ABC News reported on Tuesday that the Department of Justice, under pressure from two senior Bush administration appointees, awarded a $1.2 million grant to an evangelical group and its consultant, a former White House official in the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. The grant went to Victory Outreach and to a consulting firm run by Lisa Trevino Cummins who previously led Hispanic outreach for the White House's OFBCI. Career Justice Department staff questioned Victory Outreach's qualifications for the grant and thought the one-third going to Cummins for consulting was excessive. Ultimately Victory Outreach rejected the grant after its board decided it was too large a project to handle. The grant was awarded by J. Robert Flores, the Administrator of the DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. He is currentyl under investigation by the DOJ's Inspector General.
Reacting to the report (press release), Interfaith Alliance president C. Welton Gaddy said: "This incident of cronyism removes all doubts that the real mission of the faith-based initiative is to aid the Religious Right." [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]
