http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/scott-walkers-crisis-of-faith-117937.html?hp=t1_rScott Walker's crisis of faith
The Wisconsin governor is racing to reassure Christian conservatives that he’s one of them.
By Alex Isenstadt
5/14/15 5:08 AM EDT
Scott Walker, the son of a Baptist preacher who says he takes his orders from God, has an unexpected problem on his hands: Many social conservatives don’t trust him.
Next week, the Wisconsin governor will travel to Capitol Hill to hold a private meeting with influential evangelical leaders, some of whom are expressing deep reservations about his track record on issues near and dear to them. Pointing to his past statements, and even his hire of a top campaign aide, they are openly questioning whether his views on abortion and gay marriage align with theirs and whether he’s willing to fight for their cause.
“Clearly he’s not well known within Washington, D.C., with social conservative leaders. He’s more known for his battle with unions in Wisconsin,” said Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council and one of about 50 people invited to huddle with Walker. “I think people are wondering, ‘Where does he stand?’”
Perkins, a former Louisiana state legislator and political operative who’s made himself into a power broker in evangelical circles, is one of Walker’s skeptics. “For the last few years, Governor Walker carefully avoided social issues, at one point even calling them a distraction,” he wrote in a newsletter that was sent to his group’s supporters in February. Perkins, who hasn’t endorsed in the Republican primary race, went on to suggest that Walker’s recent appeals to evangelicals were disingenuous.
The meeting, slated to take place on Tuesday afternoon at the Capitol Hill Club, is part of a broader effort to court social conservatives who might play critical roles in the nominating contest. He’s been in regular contact with Perkins, speaking to him most recently around a month ago. Next week, Walker is scheduled to meet with Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring, an anti-abortion organization. And last week, Rebecca Kleefisch, Walker’s lieutenant governor and an evangelical, huddled in Washington, D.C., with Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, a prominent Christian group.
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