."

   ¶    The Post noted that the secret reports "offers an image of the Salvation Army starkly different from that of volunteers ringing bells outside shopping malls at Christmas -- a notion that concerns the charity."

   ¶    The report noted: "The Salvation Army's role (if exposed) will be a surprise to many in the media." Members are urged to "minimize the possibility of any 'leak' to the media."

   The plot involving covert Salvation Army efforts to influence the outcome over faith-based funding and its secret 79-page strategy plan becomes even more alarming with revelations today that President Bush's premier policy adviser, Karl Rove, was the liaison between the White House war room for legislative issues and the Salvation Army.

   Post reporters Mike Allen and Dana Milbank note in today's edition that this revelation "contrasts sharply with the administration's initial insistence that senior officials were not involved with the charity's request..."

   Tuesday night, as the scandal hit the news wires and swirled around Capitol Hill, the White House abruptly issued a terse statement saying that it would now pursue the effort to exempt religious groups from state and local laws prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexuality and sexual orientation.

   Another individual involved as a White House-Salvation Army go-between is Don Eberly, founder of the 1994 National Fatherhood Initiative. Eberly is also deputy director of the White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and has been a frequent guest at administration functions including meetings between clergy and Mr. Bush.

   Eberly admitted that he was eager to persuade the Salvation Army that it should support the federal initiative, without fear that it would have to compromise its religious beliefs or mission.

   Salvation Army documents also refer to Dan Bartlett, a deputy assistant to President Bush. He revealed that Karl Rove had an initial phone conversation with Mark Holman, a lobbyist who had been retained by the Salvation Army and was identified as the "direct liaison with the White House staff."

   A White House official said that all negotiations with the Salvation Army took place with the knowledge and understanding of Karl Rove. "Literally nothing occurs around here without his blessing," said the source. "He's the air traffic controller. He says, 'Here's your problem. Here's your answer.' "

   ¶    In addition to this pipeline involving lobbying Holman, Karl Rove and Dan Bartlett, the Salvation Army also hired other political operatives including Stephen M. Minikes, an early member of the Bush "Pioneers" group which during the last campaign raised nearly $100,000 for Mr. Bush. The confidential Salvation Army report said that Minikes was "deeply involved with the President-elect George W. Bush's election campaign," and that Minikes lobbying firm of Thelen, Reid and Priest" was receiving between $20,000 and $25,000 each month for its work.

   Even without the special Salvation Army-White House codicil, though, religious groups taking public money still have legislative permission to discriminate. In Kentucky, a woman fired from a youth home operated by the state Baptist Convention has filed suit, charging that she was terminated after revelations that she was a lesbian and involved in a same-sex relationship.

   Democrats have jumped on the scandal, and yesterday Reps. John Conyers Jr. (Michigan) and Jerrold Nadler (New York) sent letters to Bush demanding more information. The pair said they were "working with the General Accounting Office to use their authority to conduct a comprehensive investigation into these matters should the White House fail to cooperate."

   Conyers is also urging Republicans to defer any vote on the faith-based initiative, including H.R. 7, until there is "a full accounting of the facts."

   The faith-based initiative may also have lost a key backer in the Senate. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn) who during the last election campaign expressed his support for tax funding of faith-based charities, told reporters that the White House effort to allow discrimination against gays in religious social services outreaches "puts a cloud over the president's desire to extend the faith-based initiative program."

   Lieberman added, "Unfortunately, it might terminally wound it in Congress."

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