EXCLUSIVE — HUCKABEE FUNDRAISER AT TX. CHURCH
flockwoodPlate passed for Huckabee at ministry site
Copeland allowed fundraiser where preachers had gathered
By Frank Lockwood
(c) 2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. — A televangelist under investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee turned a national ministers’ gathering last week into a fundraising opportunity for Mike Huckabee, reportedly helping to raise thousands of dollars for the cash-strapped presidential candidate.
The fundraiser was held at Kenneth Copeland Ministries’ campus in Newark, Texas, a ministry spokesman confirmed Monday. But he said the event did not amount to an endorsement of Huckabee by the nonprofit church because the campaign paid for use of the facility.
Huckabee campaign spokesman Alice Stewart said she could not confirm the amount raised. But the Trinity Foundation, a group that monitors televangelists and viewed a live Internet broadcast of the event, said the fundraiser took in $111,000 and generated pledges nearing $1 million.
Copeland authorized the fundraiser after receiving a personal call from Huckabee pleading for help, the Trinity Foundation said.
The call came shortly after Huckabee’s loss to Sen. John McCain in South Carolina, at a time when Huckabee was short of cash and sinking in the Florida primary polls.
The multimillionaire preacher oversees a ministry with its own $17.5 million Cessna “Citation X” jet and its own private airport. In November, he gave Huckabee nearly a week of free airtime on The Believer’s Voice of Victory telecast to talk about character and integrity.
Copeland, a charismatic Christian who believes in faithhealing, speaking in tongues and words of prophecy, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in November that he and his wife, Gloria, have donated $2,300 to Huckabee’s campaign.
In an interview with the Democrat-Gazette at that time, Huckabee said he has stayed at the Copelands’ home and considers them friends.
“They mainly are just real encouragers,” Huckabee said. “The main advice he gives me is to stay faithful. His advice is spiritual, not political.”
During Copeland’s 2008 Ministers’ Conference, the Texas preacher said Huckabee supports ministers who are fighting to withhold information from Senate investigators.
Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley wants information about Copeland’s finances, including a $2 million personal gift that the Copelands reportedly received from participants at the 2007 Ministers’ Conference.
At the 2008 conference, Copeland told fellow preachers he’d go to jail before he’d turn over the names of his benefactors.
And he suggested, in video posted by the Trinity Foundation, that he’ll have an ally in Huckabee as he battles Congress. (The video may be viewed at www.wittenburgdoor.com)
Copeland told the preachers that Huckabee had told him: “Why should I stand with them [U.S. senators] and not stand with you? They only got 11 percent approval rating.”
“And then he said, then he said, ‘Kenneth Copeland, I will stand with you.’ He said ‘You’re trying to get prosperity to the people, and they [the senators] are trying to take it away from‘em.’ He said ‘I will stand with you anytime anywhere on any issue.’ That settled that right there. I said, ‘Yeah. That’s my man. That’s my man right there,” Copeland said.
Some audience members shouted out “Amen” as Copeland praised Huckabee.
Copeland, who teaches that God wants Christians to be healthy and wealthy, is a proponent of what’s been called “the prosperity gospel.”
People who donate to religious ministries are assured that God will reward their generosity and that they’ll “reap” far more than they ever “sowed.”
The teachings have made Copeland a very wealthy man, but critics say he’s preying on the poor and vulnerable.
Copeland also is a “Word of Faith” proponent, arguing that positive words and beliefs are the key to spiritual and financial success.
Malcolm Yarnell, director of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Center for Theological Research, said in November that Copeland is a “heretic” and that Huckabee is joining forces with a false teacher who is spreading a “false gospel.”
As an ordained Southern Baptist minister, Huckabee is part of a denomination that opposes speaking in tongues and other charismatic or Pentecostal spiritual manifestations.
Video of the Ministers’ Conference is no longer available on Copeland’s Web site.
Charlie Quimby, a communications fellow with Growth & Justice, a Minnesota-based economic think tank, also monitored Copeland’s Ministers’Conference online. Quimby said participants were told Thursday that the Huckabee fundraiser had raised $111,000 and that the money was being flown to Little Rock.
