Some comments on another GOP scandal--Evangelist Ted Haggard taking drugs and having sex with a male prostitute

This photo made available by New Life Church shows the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, in Sept. 2005 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Haggard agreed to resign Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006 after the New Life Church's independent investigative board recommended removal, saying he was guilty 'of sexuallly immoral conduct.'(AP Photo/Erik Stenbakken, New Life Church)

It has been a busy last couple of days regarding GOP scandals. One scandal I've been meaning to write about is the controversy surrounding Evangelist Ted Haggard. Let's start with CNN.Com:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- The Rev. Ted Haggard, who has resigned as one of the nation's top evangelical leaders, admitted Friday he had contacted a male prostitute for a massage and bought methamphetamine.

"I was buying it for me, but I never used it," said Haggard, 50, sitting in the driver's seat of a car with his wife, Gayle, at his side during an impromptu interview with CNN Denver affiliate KUSA-TV.

"I never kept it very long because it was wrong. I was tempted. I bought it. But I never used it." Haggard also acknowledged contacting Mike Jones but has denied Jones' accusation that the two men regularly had sex over three years.

Mike Jones poses for a photographer in downtown Denver on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006. Jones told the Associated Press on Thursday that evangelical leader Rev. Ted Haggard paid him to have sex as many as 36 times over three years. Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday following Jones' allegations. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

The admissions -- after Haggard's earlier denials that he even knew Jones -- resonated among America's evangelicals and Christian leaders.

Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella group representing more than 45,000 churches with 30 million members.

He also temporarily stepped aside Thursday as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, pending an internal investigation into Jones' allegations.

Haggard was one of a group of religious leaders who regularly participated in conference calls with White House aides, Time magazine reported.

On Friday, the White House sought to downplay Haggard's influence within the administration.

Spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters Friday that it was inaccurate to portray him as being close to the White House, insisting Haggard was only an occasional participant in weekly conference calls between West Wing staff and leading evangelicals.

Last year, Time -- citing Haggard's White House access -- put him on its list of the nation's 25 most influential evangelicals.

In other words, Ted Haggard is one of the Top 25 Evangelists who possesses enormous religious power among the country's evangelicals, and political power within the Bush White House. And now Haggard has been exposed to not only purchasing meth from a male prostitute, but also having sex with that male prostitute for three years. Even more damaging to the Republican Party is that the revelations of this scandal takes place just five days before the midterm elections. In addition, The Denver Post reports that Colorado voters will go to the polls to choose two major initiatives "related to gay rights and marriage. Haggard is a chief supporter of Amendment 43, which would define marriage as only between a man and a woman, and he has taken no position on Referendum I, which would grant domestic- partnership rights to same-sex couples." President Bush traveled to Colorado today, to first deliver a radio address touting the U.S. economy in Englewood, and then attended a campaign rally in Greeley, Colorado, for GOP Rep. Marilyn Musgrave. I can't say whether this trip to Colorado by the president was planned weeks in advanced, or was quickly put together as a GOP defense to shore up the Colorado Republican base, but the timing between the Haggard revelations and the president's trip is certainly interesting.

While I don't want to get into too much of the details of the Haggard story, I will say that the mainstream media has quickly latched onto this story. You can find some of the latest details of the Haggard scandal here on CNN, ABC News, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. And while Ted Haggard has continued to deny having sexual relations with Mike Jones, MSNBC is reporting that Jones gave NBC affiliate KUSA-TV multiple voice mails left by Haggard requesting purchases of meth from Jones. The Denver police are now looking into this matter. The more these revelations start to surface regarding this latest scandal, the more damaging it becomes for the Republican Party. This scandal first shows the hypocrisy of Ted Haggard--an evangelical leader of a major church and an evangelical association, who has attacked homosexuality and gay marriage with his support of Colorado's Amendment 43, only now to be exposed in having sex with a male prostitute. You've got to wonder what Haggard's religious views on drug abuse are.

Finally, there is one final little detail that the Bush White House does not want to be known. According to the Rocky Mountain News:

WASHINGTON - As president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Rev. Ted Haggard has advised the White House on issues ranging from judicial appointments to steel tariffs.

But he also sought to widen the agenda of Christian evangelicals into areas the Bush administration - and many of his Christian brethren - would rather avoid.

Although he had been active in lobbying for conservative Christian causes before, Haggard's profile rose after he became head of the NAE early in 2003.

He made frequent visits to the White House and was included in a select group of religious leaders briefed on the administration's agenda during a weekly teleconference with White House staff, a session meant to "feel the evangelical pulse," he's said.

"We have direct access (to the White House)," Haggard told a Wall Street Journal reporter shortly before the last presidential election, adding that he could take a concern to the president through staff and get a response within 24 hours.

Asked Friday about the Haggard controversy, White House spokesman Tony Fratto downplayed the pastor's connections to the Bush administration.

"He had been on a couple of (conference) calls but was not a weekly participant in those calls," Fratto said, adding that Haggard had been to the White House "one or two times."

"But there have been a lot of people who come to the White House," Fratto said.

[....]

Haggard was naturally on the "A" list of evangelical Christians invited to the Bush White House for the signing of a bill banning late-term abortions or to be called in advance of any announcement for a chat about pending Supreme Court nominees.

You can bet this is one detail that the Bush White House does not want major public exposure of. Look at how White House spokesman Tony Fratto tried to downplay Haggard's visits as just "one or two times." And just a couple of conference calls? The last thing the Bush administration wants is to become tainted with this scandal--especially since Haggard was one of the Top 25 Most influential Evangelical Leaders, as Time reported. In fact, Time also reports:

A document issued last fall offered a theological justification for civic activism by U.S. Evangelicals, calling on them to protect the environment, promote global religious and political freedom and human rights, safeguard "wholesome family life," care for the poor and oppose racism. Says Haggard: "With the growth of Evangelicalism worldwide, we have to be involved in political and social action to impact the culture worldwide."

This is not a man who simply goes to the White House participates in "a couple of [conference] calls," or visits the White House "one or two times."

More Republican scandals....

Update--Haggard resigns from Colorado Church. The information just came over as I was writing this post. From MSNBC:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Rev. Ted Haggard agreed to resign Saturday from his New Life Church after its independent investigative board recommended removal, saying he was guilty “of sexually immoral conduct.”

“We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard,” a statement from the church said. “Our investigation and Pastor Haggard’s public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct.”