Focus on the Family’s new top lobbyist Tim Goeglein is setting up shop in Washington, D.C. — a first for the Colorado Springs ministry and evangelical publishing empire.
The disgraced ex-Bush administration political operative and former top aide to Karl Rove has his work cut out for him as the influence of the religious right wanes in a Democratically-controlled White House and Congress.
Paul Bedard has the scoop at the U.S. News and World Report blog Washington Whispers:
It’s among the nation’s biggest charities and evangelical ministries, but the politically influential Focus on the Family has never played much in Washington. Now that’s changing, part of the shift of control from founder James Dobson to President Jim Daly. For the first time, the conservative Focus is opening a Washington office. Tim Goeglein, the group’s vice president of external relations, says his job is not primarily to beat up on President Obama’s policies but to get Focus’s mission better known. “If social conservatism is the spear, then Focus is the tip of the spear,” says Goeglein. He is uniquely qualified. A senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, he was former President Bush’s aide de camp on conservative and Christian issues. “Tim brings with him a wealth of experience and relationships that will prove invaluable to our efforts to defend the sanctity of human life, protect the institution of marriage, and ensure the religious-freedom rights of Christians,” Daly says. “He will be our eyes and ears in Washington.”
Focus’ move inside the Beltway should be further proof — to those who misinterpreted James Dobson’s remarks that the culture war was lost — that the multi-million dollar ministry hasn’t given up the ghost just yet.
