Up Close: Houston minister could help decide next governor

09:55 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 15, 2005

By Dave Fehling / 11 News

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For years, politicians have used churches for campaign appearances.

KHOU-TV

Reverend Laurence White is pastor at a Lutheran Church in northwest Houston.

But how active should churches themselves be in helping get a candidate elected? One Houston minister may play a pivotal role in who becomes the next governor of Texas.

Back in January, a federal judge forced the removal of a bible that was in front of the Harris County courthouse.

And now some voters wonder if government is forcing religion out of their lives.

As Texas prepares to elect a governor next year, issues like gay marriage may mean religion will play a role like never before.

And in the middle of it all is this minister from Houston. He was with Governor Perry a week ago when the governor signed an abortion bill into law, in a church school.

Reverend Laurence White is pastor at a Lutheran Church in northwest Houston.

A longtime conservative activist, he now also heads an organization called the Texas Restoration Project.

"It's new in Texas, this is a brand-new organization, we've never done anything like it before," says White.

New in Texas, but not in Ohio.

"We're it not for the Restoration Project in Ohio, Bush would probably not have won Ohio ... It worked there," says Jon Taylor, a Republican and a politics professor at the University of St. Thomas. He says the Restoration Project has the ability to turn out thousands of conservative Christian voters.

It's an effort White is trying to duplicate in Texas.

Could White turn out to be Governor Perry's best friend?

"He could not only turn out to be the Governor's best friend but kingmaker, absolutely," says Taylor.

Critics say it may be a sign there's a new political campaign playbook in Texas. To win the conservative Christian vote, there'll be a mixing of religion and politics like never before.

"The Texas Restoration Project is part of the new breed of the far right in Texas," says Kathy Miller of the Texas Freedom Network.

Liberal groups are critical of the Restoration Project because it appears to them that ministers would be endorsing Perry from their pulpits, a potential violation of Federal Law which otherwise exempts churches from paying taxes as long as they stay out of politics.

"By any standard, to even the casual observer, this looks like far more than simply voter registration and education," says Miller. "It really looks like part of Governor Perry's re-election campaign."

"I have never endorsed a candidate, I never will. This is not about candidates, it's not about partisan politics. It's about biblical issues," says White.

Yet, White acknowledges Perry has met with their group in Austin at a gathering of ministers that Rev. White says blew him away.

"We started out with a goal of 50, then we bumped it up to a hundred. We had 800 responses," says White.

Approximately 800 ministers will form the roots of a Texas-wide vote drive.

"We're talking about voter registration in the churches, pastors talking to their people about their responsibilities as Christians to participate in the democracy that God has given us," says White.

Perry is expected to face Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson in next year's Republican primary and some say he's trying to be the more conservative candidate. If conservative Christians are convinced he's their candidate, the church vote drive and this Houston minister could make a crucial difference.

The Governor's office has said it agrees with what the Texas Restoration Project is doing, saying that the group is only getting out the vote of church-goers but without endorsing any particular candidate.