A Cessna 500 Citation 1 jet, owned by Agape Church in Little Rock, left Copeland’s private airport at 2:15 p.m. Thursday and landed at Little Rock National Airport, Adams Field, 59 minutes later, according to flightaware. com, a Web site that tracks air traffic. (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N700VC)
The conference was to have ended after Copeland’s 7 p.m. service Thursday.
Stewart, Huckabee’s campaign spokesman, said she could offer no details on the fundraiser at Copeland’s headquarters. But she confirmed that Huckabee and Copeland spoke by phone last week.
“Basically, Kenneth Copeland simply asked him how he could pray for him and the governor asked him to pray for physical stamina for the team and the financial resources that they need each day,” she said. “I’m not sure who called who.”
Asked whether the preachers had rushed money to Little Rock, Stewart said, “I don’t know anything about that. I don’t see how that would be. The maximum contribution [per person under federal election laws] would be $2,300. I don’t see how that could happen.”
Stewart also could not confirm whether Huckabee promised to support the highly scrutinized televangelist “anytimeanywhere on any issue.”
Copeland could not be reached for comment Monday. Russ Florence, executive vice president of Schnake Turnbo Frank, a Tulsa Public Relations firm, issued a statement Monday on Copeland’s behalf:
“Kenneth Copeland Ministries did not make a contribution to Gov. Huckabee’s campaign, nor were campaign contributions flown to Little Rock in one of the ministry’s planes. Furthermore, no offering was or has been taken for any political candidate by Kenneth Copeland Ministries or at a KCM event. KCM complies with all IRS regulations regarding political activities and contributions. As a charitable organization, KCM does not participate in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate seeking public office.”
Asked if another ministry had dispatched the money to Little Rock on its jet, Florence said: “I can’t speak for other ministriesor other planes.”
It’s unclear what role, if any, that Little Rock’s Agape Church played in the fundraising.
Church pastor Happy Caldwell, who spoke at Copeland’s conference, did not returnthree phone messages left Monday with church staff.
Florence said the fundraiser, held in Copeland’s ministry headquarters, was not an endorsement of Huckabee.
“The Huckabee campaign rented one of the rooms from Kenneth Copeland in order to have a campaign event. That room was rented after the ministers’ conference had concluded,” Florence said. He said the church building “is a facility that is rented out routinely to other groups.”
Asked about reports that the fundraising totals had been announced during the ministers’ conference, he said: “That’s the first I’ve heard of that. So I don’t know what to tell you.”
Late Monday, the Huckabee campaign released a statement concerning the fundraiser.
“The campaign did rent a room for a separate event that was hosted by a private individual and not affiliated with KCM or EMC [Eagle Mountain Church, the congregation which worships at KCM headquarters.] The event was held in accordance with campaign finance laws and IRS regulations,” it said.
Doug Wead, a former White House special assistant during the administration of the first President Bush, says he was told by a Ministers’ Conference participant that the event raised $111,000 for Huckabee.
According to Wead, ministers were told to leave the building and then those who wished to return for the Huckabee fundraiser were invited to re-enter the facility.
As far as the fundraiser goes, “I’m not alarmed by it at all,” said Wead, a contributor to Mitt Romney’s campaign. “I think it’s very healthy.”
The Trinity Foundation, which is assisting the Senate investigation, says Copeland may have violated IRS regulations by giving Huckabee free airtime and by facilitating the fundraiser.
Copeland’s actions “should raise enormous red flags at the Internal Revenue Service,” said Trinity Foundation founder Ole Anthony. “This is not appropriate as a part of American church life or American politics, and I think this could get Kenneth Copeland in additional trouble.”
Nancy Mathis, an IRS spokesman, said federal privacy laws prevent her from discussing the appropriateness of Copeland’s political fundraising activities with the media.
In general, nonprofit organizations, including churches, can take stands on issues, but not politicians, she said. “Federal law since the 1950s has included a ban on political activity, which the statute defines as advocacy on behalf of or in opposition to any political candidate.”
