If you had been in this public policy business as long as I you would
think that by now I would have learned the critical lesson of operations
many times over. But no, I had not learned those lessons.
Here is what happened. I am a Member of the Executive Committee of the
Arlington Group, a coalition of more than seventy pro-life and
pro-family organizations. The Group is headquartered in the Family
Research Council Building in Washington, D.C. In a conference call
initiated by our Chairman, Rev. Don Wildmon, we discussed issuing a
joint statement. I was tasked with producing the first draft, which I
quickly sent to the Group's Executive Director, Shannon Royce. Many
suggestions for revisions came from Members of the Executive Committee,
including Wildmon, Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research
Council, Gary L. Bauer, President of American Values, and a number of
the others, including Shannon. The final document was distributed by the
end of the day, to be evaluated overnight, signature and distribution
the next morning.
We called on Members of Congress completely to investigate the Mark
Foley matter and for any Member who was involved to step down. The
statement had not yet been issued when calls began to come and kept
coming.